The World According to Oatney

Slavery

I heard a report this evening on EWTN Radio about the trafficking of human beings in the world today. The genocide of Christians at the hand of Muslims in the Sudan was discussed in detail, and the panelists agreed that the United Nations had not done enough. Reasonable people, agreed the panel in unanimity, know that what is going on in the Sudan is not only genocide, but is one of the great human catastrophes of our time. I agree with the panelists on The World Over tonight, insofar as the scope of the problem in the Sudan. It is indeed a religious genocide, and it raises an interesting and unpleasant question: In spite of numerous pleas from the U.S. Congress for the United Nations to take decisive action to come to the aid of Sudanese Christians, the UN has done virtually nothing. In the mean time, various and sundry UN commissions and committees have seen fit to criticize the United States over the conduct of the Iraq War. While I agree that the war presents a series of problems and there are serious questions about its constitutional viability, criticism from some of these parties within the UN is like the pot calling the kettle black. When Muslims were massacred in Kosovo, we were told that we had a humanitarian obligation to come to their aid, but when Christians are massacred in Sudan, no call for action from the UN or NATO.

On the same program, one of the panelists, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, talked extensively about a virtually unknown problem. Slavery within the United States is alive and well. Brownback was keen to explain how many people are brought here illegally to work as servants, and since they are illegal, they often work for little or no money, and are falsely told that if they tell the authorities about the way they are treated, they’ll be arrested and thrown into prison. Many of these de facto slaves come from Africa or Latin America, Brownback said. Apparently, the problem is so acute that the federal government feels compelled to combat the problem by issuing a special visa for such people when they are found, called a “T-Visa,” that allows them to remain here in the U.S. long enough to rebuild their shattered lives, and work toward citizenship if they choose. Considering what these people have been through, it is the least we can do for them as a nation. According to Brownback, the problem is most acute in the New York megalopolis, especially in the State of New Jersey, where many rich New Yorkers actually live to get away from the city, and some of these people control these foreign laborers. Funny, I thought Yankees didn’t believe in slavery.

Finally, former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerick has asked for his nomination for Homeland Security Secretary to be withdrawn for personal reasons…

posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 11:40 PM