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Dr. Walter Giles has some startling figures about free slave labor. He has a Ph. D. from Rutgers University in engineering, and has worked on numerous U.S. space projects for General Electric. He calculated that the economic value of the free slave labor of Africans in America. He says the amount comes to $20.3 trillion! The National Geographic published a study by the New York Public Library that says in part, “The transatlantic slave trade’s 300-year history shaped the modern world as we know it. It fueled the economic development of Europe, disrupted Africa’s economy, and provided the labor force that laid the economic foundation of the Americas, including the United States.” Yet few people accept the economic benefits of this free labor. This little-known fact is very similar to one Solomon described in Ecclesiastes 9:12-16. He wrote, “There was a small town with only a few people, and a great king came with his army and besieged it. A poor wise man knew how to save the town, and so it was rescued. But afterward no one thought to thank him. So even though wisdom is better than strength, those who are wise will be despised if they are poor.” Now no one is suggesting that we repay those freed slaves $20 trillion. But if we heed Solomon’s wisdom, should we not be grateful for those who contributed so much to who we are today?
