Some Reflections on Slavery in the USA and what that has to do with our story in aotearoa-New Zealand.
Bonnie and I have been in the USA over the last couple of weeks. For the first five days we were in New Orleans, and then three days in Washington DC. The final 2 days were spent in Philadelphia before I went off to a TSSF meeting. New Orleans was great. We did a couple of tours and learnt some of the history. This history is important. This year is the 300th anniversary from its founding as a French colony under Louis XIV. From New Orleans the French controlled the hugely important Mississippi River which provided an excellent transport system for the many properties that spoke wheeled off it. Louisiana was French and Catholic. The colony was built on huge numbers of European colonists - all of whom had to be catholic by law, and slaves. The Catholic church taught that black people have souls. And although France and Spain (who took over Louisiana in the 1760's) took part in the slave trade, those slaves had the right to buy their freedom and live as free people of colour with...