Last night a few folks for the Sweet Vineyard went to the “Amazing Grace” movie. If you are not familiar with the movie, it tells the story of William Wilberforce, a British Parliament member, who led the fight against the slave trade in the UK.
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It was a great movie – worth seeing, if you get the chance. Since the focus was on William Wilberforce journey, it didn’t focus that much on the horrors of slavery. What it did was show how the leadership of one man helped change the paradigm of an entire nation. This guy, with his supporters, fought for the end of slavery for twenty years!! Most of the time, they had little to no support in Parliament – yet, they kept on fighting. In the end, they won and Britain stopped transporting and selling slaves on March 25, 1807.
While that was where the movie stops, that was not the end of the story. Slave trading was outlawed, but the owning of slaves was still legal. Wilberforce and his supports continued to fight again slavery for 30 more years.
Three days before he died on July 29, 1833, the House of Commons (a section of the Parliament) past a bill for the abolition of slavery. One month later, Slavery Abolition Act was signed into law and all the slaves in the British Empire were free. Totally victory!!
As exciting as the movie was, we must continue Wilberforce’s fight against slavery. Yes – it still exists, even here in the USA. It has gone underground in the form of the sex trade, immigration labor forces, and black-markets for body parts (kidneys, lungs, etc). We, the Church, must continue to take a stand against slavery and human trafficking.
For more infomation: (note that I have not looked extensively at this site):
Human Tracking.org – A Web Resource for Combating Human Trafficking
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