Africans selling Africans
Like many people, you might think Europeans captured Africans to enslave them in the so-called New World. This, however, is one of history’s greatest misconceptions.
After all, for centuries before Europeans set foot on the continent, Africans had been capturing and enslaving fellow Africans. Moreover, they were aping the customary practices of ancient civilizations such as Sumeria, Greece, and Rome.
Hell, even the “more civilized” races on the continent practiced slavery. Notably, the “Book of Exodus” chronicles the tale of human bondage that had Egyptians enslaving Israelites.
So, European slave merchants did not have to capture Africans or force them to become complicit in the slave trade. Indeed, one might argue that the outrage over slavery in Libya is as feigned as the shock over gambling in Casablanca.
Except that most civilizations outlawed slavery in the 19th century. That’s why it’s so shocking that Africans are still selling Africans.
A CNN report published earlier in November obtained footage of an auction, at which migrants stranded in the North African country were sold for as little as $400.
For thousands of migrants from across sub-Saharan Africa, Libya is the last stopping point in Africa before making a perilous journey across the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching Europe.
(Newsweek, November 23, 2017)
African migration or conflict
Alas, millions of Africans risk life and limb trying to become migrants in Europe or end up as enslaved people right there in Africa. Imagine the lives of utter desperation that would lead to such a Hobson’s choice.
But it’s even worse than that. Because Africans killing Africans has, sadly, become a defining feature of this so-called Dark Continent.
Frankly, whenever Western eyes are on Africa, we see tribal conflicts causing everything from famine to genocides and all manner of human suffering in between. I have decried these tragedies in more commentaries than I care to count. They include
- “Help! Ethnic Cleansing and Forced Starvation Persists in Africa” on December 1, 2005;
- “Yes, Save Darfur! But What about Zimbabwe?” on February 8, 2008;
- “Rwandan-Style Violence Erupts in Congo … Again” on October 29, 2008;
- “DR Congo’s Heart of Darkness Gets Even Darker” on December 4, 2012;
- “South Sudan Continues Descent into Heart of Darkness” on April 25, 2014; and
- “#BringBackOurGirls Lost in the Dustbin of Public Consciousness” on April 18, 2016.
That’s why reports about Africans selling Africans are not inciting as much outrage as one might expect.
Scourge of post-colonial Africa
Imagine being a Nuer in South Sudan. In that case, you’d probably consider being sold into slavery in neighboring Ethiopia a blessing. After all, Dinkas are waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Nuers in South Sudan. Indeed, it’s eerily reminiscent of the campaign Hutus waged against Tutsis in Rwanda.
I have often lamented that post-colonial Africa seems fated to loom amidst the continents of the world as a dark, destitute, diseased, desperate, disenfranchised, dishonest, disorganized, disassociated, dangerous, and ultimately dysfunctional mess.
Accordingly, I have often conceded that blacks born in America and the Caribbean should thank their lucky stars that neither Abraham Lincoln nor Marcus Garvey succeeded in “repatriating” us to Africa. In other words, notwithstanding slavery and its racist legacy, thank God we are here and not there!
It’s a bitter pill, undeniably blunt, perhaps even ruthless. But there’s no denying I’m just calling a spade a spade.
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