When my wife and I were in Ghana five years ago, we visited a couple of slave "castles" and it was the most stomach-churning experience I've ever had. One of the many revelations was that countries I never realized were in the slave business actually were. My Grandparents were born and raised in Denmark, and I always figured that the Danes would never engage in such a barbarious, evil activity. That illusion was shattered, the more I learned about slavery.

As for the mindset of people 400 years ago, and whether they thought there was anything wrong with slavery or not, that doesn't excuse the practice. And it's hard for me to believe that slave traders couldn't see the evil in their acts. How could you split up a family and sell wife, husband and children to different buyers, and not be moved by the suffering you were causing? How could you look at other humans as nothing more than cattle? How could you lock them in a cavernous dungeon with only a tiny window to allow air and sunlight into the space, with human waste two or three feet deep and think there was nothing wrong with it.

Sorry, I don't buy it. Stand in one of those dungeons and see the stained walls where the filth rose to, and tell me you don't smell the stench of human evil.

Jerry