Tuesday, November 5, 2013  Killing the spirit...  I finally saw
12 Years a Slave last weekend (it took a while to make it to
Portland). THIS. MOVIE. IS. INTENSE. This movie shows a glimpse
of the brutal reality and monotony that slavery was. Harder than
watching some of the brutal scenes in the movie is knowing that
reality was much more harsh and much more frequent. Even after
watching this movie, and other movies about slaves that have
come before, I can't understand the smallest inkling of what it
would be link to be a slave; not only physically, but more so
psychologically. To be treated as less than a person. To be
treated as property. Slavery is one of the most dehumanizing
institutions that has ever existed. The myth of the southern
gentleman permeated the national conscious to the point that
slave owners in the south were not strictly viewed (at the time)
as cold-hearted, horrible people. Even the account of Solomon
Northup speaking of his first "master", William Ford, speaks
with relative fondness fo