A fire engulfed the Nottoway plantation house last week,
devastating much of the building along the
Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New
Orleans. Flames ripped through the massive
mansion, destroying the historic structure
that was completed in 1859 as a plantation
house - before eventually becoming, dig this,
authentic below-the-Mason-Dixon-Line gibberish
- a “place of reflection, education and
dialogue,” given the more than 150 people who
were enslaved there before the abolition of
slavery in the U.S.
According to local news interviews, “Most people are
rejoicing that it burned down because the
plantation kept slaves, and a lot of people
were like, ‘Finally, it burned down. It freed
those souls.’”
But
flip the script: on the GiveSendGo site, some
Johnny Reb/Daughter of the Lost Confederacy
had the audacity to post: “Save the Nottoway Plantation. The Nottoway Plantation is a
symbol of our country’s rich history. Since
1859, she has impacted the lives of thousands
of Americans. Marriages, reunions and
celebrations have all happened on these iconic
grounds. Symbols of Southern heritage are
constantly criticized and under threat of
being erased from our nation’s proud history!
Repairs must be made! We as Americans are
resilient and have always rallied to protect
our nation and its heritage. We are asking you
to help us save this symbol of our great
country!
Southern history is American history. Southern heritage is
American heritage. America wouldn’t be America
without our great Southern forefathers. Let’s
come together and save this glorious icon of
the South.”
Glorious…? Are you serious?
Chris Daigle, president of Iberville Parish, said on
social media that nearly a dozen fire
departments battled the blaze. “No injuries
were reported,” he added.
“Before the fire, the mansion was a resort and event venue,
and its website described it as ‘the South’s
largest remaining antebellum mansion.’” Daigle
called it “a cornerstone of our tourism
economy and a site of national significance.”
Wow - in 2025, pimping and exploiting the living hell of
1860 American slavery.
But let’s keep walkin’ and talkin’.
“While its early history is undeniably tied to a time of
great injustice, over the last several decades
it evolved into a place of reflection,
education and dialogue,” Daigle said. “Since
the 1980s, it has welcomed visitors from
around the world who came to appreciate its
architecture and confront the legacies of its
era. It stood as both a cautionary monument
and a testament to the importance of
preserving history - even the painful parts -
so that future generations can learn and grow
from it.”
I don’t care. I’m happy as hell it burned down. Wouldn’t
you be happy if a concentration camp burned to
the ground? Same goddamn thing!
In all truth, burning-bush truth, this was the headquarters of an American death camp that once corralled up to 176 people into whip-noose-and
gun-servitude - that burned to ash. It was
still hawking itself as a resort and event
center, cashing in on centuries of human
misery.
An eleventh-grade history class could tell you Louisiana
sugar parishes had “deaths exceeding births,”
with life expectancy dropping dead after about
seven years… Let’s party!
You could book the ballroom for your high school reunion
or prom.
You could even honeymoon in one of the “reconstructed”
slave cabins - now rebranded as LUXURY SUITES.
And if the thought of tying the knot at
Auschwitz or dancing your first dance at
Dachau gives you the heebie-jeebies, then what
twisted logic ever made it OK to toast with
champagne, cut a rug and pledge forever in
this gaudy mansion - built by enslaved people
- on grounds where their bones still lie
unmarked and unmourned?
Cue the conflagration: the roof’s on fire, basking in
sweet, sweet retribution. Who needs fire
trucks when you’ve got a flood of crocodile
tears from the folks who treated a slave-labor
site like a five-star resort?
Adding insult to a bloody shotgun wound - I guarantee the
descendants of those Black slaves weren’t
getting a red penny from the operation.
Pimpin’ wasn’t hard, was it?
Here’s another bit of bitter truth: you know it was White
folks celebrating - consciously, deliberately
unconscious and unsympathetic to the horrors
carried out in that building, in the slave
cabins and all throughout the grounds.
I do believe Judge Clarence Thomas held his wedding here,
no surprise.
It is no wonder, given the heartlessness of mainstream
WASP USA, that Black folks struggle with just
dealing with White folks. We’ve seen how so
many of you behave. Since I read and think, I
am left to trust most White folks as far as I
can throw them.
So sure, common sense says about 20 to 30 percent of White
Americans are what generations of my elders
referred to as “good White folks,” but that
leaves a commanding majority - seven or eight
out of ten - who simply don’t like or respect
me, no matter my character or credentials.
They hail from that “the only good nigger is a
dead nigger” Confederate camp.
I celebrate the destruction of this horrific haunted
mansion, and I am appalled and disgusted - but
trust me, not surprised in the least - by
those White folks mourning its ruin.
America’s two predictable polarized sides are alarming:
it’s clear most White folks don’t regard
Blacks as 100% human, and therefore can
forgive and forget the atrocities of real
American history. No guilt for stealing land
from Native Americans, no remorse for stuffing
them on worthless reservations. No guilt for
the barbaric and heinous acts demanded to keep
a people enslaved for centuries. No real
remorse for internment camps or atomic bombs
wiping out Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No guilt
for anything, it seems
We should’ve draped plantations in the same grim hush we
cloak Auschwitz in - yet we treated them like
photo ops and cocktail parties - and now this
is what should’ve happened at the end of the
Civil War. The fact that we didn’t treat
Confederates like traitors is a blot on the
U.S. story we’re still working to rectify.
21st-century Confederates are the MAGA cancer we’re now
dealing with.
I’m here to argue White America - from the Fred and Barney
rank and file to the fat cats and aristocrats
- harbors very, very, very little empathy,
understanding, tolerance or sense of cultural
inclusion that results in diversity and
equality. White separatism and superiority is
what they believe and desire it seems.
Forgive me, but it appears these are some cold-blooded…
you-know-whats.
As someone who’s toured slave plantations in Louisiana and
on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, I
find any plantation where my ancestors were
enslaved - now serving as event centers for
lavish antebellum-themed galas - disgusting
and morbid. It brings me great joy to see any
plantation charred to a crisp. I’m sure my
ancestors are pleased, and that matters most
to me.
I can only imagine how much they wanted to see this house
of horrors burn to the ground.
This feels like poetic justice, yes?
