Tonight Mark and I went to see “Twelve Years a Slave.” I’m at a loss for words to describe the power of this film. It is worthwhile to see and it is worthwhile to soak in the horror of our nation’s past.
One scene, in particular, is haunting me. Near the end of the film (based on a true story, by the way) an especially brutal slave owner defends himself to an abolitionist and claims, “It’s my property, I can do with it what I want.”
The argument between the two men develops and the abolitionist questions not the law, but the justice of the law. He ultimately replies, “Laws change, universal truth is constant.”
Do you hear it? “It’s mine. I can do with it what I want.”
Who else is saying that today and for what purpose?
Who else is invoking that very argument to bring destruction to another?
Indeed the law may allow for it, but universal truth is constant.
A person is a person is a person. Whether black or white. Born or unborn.