Virginia Governor Ralph Northam created yet more race issues with his discussion of slaves in Jamestown. The controversy occurred when Northam said that just a few miles away from the capital of Richmond the first indentured servants were forcibly taken to America.
The controversy comes because he didn’t call them “slaves.” But this incident shows the silliness of his critics more than anything he did wrong. He has made some real mistakes. Last week he admitted to using blackface. This is offensive to many, but being from 30 years ago it is worth an apology, not his resignation. In the days before that he made the news by advocating for infanticide in defending a late-term abortion bill.
Both of those incidents are wrong, particularly his stance on abortion which is far outside of the mainstream. But his use of indentured servant instead of slave is not wrong. There are numerous differences between the two, though the definitions often became blurred. Indentured servitude was often used for poor whites as well as blacks and they had much better status. The poor essentially worked as slaves for up to seven years before gaining their freedom, as they had to work off the debt of their passage. After their time of service, sometimes they received payment for that service. It was Bacon’s Rebellion and the participation of servants that convinced many plantation owners to move away from indentured servitude to slavery.
This is all pretty basic history I learned in elementary school. This controversy over a minor term shows how radical the racebaiters really are. Even though they claim to represent historic grievances, they get upset at a governor being specific about the status of those that were first brought to Jamestown. Meanwhile, egregious errors like supporting the killing of babies or the sexual assault committed by Lt. Governor Fairfax are somehow reduced in importance.
