If all races were slaves like Irish Italian and indentured why isn't it talked about?

Answer 1

it gets overshadowed by the issue of African slavery. there are three main reasons for this, first of all, past slavery occured so long ago that it is long since no longer culturally relevant. many enslaving peoples and nations are no longer around, be it they were conquered, or assimilated into larger nations and peoples that as a whole were not guilty of these crimes. the second and probably most important reason is that not only is African slavery considerably more recent in comparison, but it's effects are still quite apparent to our society, and therefore is considered culturally relevant to our society. even after slavery was abolished, there is a long history surrounding the segregation, rights, oppression, and racially motivated crimes against africans, both in the Americas and abroad. apartheid in south Africa recharged the debate and effects of African slavery, dragging it's social relevance into the 21st century.

at the same time, many other crimes that can be considered slavery go unspoken in today's society. we often hear about the Jew's internment by nazi Germany during World War II, and given the extent, aim, and crimes committed against the Jewish people, and the events that the enslavement led to today, Jewish internment is extremely culturally relevant.

what's not often talked about however, is the internment of Japanese and Italian peoples by Canada and the united states during world war II as well. obviously, this doesn't compare the crimes committed by those in nazi Germany, but thousands of people had everything they owned taken from them, displaced from their own homes into overcrowded camps, families split up, with some members being deported to their countries of origin which actually viewed them as a part of the enemy nation they were fighting against.

you do hear a little about Japanese internment, at least in Canada, with reparations being made to descendants, as the internment of the Japanese was far more widespread than Italians. Italians that were interned were Italians with direct roots to Mussolini's Italy, living immigrants and their families, not Italian families that have spent generations in the county.

it may sounds like I've meandered off the subject a little, but consider this point:

though my grandfather was born in Canada, his parents were born in Italy and immigrated to Canada years before he was born. when his parents landed they had their named changed from Ruzzin to Rozzini, a name that sounds considerably more Italian. they had their family identity taken from them, but they were still pigeonholed as Italian. this was in exchange for the opportunities associated with living in Canada, seeking the success and security of this country.

my grandfather refuses to talk about about world war II, but what he has told me is that he hadn't served in the army. his brother, who had repatriated to the united states to play hockey was drafted after the first two years of the war. professional sports players were often exempted from drafts, as were professional actors as the homeland effect of national entertainment was pivotal to retaining moral in soldiers and those back home during such difficult and terrifying times, but he was forced out of a successful career as the center for the Boston Bruins regardless.

dispite the fact that he never served in the army as he was only 16, i believe, i found a photograph of my grandfather in a military uniform with the date "1942" written on the back of it. i asked my grandmother about it, but she wouldn't talk about it, only said that it was the uniform he had to wear when he used to work in a factory making ammunition. the next year, in highschool, we were told that Italian interns were often forced to work in munition factories. though they were paid, it was for daily wages that couldn't buy a cup of coffee, and they were never reimbursed for property and assets taken from them during internment. after the war, my grandfather, immediately moved to Italy, and didn't return until long after he graduated from university. because of this, I'm about 90 percent sure that he was forced into internment during world war II. my mother won't even talk about it, i asked her when i was younger and she would only say "the war was hard for a lot of people in a lot of different ways." but no one will admit to anything, for or against it ever happening.

and this is my point:

Jews, and africans, the two most culturally relevant examples of slavery in our modern culture were displaced, and enslaved by peoples and nations that were foreign to them, and terrible crimes were commited to them. Italians, Japanese, the Irish, Indians, they were enslaved in their own homelands, their own communities, by their own people. even though the Italians and Japanese were immigrants, they were previously accepted into the country and allowed to make it their home. the Irish and Indians, both native peoples of countries that existed for generations as british colonies. they were in their own home being persecuted by people who they considered a part of their home. in my grandfather's case, they came seeking success and security and had everything taken from them, right down to their name. my grandfather, born and raised Canadian, had his back turned on him, and his own back stabbed, by the country he called home, and the people he called his. but he won't talk about it, won't admit it, why because it's extremely humiliating. people don't want to admit that they went from free to slaves in their own home by their own people. they refuse to talk about it.

of course, in the case of internment, but mostly in the case of Ireland and India, labelling their plights as slavery is a much looser definition of the world than we are accustomed to. we hear slavery and we think africans forcibly removed from Africa and forced to work in fields, nearly starved to death, denied basic human rights and beaten and whipped to death on a regular basis if they didn't work hard enough. that's the image we have of slavery, even though it's a term that can be applied in a much broader definition. this is the third reason: African persecution is an extreme case. of course it'll take precedent.

when seen in this light, and in this somewhat random essay, it's easy to see why we're only exposed to some instances of slavery in our own culture. basically, these instances are the extreme, and are much stronger in reinforcing the need for reform.