Merf. Thinking is Hard.The Space Traders is a science fiction short story by Derrick Bell.
Published in 1992, its subject is the arrival of apparently benevolent and powerful extraterrestrials that offer the United States a wide range of benefits such as gold, clean nuclear power and other technological advances, in exchange for one thing: handing over all black people in the U.S. to the aliens. The story posits that the people and political establishment of the U.S. are willing to make this deal, passing a constitutional amendment to enable it.
The story is published in “Dark Matter”. When I read this story it completely fucked me up. I’m still fucked up about it. The aliens won’t say why they want all the black people or what they plan to do with them which adds another layer of OMGWTF. Everyone should go read it and then sit staring at the wall going “HOLY SHIT”
This story fucks me up because I know that exactly what happened in the story would happen in real life.
Exactly! It’s relentlessly plausible. I wanted to be able to say “no..it wouldn’t be that bad” EXCEPT IT TOTALLY WOULD. Bell did not soften the blows which I appreciate.
He wrote a sequel “Redemption Deferred”. I haven’t read it yet (just found the text 1 minute ago)
(Source: youngbadmangone, via troubledsigh)
