Since Apologizing for Slavery is All the Rage
November 18, 2009 by blackgirlgrown
Filed under international, race
We’ve touched on the recent spate of slavery apologies from the U.S. Congress, to Bill Clinton, to states and cities, and even corporations. All of these public penances are by predominantly white institutions apologizing for the slave trade and and benefits from free slave labor.
The Black Informant has written extensively on the subject and recently wrote about an interesting article from the BBC reporting on how African rulers want an African apology for slavery:
Traditional African rulers should apologise for the role they played in the slave trade, a Nigerian rights group has said in a letter to chiefs.
“We cannot continue to blame the white men, as Africans particularly the traditional rulers, are not blameless,” said the Civil Rights Congress.
The letter said some collaborated or actively sold off their subjects.
The group said it was time for African leaders to copy the US and the UK who have already said they were sorry.
It urged Nigeria’s traditional rulers to apologise on behalf of their forefathers and “put a final seal to the history of slave trade”, AFP news agency reports.
Interesting indeed. Those of us that know our history are aware of African participation in selling their own countrymen into slavery. But it’s not something we really want to give too much (loud) voice to.
As The Black Informant reminds us, like it or not it is our history. His urgency in making sure this story is told:
I think the reason why I personally have become adamant about the full telling of the African slave trade is because I want to dispel this widely accepted myth that the African people were so weak that Europeans were able to simply march in and take over with little resistance. The African continent was known for its military strength. The Zulus and Ashanti (for example) proved to be formidable foes against invading European armies. As Black Americans, we oftentimes boast on the historical strength of the African people. But it seems that we are oftentimes quick to minimize that historical fact by telling and retelling an abbreviated account of the African slave trade. Ultimately, it was greed that broke the backbone of the African continent. Greed from non-African countries and powerful African rulers that sold their own to them.
