More in Black History (not for the queasy)

By Simeon Gant

One old adage and title for a 1974 thriller, “Gator Bait” has recently resurfaced in the vernacular of both Whites and Blacks. Originally, the term is a racial slur, common in the southern states and often brushed off as just another “harmless” joke. But an even giving a deeper analysis into the origins of “Gator Bait” reveals a disturbing practice more common during the pre-Jim Crow era of America’s oppressive dynasty.

Otherwise known as Alligator Bait, the term derives from an activity conducted by white men, mostly in the swamps of Louisiana, Florida and throughout the South who hunted alligators for their highly sought-after resource of meat and skin. These alligator hunters needed to lure the larger bull alligators with human flesh and blood. During the slave era, African ancestors in America were only considered three-fifths human being. So without regard to the fact that these people were actually real, 100 percent humans, the alligator hunters kidnapped black infant and toddler children (babies), skinned them alive, tied their neck to a string and dropped them into the swamp, dangling them near the mouths of hungry 600 to 800 pound alligators.

A basic Internet search will provide scant knowledge of this little known American history, but one Black artifact collector who stumbled across a story by a white man retells the story on You Tube. The story is brutal as he vividly reveals an activity the white artifact dealer says his grandfather use to revel in. The collector asked, “What would these babies do?” The dealer answered, “My grandfather said they would just cry and scream.”

These black babies were stolen from their families, caged and then fed to alligators whole. The activity is retold in various forms from researched documents, most notably the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia in Michigan. Without question, we have progressed in this country — from overt racism and slavery to subtle forms of the same thing. Terminology like “gator bait” is considered a deadly threat to every black person in this country. For those who would like to see the clock turned back, the term is no less harmful than any other word once used as the language of men who killed families because they were African-American.

Today, many whites, conservative and progressive alike, balk at the discussion of slavery and racial slurs. Their preference is to move forward by refraining from discussing the past. However, when the past is resurfaced by individuals who use racist terminology, images of violence reoccur and acceptance of such language becomes dangerously close to history repeating itself.