Official Statement on Gov. Ron DeSantis support of teaching students that some Black Americans "personally benefited" from slavery
NEW ORLEANS, LA -The Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary, the largest Black Catholic lay fraternal organization in the world, issues the following statement in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis support of teaching students that some Black Americans "personally benefited" from slavery.
The Bible teaches that man can only have one Master – and that Master is God. Slavery was a non-Christ-like practice that only provided earthly benefit to the false masters who used false interpretations of the Bible and religion to justify their sinful greed, and complete devaluation of the sanctity of human life – God’s greatest gift.
What Governor DeSantis missed is that despite the sins of man, God will always continue to speak and bless his children. It was not slavery that provided any benefit to the enslaved, but rather God’s unfiltered and unconditional love and reach.
“The South grew 60 percent of the world's cotton and provided some 70 percent of the cotton consumed by the British textile industry. Thus slavery paid for a substantial share of the capital, iron, and manufactured goods that laid the basis for American economic growth.” (Historical Context: Was Slavery the Engine of American Economic Growth? by Steven Mintz).
In contrast, the legacy of slavery continues to have a drastic negative impact on ALL African-Americans – just as it did in its prime.
Rather than apologizing and providing atonement for slavery, we find some of our Christian brothers and sisters trying to put a smiling face on America’s unholy and unjust original sin. History is history - we must not attempt to placate others with attempts re-write it.
Our Noble Order stands committed to advocating for justice and truth through our national and local initiatives which further the Catholic cause of Social Justice with five primary areas of focus: Combating Extraordinary & Everyday Racism within and around the Church, Eradicating the modern slavery of Human Trafficking, Preventing and Healing the scourge of Domestic Violence, Reforming the Criminal Justice System to one of Restorative Justice, and Enhancing the Dignity of Black Life.