Cut The Chains

I came across this image last year and it broke my heart. The image is part of the New York Times Magazine series of articles titled The 1619 Project . The 1619 Project was published on the 400th anniversary of the day that the first enslaved African people were brought to America and sold to the Colonists. Look at these shackles. Someone drew up a plan to enslave and torture a person. They hammered out the pin and upset the end. They drew out the rings only long enough so that a small child's hands would not be able to slip through. The blacksmith welded a loop on the end so that the harsh metal cuffs could be bound by a crude jump ring. Someone placed these shackles on a terrified child and hammered closed the ring. That someone could have very well been enslaved themselves. Forced to shackle their own family. This horror is not in the past. It has continued for 400 years, driven by systemic racism and discrimination. It is with us now. I never wrote about these shackles before because it felt sacrilegious. I cannot speak to the sorrow, to the pain, fear and anger that black people must feel. I must listen to them. Donate to Black Lives Matter