July 20, 2011 Boston - The American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG)
today congratulated the people of Southern Sudan on becoming a
free and independent country. The Republic of South Sudan
declared independence on July 9 and became the 193rd member of
the United Nations a few days later. But as the celebrations
subside and the process of nation building begins, there is a
stark reminder that this "national liberation" remains
incomplete: tens of thousands Southern slaves remain in
captivity in the North. "It is a sad irony," said Dr. Charles
Jacobs, AASG President. "It was, after all, the enslavement of
African villagers that animated and bolstered much of the
rebellion in South Sudan. "And it was reports of modern day
human bondage in Africa's largest country that awoke Americans
to the tragedy in Sudan." "For over five decades the region's
black Africans were oppressed, slaughtered and enslaved by the
Northern rulers who aimed to destroy their cultural and ethnic
identity," Jacobs said. The Southern rebellion aga