ontological slavery is the enslavement of a people "a priori" - the decision that a people are "enslavable"

"ontology" = study/nature of being. ontological slavery is a worldview that says some group is fit to be slaves the way a book is fit to be read.

ontological slavery is the reason why a word like "abeed" can mean "nigger" and "slave" simultaneously.

ontological slavery is the reason why laws against enslavement of christians or muslims were generally & widely ignored if said christian or muslim was Black.

ontological slavery is the reason why a spanish priest could blast the enslavement of indigenous peoples of the caribbean, demand that it be ended, & find the spanish empire's solution - enslavement of the indigenous peoples of africa instead - a perfectly acceptable substitute.

ontological slavery happens before the enslaver interacts directly with the enslaved. they have already decided what you are, what is & isn't acceptable to do to you, what "rights" & "freedoms" you do or don't have. what happens to Black people from there is just the details.

many beings have been ontologically oppressed for some period of time, by someone, at one point or another.

what is unique about anti-Blackness is the *global consensus* on the status of Black people, and its enduring length - since at least the 7th century (the 600s) A.D.

to falsely place ontology & materialism as somehow incompatible with one another is, depending on who's doing it, either a mistake or a lie.

metaphysical presumptions about the world shape physical acts within the world, & vice versa.

they are inseparable.

if you can understand the concept of ontological oppression (slavery is of course a kind of oppression), then it is easier to grasp how the decline of *legal* slavery can coexist with the persistence of *ontological* slavery. fruit & flowers can disappear while roots stay strong.

from there, things like interpersonal interactions, cultural practices, current events, historical episodes or patterns, & other aspects of the social world can be placed in a proper context to begin to understand what binds them all together. & how to tear it all apart.

there's no good reason concepts like this should require a phd to understand or explain lmfao. this is our attempt to contribute to wider & deeper understanding.

for another, much more detailed & sourced breakdown, try:

"What is Ontological Subjugation?
Why Europeans Used Black African Slaves: Black Ontology and Ontological Materialism, & Capitalism as an Abstraction"

MerriCatherine https://medium.com/@merricatherine/what-is-ontological-oppression-2ff6a2459b1e