By Annie Keough and Sharin Alpert

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We are writing this article to share the story of our work for racial justice. We two have been friends for 30 years and allies in antiracism for the past ten or so. We wrote most of this article together, with some comments from each of us individually, starting with this from Annie:

Six or seven years ago, we both belonged to a white antiracism group that met in Greenfield. An African American friend was planning a theater piece about slavery and asked our group if we would help out by doing research on slavery that had happened here in our area. Annie and another group member, Teegrey Iannuzzi, took on that assignment and started out at the library in Old Deerfield.

Beginning with this exploration, and later from the extensive research of Amherst resident Bob Romer, we have learned many things that surprised us. We learned how common slavery and the slave trade were in the North, even here in our area. Bob’s research taught us that many Pioneer Valley ministers—their communities’ supposed models of morality—owned slaves. We also found out that New England’s wealth increased astronomically because of the slave trade, which required goods, services, and supplies from many tradespeople, shipbuilders and fishermen.

Many of those who benefited from the slave trade thought of themselves as virtuous Christians. In order to justify their brutal and dehumanizing treatment of Africans, they had to convince themselves and everyone else that the people they enslaved were inferior, less than human. American slave holders created the myth that Africans were lazy, slow to learn, and in need of harsh treatment to be kept in line. This mentality had far-reaching effects, both on the way whites viewed people of color, and also on the self-esteem of these people who had already been so badly treated.

Many whites still see people of color as inferior, even while others who grieve the crimes of racism keep striving to overcome the difficulty of forming friendships across racial lines. We think that it is nearly impossible for most whites who grew up in our society, ourselves included, to be rid of all traces of racist thoughts and feelings. Racism is still widespread in our institutions as well, from education to employment to health care to housing to rates of imprisonment. For one example, in early childhood education, significantly higher numbers of children of color are placed in special education tracks, even though they may perform at the same level as their white peers. For another example, workers of color often make significantly less than do white workers for performing the same job.

White privilege is closely related to racism, and is often hard for us to recognize. We are not likely to notice when our children are encouraged and nurtured in school or when we are approved for a bank loan that is appropriate for our incomes. Like the air we breathe, these privileges are invisible to us.

Several years before Annie and our friend Teegrey began their research in Old Deerfield, Teegrey had spent six months traveling with the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage, a year-long walk retracing the slave trade. The Pilgrimage started at the Peace Pagoda in Leverett, traveling through sites where Africans had been bought, sold and enslaved. The journey progressed from the northeastern U.S through the American South, to the Caribbean, then to west Africa and finally to South Africa. Teegrey describes her experience as having been profound, both full of grief and life changing. She says that it left her with a powerful commitment to racial healing.

Her passion and our friend’s proposed theater piece inspired the three of us to start a new project. We began to write a statement in which we apologize for slavery and commit ourselves to restorative action. We did this work over the course of four years with guidance from Dr. Enoch Page, an African American professor of anthropology at UMass, from Howard Clark, a Native American historian/anthropologist, and from other mentors of color.

"When we first began our writing project, I thought it would be an interesting challenge, an exercise that might take a couple of months. Instead, it grew and deepened, becoming a consuming part of my life. Now, as we bring our work further into the community, it feels even more meaningful," says Sharin.

Mass Slavery Apology is the new racial justice group which grew out of that project. We now have two additional members: George Esworthy and Tim Bullock. George, who is European American, joined us shortly after we finished our four years of research and writing. Tim, an African American and one of the project’s advisors, now continues to offer us guidance as an ongoing member.

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The effects of racism are wide and deep and they affect people of color in almost every area of their lives. But it is not only people of color who are harmed by the legacy of slavery. Our entire society is held back because so many of its members are kept from reaching their potential. The lives of both whites and people of color are diminished by the distrust that so often exists between the races, making it difficult to form relationships or cooperate across the racial divide. The institutions of racism and white privilege hurt us all.

Mass Slavery Apology’s work is not about whites "helping" people of color. It is about healing from the harm caused by racism. We feel strongly that it will be impossible to attain a just and peaceful existence until we first address the racial injustice that is at the root of our society.

The group’s current focus is on outreach and education. Our main audiences are white people and youth. We reach out to other whites because we believe that we are the ones who must create change, rather than leave it up to people of color; at the same time, we recognize that we must do this crucial work with leadership from and accountability to people of color. We reach out to youths because they will need both understanding and tools to deal with the world that they will inherit from us.