1: This is to join the trending online discussion of the necessity of smashing monuments erected in memory of slave-trading, cultural, historical, and political leaders in Africa; Nigeria, more specifically.
2: These efforts, led by scholars, are aimed at educating one another on the bloody deeds of "national" heroes in the trans-Atlantic trade. The call has centered mainly on public monuments dedicated to some of these slave trading Africans. I agree with the questioning. But there are some quibbles that I consider important, and which I believe must be discussed.
3: Pulling down monuments in Lagos, Kaduna, Legon, Ibadan, and other locations that have such ought not be construed to be of the same import as knocking down statues of rabidly pro-slavery, irremediably racist, anti-Black, 19th century secession leaders in the US. Bringing down statues of racist slave traders in Liverpool and other ports is motivated by opposition to the enduring legacies of the anti-Black racism that nurtured the North Atlantic engineers of the slave trade. What difference does it make whether the icon-smashing is in Kano, Khartoum, or Liverpool? A lot, I want to suggest.
4: Efunsetan Aniwura, Efunroye Tinuubu, Adele, Kosoko, the slave trade champions who ruled in Agbome, Wida, Kumasi, Eko, and among the Kongo were not motivated by anti-Black racism. In fact, they were not infrequently anti-white. Efunroye Tinubu was one of such. Can one be an anti-white slave trader in West Africa? Yes, it is possible. They could also be decidedly anti-patriarchy. This is the reason Efunsetan Aniwura rose to prominence in Nigerian history. Both women, by the way, are of Abeokuta descent, a major fulcrum of global interchanges after 1850 and which, till the 1890s, rivaled the port of Lagos in importance. The African merchants facilitated the capture and sale of undoubtedly othered people, not Blacks. Their North Atlantic partners, resident or non-resident, were trading in Blacks. The African leaders of the trade must have grasped the racism of their trading milieu. They chose not to address it in consequential ways. The tragedy of their inactions reverberates still. My point is not to absolve these leaders. Slavery was not imported to Africa by evil white bodies. African "strong" men and women were very good at the trade, perhaps even more adept in it than Europeans. They probably knew the land better. We should use a blunt spike to suture the mouth that says otherwise. African leaders, like self-interested rulers in all lands, went to great lengths to censor widespread, non-official, marking of the impact of the trade and, as well, constructed elaborate methods of controlling its meaning.
5: Many of the African kingdoms and chiefdoms were completely destroyed or reshaped beyond recognition by the consequences of the very trade that enriched some of the leaders. The people rose up against their leaders in documented instances. (Efunsetan Aniwura, for example, was assassinated by two of her slaves and not white people.)
6: Official and structural anti-Black racism persists in virtually all North Atlantic legacy nations and territories (except in Haiti) and in settler colonies of the south (South Africa, for example).
7: Current struggles in North Atlantic countries are continuous with a long history of fighting racist, anti-Black, social and economic injustices. The goal, since the first slave resistance on the first slave ship, is gaining a room to "breathe," gaining a space to live. It must not be mistaken for theatrical catharsis. The goal is restitution to descendants of the enslaved. I write to plead that my African colleagues recognize this particularity, respect it, and stand aside, if they cannot contribute to it.
8: It makes a difference that African activists do not dilute the necessity of restitution to Black people struggling to BREATHE in North Atlantic territories. Africans should back up the nation-specific struggles going on in the US at the moment.
9. To my mind, it is difficult to assimilate Tinubu and Aniwura into anti-racism—specifically anti-Black racism—protests without muddying the water. This is a call for scholarly and tactical nuance. It should be Black Lives Matter all the way.
Thank you.
Comments
Post a Comment