The Replacement Negroes: Abu Ghraib and the New Generation Plantation

By Lamont Slater

Today, on a hot and muggy 86-degree day in Dallas, Texas, I find myself standing at the gas pump with a copy of the USA Today folded neatly under my arm. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I calmly look over my shoulder to take a glimpse at the current price of unleaded. I’m really getting hot now as I notice the attendant change the price from $1.89 to $1.92 a gallon. Shaking my head in disbelief, I reluctantly continue to pump gas as I prepare for the second half of my day, which consists of going to my part time job. While I wait for the gas to stop pumping, I unfold the USA Today and am appalled by the horrifying image that appears on the front page.

The image featured a small-framed white female soldier, wearing a dingy brown military issued t-shirt, holding what appeared to be some sort of makeshift dog leach. On the other end of the leach was a grimacing Iraqi POW, lying on a cold prison floor in agony.

In an instant, the image forced me to remember a time when I was 12 years old, visiting my grandmother in the Bronx. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my cousin Terrince, reading a magazine that contained a gruesome picture of three Black men hanging by their necks from a pole, while white onlookers laughed and rejoiced.

That picture put a “face” on the civil rights violations that were spoken of in early lessons learned from grade school. This new picture, featuring Private Lynndie England exposes civil rights violations that have been going on for years, but was never captured on film. This travesty of justice has created a perception that the U.S government has a slanderous bias against the Muslim community that is institutionalized in the military, and embedded in the fabric of its foreign policy.

The hypocrisy is blatantly evident, and the comparisons to slavery indicate that many factions of the government continue to promote democracy, while their actions indicate otherwise.

Like most Americans, I expected the seven U.S soldiers that were captured by Iraqi soldiers to be treated with dignity. On March 24, 2003, President Bush said, “We expect them (U.S POW’s) to be treated humanely.” When they were released on April 14, 2003, it was reported that the seven captured Americans were treated fairly, as well as given food, tea to drink, medical attention, and comfortable pajamas. In stark contrast, Iraqi prisoners are a mixed population consisting of alleged terrorists from neighboring countries, locals that are rebelling against the occupation, and average everyday citizens (scooped up during raids of hotel, homes, etc.) that have no intention to cause harm. The Red Cross has stated that at least 70 percent of those captured individuals are innocent, and fall into the latter of the three categories that I’ve mentioned. Needless to say, it did not stop a select group of American soldiers from engaging in acts of violence and abuse. American soldiers are seen in photographs humiliating prisoners through coercive techniques that include sexual deviance and degradation. Prisoners were forced to remove their garments while being paraded around the prison grounds. Captured Muslim women, known for their traditional modesty, were interrogated and forced to expose their breasts. Attack dogs were used in an effort to threaten inmates into submission.

As an African American, these actions are all too familiar to me. The use of guard dogs as a weapon reminds me of watching one of those grainy Black and White videos of Eyes on the Prize, which detail oppressive actions by the dominant culture towards Blacks during the civil rights movement. In addition, when Blacks arrived from Africa during the 1600’s, they were stripped of their clothes, pride, dignity and religion. Africans that were enslaved in America went through a tortuous process known as “seasoning,” which is a term referring to the process of breaking down the African physically, emotionally, and psychologically, hence making him/her submissive. Once the slaves arrived in America, members of the dominant culture raped women repeatedly, men were publicly humiliated and children were sold and separated. It is probably safe to assume that at Abu Ghraib the similarities vastly outweigh the differences.

There is no doubt in my mind that based on the military’s’ history of sexual abuse that the possibility of rape between rogue US military personnel and defenseless female prisoners is highly probable. The “seasoning “ process during slavery is no different then what one soldier from Abu Ghraib described as “softening” the prisoners prior to interrogation. One of the biggest connections between prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Africans that came to America is that the majority of both groups can trace their roots back to Islam. When Africans arrived in America, the large majority of the group was Muslim, with a smaller group practicing traditional tribal religions. When Blacks were met by the protestants in America, they began to be subjected to the humiliation of the auction block upon arrival, and were forced into submission by the slave master after being exposed to acts of violence. Ironically, 400 years later, the same tactics are still in place.

The ole’ plantation did not have laws to protect the civil rights of slaves during that time period, however there are rules in place regarding POW’s to instill integrity, and ensure that there is equal treatment under the law. Under the Geneva Convention, it states that “no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind" (Article 17). It goes on to state in Article 27, “That they shall at all time be humanely treated, and shall be protected against violence, insults, and threats thereof. Women shall be especially protected against an attack, rape, prostitution, and indecent assault." The hypocrisy of the government has made me skeptical of the motivation regarding their decision to invade and occupy Iraq. Is the government motivated by profiting from the war (Halliburton), or is the ulterior motive to suppress the spread of Islam as part of the “New World Order”?

“Whoa!” I shout loudly as gas starts to pour down the side of my car. Instead of crying over spilled over-priced gas, I begin to reflect on the agony and humiliation of my fellow Muslim brothers at Abu Ghraib. These frightening comparisons to the African American experience illustrate that history not only repeats itself, but also exposes the ever-changing face of the replacement Negroes in our society.

Lamont Slater is a freelance writer from Dallas, TX. He can be reached at Humv30@aol.com