Slavery’s principal enduring harm is the corruption of white attitudes

Evidence

“The true curse of slavery is not what it did to the black man, but what it has done to the white man,” Justice William O. Douglas wrote in his concurring opinion. “For the existence of the institution produced the notion that the white man was of superior character, intelligence, and morality. The blacks were little more than livestock—to be fed and fattened for the economic benefits they could bestow through their labors, and to be subjected to authority, often with cruelty, to make clear who was master and who slave.” Douglas went on to conclude, “Some badges of slavery remain today. While the institution has been outlawed, it has remained in the minds and hearts of many white men. Cases which have come to this Court depict a spectacle of slavery unwilling to die.” — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 582

Categorization

• CANDY: Douglas’s aphoristic reversal, ‘the true curse of slavery is what it has done to the white man,’ is a punchy, quotable line.
• XREF: connects to: Meaningful reckoning requires whites to confront their own violent history. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 451; Burroughs believed exemplary conduct could disarm white prejudice.