Over 400 years passed as the awful practise of slavery persisted. The scale of the forced migration was unprecedented in human history.
Millions of African children, women, and men were taken from their families and countries of origin and trafficked over the Atlantic; their communities were broken apart; their bodies were turned into commodities; and their humanity was denied.
A history of pain, crime, brutality, and exploitation characterises racialized chattel slavery.
It is a history marked by extreme injustice. The slave trade destroyed the African continent and prevented its growth for centuries, just as it supported the wealth and success of the colonisers.
That is a brutal and barbaric past. Slavery exemplifies humanity at its worst, from the slavers, ship captains, and plantation owners to the financial institutions, insurance companies, and businesses that supported it.
But it is also a story of incredible bravery that exemplifies human nature at its best. It begins with slaves who triumphed despite overwhelming odds and continues with abolitionists who spoke out against this heinous crime.
Nonetheless, the transatlantic slave trade’s legacy still looms large in our lives.
The social and economic disparities of today can be directly linked to the time of colonial domination.
There are still noticeable differences in wealth, income, health, education, and opportunity, which are all remnants of slavery.
Even in the revived white supremacist hatred of today, the racist cliches that were made common to justify the barbarism of the slave trade. People of African heritage continue to live in the long shadow of slavery, carrying the transgenerational trauma with them and having to deal with prejudice, exclusion, and marginalisation.
Governments worldwide should include teachings on the origins, effects, and long-reaching repercussions of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in school curricula. The history of Africa and the people who migrated from Africa, who have improved communities everywhere they have lived and achieved success in every sphere of human endeavour.
The stories of courageous resistance, resiliency, and defiance must also be studied and taught. The account of Jamaica’s Queen Nanny of the Maroons, whose tenacious resistance efforts forced the British Empire to file a peace suit.
The accomplishments of Queen Ana Nzinga of Ndongo, whose shrewd diplomatic manoeuvres and military victories prevented Portugal’s imperial ambitions and who served as an inspiration for generations to freedom movements.
Sojourner Truth had the guts to fight for her independence after being born into slavery, and she later used her powerful abilities to aid others in achieving their goals.
The Imamate of Futa Toro, who reigned during Abdul Kader’s time in modern-day Senegal, forbade the slave trade about a century before it was abolished in the United States.
By educating people about the history of slavery, United Nations can prevent some of humanity’s most heinous tendencies.
It can expose the racism of our own era by examining the dominant presumptions and ideas that allowed the practise to proliferate for millennia.
And by paying tribute to those who perished as a result of slavery—whose victims are remembered by the Ark of Return, which is commemorated in the square outside this hall—we help those whose dignity was so brutally taken back.
