The Truth About Sudan Slavery

The government of the African nation of Sudan denies that the slave trade is thriving there. But that is not what CBS News reporters have seen with their own eyes.

To say so may not be diplomatic. But it is true.

Slavery is a practice that ought to have gone out of existence centuries ago. We are supposed to be civilized - this is a modern world, and has been for centuries. Men and women ought to know better by now; we ought to know the value of freedom. The idea of slavery is repugnant, yet the practice goes on.

What may be most painful to Americans who see and hear these reports is this: The slavery is in Africa, the same place where our own shameful slave culture sought its sustenance.

We are reminded during this, Black American History Month, that the United States is still struggling to heal the wounds that were left by our own national experience of slavery, over 130 years after America's slaves were freed.

We know from experience - from American experience - how painful such wounds can be, how long it can take to heal them.

But in the Sudanese slave trade, those wounds have not begun to heal because those wounds are still being dug. Deep into human flesh and eternal memory. With a new wound every time another human being is sold into slavery.

We want to warn these people, on the other side of the earth, because we know. We have not even begun to heal. Neither have they.

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