One concept that stuck with me from class discussion last week and the week before was the idea of slavery being the ‘Original Sin’ of race in America. I see this as a particularly striking description because the Original Sin, in biblical tradition, is a stain on humanity that cannot be overcome. It characterizes human nature and society for all time, causing painful repercussions that humanity is never meant to escape from. In the Catholic tradition, each person is born already ‘contaminated’ by Original Sin. Though a very pessimistic view of race and race relations in America, I think this viewpoint at the very least demonstrates how impactful slavery truly was. It assigns to slavery the weight it actually had on the development of American society, rather than sugarcoating it as a painful era from which both the black and white communities in America should have already been able to overcome. Insomuch as the Original Sin was humanity’s fall from God’s grace, slavery doomed America to be forsaken and ‘godless’ because of its unforgivable sin.

By implying that humanity will never be able to to recover from its sin, the comparison also implies that black Americans will always be in a position of subordination. What I find most interesting about this that the community against which the sin was committed is the one that has to suffer from it. The sinner benefits perpetually from his transgression rather than being justly punished by an omnipotent God – in a clear break from the biblical tradition. Perhaps it is this lasting inequality that makes slavery the Original Sin from which America as a whole can never recover. Still, though it is slightly comforting to think that racial inequality is a curse upon the entire American society preventing it from fulfilling its full potential, it also seems to provide a justification for keeping black Americans on the lowest rung of the social ladder forever. The sense of resignation inherent in this point of view excuses continued oppression by labelling it as a natural and unbreakable component of American society. Though I agree that the effects of slavery have been long lasting and will take much more time and work to cure, I disagree with any approach that justifies racist behavior on the basis of inevitability.