The values fueled by the apocalyptic encounter in the Americas extended to the slaves taken from Africa. Slavery was age-old, yes, but this was slavery based explicitly on a notion of race, the notion that people were of essentially different types and some were slaves by nature. The trade was going to happen no matter what, for there was money to be made, but anyone making that money needed to feel that capturing humans and working them to death didn’t necessarily mean they were bad people. How could these be part of the same conceptual constellation? Racism provided the bridge. The
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