Mob Rule

An armed mob confronts government police officers who are attempting to enforce the law, causing a stand-off, and this doesn't just scare the shit out of you?  This mob action in favor of a bigot who thinks black Americans would be better off enslaved, not does he want to pay a fee (and fine of $ 1,000,000 for using someone else's land.  It gets worse.  One of the two major political parties defended them, at least for awhile.

Slavery in the US

I am reading "The House Girl" by Tara Conklin about the life of a slave woman in Virginia in the 1840's.  I am struck by the level of fear that existed in our system of human bondage.  All those living in this system lived with a constant state of fear.  Of course, slaves feared the violence of whipping, death for the smallest of things and sexual assault by slave owners.  But white slave owners also lived in fear of a slave revolt or individual act of vengance by a slave wronged.  White non-slave owners also feared for their lives and property if they were known to speak out against the cruelty of the southern labor system.  Slave women feared the sexual assault that resulted in children of mixed race.  White women feared their philandering husbands loss of affection.

What a totally evil system and its damage to our society is ungoing.