Internal Slavery

Slavery is one of most cruel acts done by “white people” in human history. So why was Slavery possible? Although it’s the historical truth that “white people” hunted black people in forests like collecting insect, there’s another way to collect Negros: “White masters” bought black people from “Black masters”. Namely there were collaborators who sold fellows to white people; Slavery was sustained not only by “white people” but “black people” living in Africa. This is an important factor.

I have a book named, “A History of INDIGENOUS SLAVERY IN GHANA” written by Akosua Adoma Perbi on my desk. The following is the knowledge from this book. Before Europeans came to the land of Gold Coast (today Ghana), there had been “indigenous slavery”. However here’s a problem to use the word “slave”. According to the author, the one in the African context is so different from the one by Anglo-Americans that we can’t call it “slave”. And when you see the word “slave”, you would imagine the one who were severely exploited without human rights and treated as a commodity or an animal. But in Ghana “slave-like slave” was regarded as a human.

 “The characterization of a slave as chattel was however, not part of the Ghanaian slavery experience. In Ghana the slave was regarded as a human being and was entitled to certain rights and privileges. (P-4)”

And foreigners witnessed the treatment of slaves then.

“Basel missionary Zimmerman noted that slaves were well treated by their owners and this was a normal situation. He commented as follows: With the normal situation where the master treats his slaves in a fatherly way, the slaves leave only in particularly tense situations or out of their own light-headedness or disobedience. (P-120)”

Slave was a human being in Ghana while it was commodity for “white people”. Although it’s however very inconvenient that there is no appropriate word for “slave” and “slavery” in Ghana, I think you have understood that slave in Ghana was not the same as slave for Anglo-Americans.

Nevertheless it is true that this “Indigenous Slavery” pushed black people into becoming real slave in Americas, even if they were treated as human beings. For instance once a war happened between tribes and prisoners of war became slaves of the winner, they were easily sold to “white people” because people don’t normally sympathize with people from other tribes, and rather chief of winner could get profit from selling their slaves. This would be the Roots of corruption in Africa today.

When Europeans tried to exterminate the owner of land of America “Native Americans”, which is genocide, “they” provided alcohol to get Native American addicted to it; “they” killed America Bison on which Native Americans relied (because of “white people”, America Bison is on the edge of extermination); and whenever “they” found conflicts between tribes, “they” agitated them and supplied weapons to both sides. Actually this is the typical way of “white people” to conquer and destroy other lands for “their” business. Because whoever wins, “they” can make profits from selling weapons. That’s why War continues today. This is one of Roots of “white people”. You remember the words of Nkrumah: “(…) the enemy is intangible, invisible and impersonal, (…) Imperialism and colonialism die hard, and what they fail to achieve in one form they try in another.” Actually 150 years ago, “white people” did their ordinary job in Japan as well to mess up Japan and sell weapons.

In any event it is true that indigenous slavery assisted Slavery of “white people” and there’re sadly collaborators in Africa who made profits from selling fellows. Conflict is Market for “white people” and Integration is a weapon against “white people”. Thus we must be all connected each other.