Tough movie to watch. To witness the shear brutality humans
can delivery to other humans is, to me, difficult to comprehend. What possesses a person to commit such evil
acts, and then in twisted divisive ways use God to justify their actions? Truly warped.
Brad Pitt plays an significant role by the name of Bass in the
movie, although very brief, talking to Epps about the inequality of
slavery. Important words. Here is the transcript from
that brief part.
“I tell you what it is Epps,” said Bass, “it’s all wrong—all
wrong, sir—there’s no justice nor righteousness in it. I wouldn’t own a slave
if I was rich as Croesus, which I am not, as is perfectly well understood, more
particularly among my creditors… But this question of Slavery; what right have
you to your niggers when you come down to the point?”
Of course you did; the law says you have the right to hold a
nigger, but begging the law’s pardon, it lies. Yes, Epps, when the law says
that it’s a liar, and the truth is not in it. Is every thing right because the
law allows it? Suppose they’d pass a law taking away your liberty and making
you a slave?”
“Oh, that ain’t a supposable case,” said Epps, still
laughing; “hope you don’t compare me to a nigger, Bass.”
“Well,” Bass answered gravely, “no, not exactly. But I have
seen niggers before now as good as I am, and I have no acquaintance with any
white man in these parts that I consider a whit better than myself. Now, in the
sight of God, what is the difference, Epps, between a white man and a black
one?”
“All the difference in the world,” replied Epps. “You might
as well ask what the difference is between a white man and a baboon. Now, I’ve
seen one of them critters in Orleans that knowed just as much as any nigger
I’ve got. You’d call them feller citizens, I s’pose?”—and Epps indulged in a
loud laugh at his own wit.
“Look here, Epps,” continued his companion; “you can’t laugh
me down in that way. Some men are witty, and some ain’t so witty as they think
they are. Now let me ask you a question. Are all men created free and equal as
the Declaration of Independence holds they are?”
“Yes,” responded Epps, “but all men, niggers, and monkeys
ain’t;” and hereupon he broke forth into a more boisterous laugh than before.
“There are monkeys among white people as well as black, when
you come to that,” coolly remarked Bass. “I know some white men that use
arguments no sensible monkey would. But let that pass. These niggers are human
beings. If they don’t know as much as their masters, whose fault is it? They
are not allowed to know anything. You have books and papers, and can go where
you please, and gather intelligence in a thousand ways. But your slaves have no
privileges. You’d whip one of them if caught reading a book. They are held in
bondage, generation after generation, deprived of mental improvement, and who
can expect them to possess much knowledge? If they are not brought down to a
level with the brute creation, you slaveholders will never be blamed for it. If
they are baboons, or stand no higher in the scale of intelligence than such
animals, you and men like you will have to answer for it. There’s a sin, a
fearful sin, resting on this nation, that will not go unpunished forever. There
will be a reckoning yet—yes, Epps, there’s a day coming that will burn as an
oven. It may be sooner or it may be later, but it’s a coming as sure as the
Lord is just.”
“If you lived up among the Yankees in New-England,” said
Epps, “I expect you’d be one of them cursed fanatics that know more than the
constitution, and go about peddling clocks and coaxing niggers to run away.”
“If I was in New-England,” returned Bass, “I would be just
what I am here. I would say that Slavery was an iniquity, and ought to be
abolished. I would say there was no reason nor justice in the law, or the
constitution that allows one man to hold another man in bondage. It would be
hard for you to lose your property, to be sure, but it wouldn’t be half as hard
as it would be to lose your liberty. You have no more right to your freedom, in
exact justice, than Uncle Abram yonder. Talk about black skin, and black blood;
why, how many slaves are there on this bayou as white as either of us? And what
difference is there in the color of the soul? Pshaw! the whole system is as
absurd as it is cruel. You may own niggers and be hanged, but I wouldn’t own
one for the best plantation in Louisiana.”
