OUR HISTORY NEVER STARTED WITH SLAVERY

A message by the President of New African Chapter on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic on 25th March, 2017.

For no apparent reason when the history of the Black race is being told, it starts from slavery. But before then our history had a lot of positives, in fact slavery is just a tip of the iceberg. We were ruled by kings (Mansa Musah the richest man of all time, Sundiata, etc); we had empires (Songhai empire, Mali empire,  Ghana empire etc); we had heroes ( Hannibal, Attila etc); and we were the first to start documenting ( the famous library of Alexandria- Egypt).

A quote from Marcus Garvey says "if black people were aware of their glorious past, then they will be more inclined to respect themselves. The time has come for the Blackman to forget his hero worship of other races and to create and emulate heroes of his own."

Indeed, Africa has always been the cradle of civilization before the ugly picture of the transatlantic slavery was painted, which has left mother Africa in tattered penury, destitute and impoverished; but conversely amassed generational wealth for the West.
Our ancestors were jettisoned like some rubbish when there was shortage of food and water. Our beautiful women were raped while the weak and sick ones were left to die. Perhaps our ancestors' biggest mistake was to trust the Whiteman who initially appeared as a friend, trader and missionary but was rather something entirely different and dangerous. As the saying goes "trust is a form of weakness, so be careful with whom you trust".

As a race, we are not proud of this part of our History. It sends shivers down our spines when we talk about it. However, a people who have no knowledge of their history will never have a clear vision of the future.

For your brief enlightenment, "Slavery is the state of being under the control of another person, whether openly or clandestinely". The Atlantic Slave Trade or Transatlantic Slave trade took place across the Atlantic Ocean from the 15th through the 19th Centuries. The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported to the New World, mainly on the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, were Africans from the central and western parts of the continent who had been captured to Western European slave trade.

Indeed, America's agriculture industry became vibrant majorly due to the black slaves' hard work on their farms. Some of these slaves make their marks in technology: Nathaniel Alexander invented the folding chair in 1911, while Fredrick McKinley Jones  invented the first automatic refrigeration system for trucks and has 60 patents for inventions to his name. As you would expect, these slaves never got the credit they deserved for their works.

These Slaves were mistreated and  disallowed to vote until the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X,  Marcus Garvey, and Harriet Tubman fought for the little freedom their siblings are enjoying today.
Yes, we believe and know Africa to be the cradle of civilization (Egypt, Ethiopia, etc) yet we are discredited for that too; an experience similar to how the slaves were treated back then. We believe that all people have inalienable rights  and need to be treated equally. However, it is a pity others don't see it that way. Today has once again come to remind us of the toils of our ancestors in foreign lands through Slavery. And we are raising our voice to say that "Slavery was a horrible experience and history and would always be."

Approximately 12 million enslaved people were transported in the transatlantic slave trade, at the rate of 100,000 persons per year. This large-scale organization of European slave trading and the development of industry and massive plantations dependent on slave labor gave rise to a trade in humans that was staggering in its scale. Impoverished. That scale of manpower totally changed their economy.

The question now is, "Has slavery ended or it has disguised itself into  another form?"
As we mark today, let us all rise to observe a minute of silence for all our fellow Africans whose  freedom was taken away by slavery, the heroes of our past.

Bright "Lewicki" Bruce-Acquaye
President and Founder
New African Chapter
(newafricanchapter.org)