Traders/ Traitors

Not quite African traders, but...you get the gist, no?

 It's amazing what can happen when you search for one piece of information and find another.

 

I saw a program in my church bulletin that would help members gain new skills in learning how to read large texts in preparation for graduate or professional studies coursework.  I decided to take advantage of the program and one of the texts we examined and practiced with was the education booklet for New York’s African Burial Ground, written by Dr. Martia G. Goodson.

In reading about the significant re-internment of the remains of African slaves at the burial ground, I learned that the ceremony was attended by African dignitaries, including Nigeria’s former President Obasanjo. At the ceremony he gave a speech on behalf of the African Union, apologizing for the role that some Africans played in trading their brethren to European slave traders.

  

Upon reading this, I felt shame, guilt...and curiosity. I have heard of Africans selling other Africans before and have also wondered how community members could have allowed so many Africans to be taken from among them for so many years during that period in history. But, reading the acknowledgement by present-day African leaders confirmed it for me and made me look at the new truth square in the face. What if I were to trace my family tree much farther than just my grandparents and find that not only was there someone missing because they were traded as a slave, but there was also someone who was a trader of slaves? I also couldn’t help wanting to know more about these African slave traders who, sadly, must also be called traitors. Who were they? Was there job considered dishonorable y other members of the community? Were they sly and secretive like gangsters or were they out in the open like sellers at the fruit market? Did they have side deals with African kings and queens? What was their technique (or selection process) for kidnapping and luring their fellow men and women into the slave market? Last but not least, how did guns and alcohol (the items for which they usually traded for) become more significant than human lives?



Traders on Wall Street.

End of last year, ironically, I came across this article in HuffPost Black Voices as I was surfing the web on my Blackberry in Nigeria. Not only was the African Burial Ground located in my present neighborhood, but the infamous slave market was right on Wall Street! Only now, instead of slaves, New Yorkers trade stocks. Crazy. And it raises another question about American capitalism: what happens to human dignity in the race to grow an economy? Now, a question for Nigerian capitalism: how much of the country's present wealth can be attributed to the past trading of Nigerian slaves?

I really don't know the answers. I don't even know if I phrased these questions correctly. They're just some things I can't help but wonder.

God continue to bless the souls of the enslaved who suffered such an unjust betrayal. Their removal caused a great wound to African society. I, too, apologize on behalf of the free who were lucky enough to stay behind, but did not and/or could not stop the wound from bleeding...