Mr. Jones and I were not really talking about America's current political and social conditions; we were talking about the United States in 1789-1865. I was trying to learn from him the contours of a past conflicted time. We were reckoning with the approaching great schism that divided a nation: slavery. Wondering about the shadowed past is less troublesome than coping with the up close and personal present. One can always manipulate the 'facts' as my oracle of the pool hall taught.
***
I took the offensive and asked, "What of slavery?"
Mr. Jones' face went blank. His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. Color rose in his cheeks and on his forehead. He sighed and restrained the demons.
"Oh slavery well, yes, slavery." He hung his head for a few seconds, and then looked at the sky as if trying to focus, find a direction. "Pray, sir, shall we consider context and complicity? Rigorous dealing with context and complicity requires some courageous and reasoned consideration. Perchance you are looking for some obvious villain or immoral values that will clearly explain the institution of human bondage. Regrettably if there be one, sir, it is in the flawed human soul that sees others as objects, things-not as brothers and sisters created in the likeness of God Almighty." He was warmed up and the sermon's form had taken shape.
"As long as there have been humans stronger and smarter than others, with the proper tools and a bit of luck, there has been the exploitation of others. The Egyptians, Hebrews, Spanish, English, Dutch, Russians, and, yes, even Africans and we Americans are the cultural descendants of the person with the most efficient club, most creative brain, strongest arm, and fiercest spirit. I make no apology, sir, for slavery. Its existence is there for history's judgment. But, my dear sir, be cautioned: no one is free of complicity in the system of black slavery even unto this day. Nary any. What is it, one hundred forty years, what, seven generations after Appomattox?
"The very foundation wealth of this nation, the capital available to purchase the fruits of freedom for posterity, was generated by black slavery." He went silent again, his face flush and his eyes staring down at the ground.
I broke into the interlude and said to him sternly, "I think another politician of my generation, sir, offered an axiom: 'follow the money'."
He looked at me sadly and said, his voice plaintive, "Perchance, sir, you've heard of the golden triangle; Boston to Africa to Charleston or be it what it would; Boston to Guinea to Jamaica? Southern rice, tobacco, and cotton sold to Europe provided the greatest source of wealth for our young republic. Black slavery worked those invaluable crops, white Southern agriculture managed production and New England capital financed the operation. Yankee gold paid for the purchase and shipment of slaves from Africa and the West Indies. New England ships hauled human African chattel to America, and American cotton and agricultural products to the great markets in Europe. 'Money is the root of all evil,' it is written! I warrant it most certainly is that.