12 Years of Slave Reflection

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As a person who is able to enjoy freedom and basic human rights, it is very hard for me to imagine the suffering of the slaves. This movie allows me to see the brutal truth of slavery. Slavery was common and usual to everyone in the US during the 19th century, but in today’s society, slavery is unacceptable and despised. Even though people today deemed slavery unacceptable, racism, discrimination, and sexism still permeate our society. Society is powerful in a way that it can shape a person’s views on a certain issue, just like slavery. Many white slave owners were not inherently cruel, but it is the power of their society that transforms them into violent masters. Also, people may not be what they seem superficially: a white master may be a nice person to other whites, but actually treats the slaves with violence and cruelty. Racism exist in every culture, including my own. We are all free individuals, so this gives no one the right to discriminate against others because of their race, culture, religion or gender. I believe that we should all respect each other’s freedom and treat each other fairly. By doing this, we could make the world more harmonious. But I doubt this is actually going to happen. If it was to happen after the end of slavery, just by older generations dying, racism should have died with them in the US, but looking at current prevalence of racism, my dream of racial equality, may be difficult to achieve.