Exploiting the Talents of the Damned: Gays, Blacks, and Women

(A mammy was a slave who was forced to nurse the slave owner’s children, oftentimes at the expense of her own children/NOVA)

How hypocritical is it to condemn someone, yet exploit their very essence?

This world has built entire empires off the backs, talents, and bodies of the very people it labels as cursed, unworthy, and damned. History is a mirror that never lies — it reflects how the oppressed have always been the backbone of civilization, even as their humanity was denied.

Damned Because of Skin Color

You called us animals, but trusted us to raise your children.

For centuries, Black people were treated like livestock, auctioned and branded, yet entrusted with the most intimate, sacred task of nourishing the next generation — feeding white children at their breasts while their own babies went hungry.

Called savages, treated as subhuman, yet depended on to nurse, cook, build, and care for the oppressor’s entire household. The hypocrisy is staggering: to degrade a people while secretly knowing you could not survive without them.

Damned Because of Desire

You damned them on Saturday, but begged them to sing on Sunday.

The church has long preached fire and brimstone over homosexuality, casting out worship leaders, musicians, and artists — only to keep calling them back when Sunday service needed a choir director or when a revival needed to “sound anointed.”

The same voices that are demonized Monday through Saturday are used to stir souls to repentance on Sunday morning.

You don’t have to agree with someone’s lifestyle to leave them alone. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” When we condemn others but still exploit their gifts, we show that our judgment is not rooted in holiness — it’s rooted in hypocrisy.

Damned Since Eve

The world damns women in word but depends on them in deed.

Since Eve was blamed for the fall, women have carried the weight of being seen as dangerous, emotional, or unfit for leadership — yet their leadership is constantly relied upon.

It is women who run the classrooms, heal the sick, lead grassroots movements, nurture homes, and keep communities from collapsing. Society damns women in word but uses their strength to repair what it has broken.

Learning to Live Like Humans

Exploitation is just slavery under a new name.

To exploit the very people you call cursed is to admit that your survival is tied to the very ones you hate. And that should humble us.

We must learn to live with people who are different from us — not just tolerate them, but treat them with dignity in their livelihoods. Disagreement does not have to lead to dehumanization.

We are all children of the Gods, some carrying the original breath of the Creator, and yet all made in Its image. If that is true, then we are called to act out of love, not hatred, and to let our actions reflect justice, not exploitation.

Until we stop damning the very people we depend on, we will remain trapped in cycles of hypocrisy — loving what we take from them while denying them the right to exist in peace.

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ABOUT ZHATEYAH

Zhateyah YisraEl is a multi-venture entrepreneur, writer, and creative strategist passionate about reshaping narratives for Black women and amplifying underrepresented voices. As the founder of Z Branding & Business Solutions and visionary behind SISTAH Magazine, she has built an ecosystem that celebrates Black womanhood, cultural pride, and generational wealth.

Zhateyah’s writing focuses on identity, spirituality, empowerment, and economic freedom — weaving together storytelling, history, and practical wisdom to inspire action. 

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