I think it is very important to consider this idea that a slave is enslaved at the mental level moreso than the physical level.

You cannot REALLY enslave a person physically if you do not FIRST have him enslaved mentally. He will fight back. Only when you have enslaved his mind will he cooperate in his physical enslavement.

The black African tribal kings hunted down, captured, and put their fellow black brothers and sisters into chains so that they could be sold into slavery in exchange for a little gold and silver (enslavement for a little bling bling).

At that moment in time, the enslaved were physically restrained, but not mentally accepting their enslavement.

It was only over time that they became mentally enslaved, to the point where they accepted their physical enslavement. Then, they passed that way of thinking to their offspring, who never knew anything else.

Two quotes from former REAL slaves back then are instructive of this mental slavery:

When a slave sees a free man, he can think one of two thoughts: Either, 'There is a free man, why is he not a slave like me?' or 'There is a free man, why am I not free like he is?' -- Frederick Douglas

I could have freed more slaves, if only I could have convinced them that they were slaves. -- Harriet Tubman

This is the mindset of many people living in North Korea now. It is also the mindset of many peole in the "Land of the Free" today.

THAT is the heart of the matter.