I mentioned it briefly in my few postings on the Ultraculture (now the official Voodoo hate club) thread, but just to summarize: I found the similarity between some of Epop / Shiv's and Jason's derogatory comments, and hate propaganda published by New Orleans newspapers during the Reconstruction (1870's and 80's) quite alarming.
Between Abolition and the emergence of Jim Crow ("separate but equal" laws in the American South, i.e. blacks at the back of the bus etc.) there was a period of time when it looked, for a brief moment, that people of African descent had a true chance to gain political and social power. Especially in Louisiana, where much of the Creole population had been free and prosperous before the war. After the American Civil War, the white establishment of New Orleans, in an effort to reassert its perceived superiority and crush the emerging black power movement, led a virulent hate campaign against Voodoo.
African religion and customs had been thriving in Louisiana since the arrival of the first Senegalese slaves in the late 17th century. Various religious traditions from all regions of West Africa mingled with Native American beliefs and European Catholicism to become what was known as Voodoo. After the Haitian revolution of 1804, 10,000 emigrants fled to New Orleans, tripling the city's population and reducing the European population to a significant minority. Voodoo was loosely tolerated during slavery (oh let the savages have their silly customs...) but after Abolition it was a much different story. White owned newspapers began to publish fictionalized reports on the evils of Voodoo, complete with witchcraft, interracial sexual orgies and human sacrifice.
These stories filled the newspapers of New Orleans at the time, and were often used as an example of why people of African descent were unfit to live among whites, and should have their property repossessed, be denied education or suffrage, sent back to Africa, or just plain lynched. As late as the 1940's and 50's, writers such as Robert Tallant were drawing on these sensationalist and hateful "news reports" as historical truth. It was this sort of propaganda which gave birth to the Great American Fear of Voodoo, popularized and reiterated time and time again in thousands of pulp novels and Hollywood B Movies.
So, basically, this stuff is nothing new.
In nearly a decade of practice, I've never encountered any of the horrors that Shiv and Jason claim to have witnessed, and hell, I've seen a lot of Voodoo. My experiences of the religion have been positive and life affirming; the practitioners, priests and priestesses I've had the honor to meet have been an inspiration to me. I've met so many good people, doing such good work for themselves, their loved ones, and their communities. My only negative experiences have been a handful of brief encounters with charlatans and dodgy docs. Frankly, I'm not sure what these two guys were on about, but it smacks of paranoia, hatred, bigotry and racism.
I want to thank all of the members of Barbelith who have taken a stand against this shit in the past few days, especially MC, GL and DL. Y'all have been lovely, thanks so much. |
