Expressions of Oppressions

I just finished reading The Black Holocaust for Beginners and discovered the rotten roots of another commonly used expression, so I thought I would share it with you. I'll also share another one that I've been trying to educate people not to use for a few years now.  If anyone knows of others, feel free to share with me and I'll post them.

Corner the market
When the slave trade ships arrived in the Caribbean with their sick, abused and stolen cargo of Africans, merchants who were nicknamed 'Scramblers' would be the first to board. They would scramble aboard to get the first look at and the first pick of the most healthy and good looking of the captive Africans. Then they would separate them out from the rest and move them to a corner of the deck to keep them apart. They 'cornered the market'. Please try to be mindful of this expression, don't use it and let others know where it comes from.

Rule of thumb
This phrase became attributed to a judge in England in the 18th century with regards to a ruling about the permissibility of husbands beating their wives as long as the stick was no wider than (or in some accounts, no longer than) his thumb. This link is apparently not substantiated as the phrase was in use long before it, but there are many references to it over time that absolutely make reference to the practice of wife beating and domestic violence. This is a phrase to be avoided I think, in the interests of changing our attitudes and behaviours.

The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.

Sojourners Voice of the Day

My hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A [person] who takes away another [person's] freedom is a prisoner of hatred ... is locked behind bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.

- Nelson Mandela, from his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom