Updating Our Language - Day 6
“Sold down the river”
The origins of this phrase (once again) come from the slave trade. Enslaved people were literally sold down the river to plantation owners in the south of the United States, where they were (of course) treated horribly.
The use of it in these days is to express betrayal.
Throughout July we will be making posts about updating our language.
We live in a society that has normalized using many words and phrases with racist origins.
Part of the anti-racist work involves acknowledging you have used them, beginning the process of eliminating them from your vocabulary, and gently correcting others when you hear them used.
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