Cape Coast Castle: Canons
You can view my journey to two of Ghana’s former slave dungeons if you missed it.
It pains me to look in the face of a black person who says they’re not African with disgust. They cut off their own nose like what was done to the Egyptians. When you come to Africa you will realize you are nothing but African. The diaspora struggle with shame of their African ancestry because they lack knowledge of the history. It is either not taught, or they choose not to seek. Children tease you and call you “African” as if it’s an insult. They laugh at African names and shun the continent.
We don’t realize that in doing so we have taken the baton from the Europeans. People of African decent that live in the West Indies and Americas are not of Caribbean or American ethnicity. I know very few Caribs and very few Native Americans.
Some people still don’t know that Africa is a continent with over 50 countries. It takes me back to a conversation where a man scolded me for having gone big University and asking him foolish question ‘bout which country in Africa a person visited. His friend thought I was stupid and for a second even I wondered and then had to reassure myself that Yes, Africa is a continent, not a country. They still did not believe me, they laughed, shook their heads in shame and disbelief at my ‘ignorance’. You have to forgive incidents like this.
It’s the danger of a single story as Chimamanda Adichie rightly puts it. People are shocked to see big houses and fancy cars on the roads. They are shocked when they visit Africa and see class and luxury they never had or could ever experience in their own countries. We are still surprised that St. Vincent can fit into Ghana 613 times and Barbados 553 times, whose currency is higher than the Barbados Dollar. Or how about this, the entire Caribbean (English, French, Dutch, Spanish speaking) of over 7,000 islands can fit into Nigeria almost 4 times. We collectively are a region, yet one African nation would have many regions. Ghanians laugh at the population in each Caribbean country, Kenyans hold their bellies and fall out their chairs and Nigerians’ heads tilt with dropped jaws and blinking eyes, they can’t even move lol. They all think I can easily be Prime Minister!
I know the difficulties in placing ones self. After being cut off from history and having no clue of our tribe or language, we simply identify with where we are at the moment. We have even gone as far as continuing the battle between the colonizers over Africa by fighting over British vs. U.S English with such pride. Colour vs. color, organization vs. organisation – who cares! Learn it in Twi, Wolof, Swahili or Shona.
Perhaps I am able to seek identity easier than others because of my own identity struggles. I am Vincentian yet Vincentians ask me where I’m from. While in Barbados, Barbadians ask me where I’m from. While I lived in the U.S, I was asked where I’m from. In Europe however I’m an African. So in a way I’ve had a clean slate to choose from J. Where I am from is both my birth and ethnicity. I’m an African that was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The trip to the Castles made me realize I am harvesting where I have not reaped. It makes me have more respect and value for life. After all of this painful history I am achieving less than my ancestors, with more at my disposal. I’m not pushing a message to anyone because everyone has a right to choice. However, I have learned more about our plight in history and cannot sit by as if the book closed at abolition. Slavery still continues in human trafficking and in our minds. The dungeons are trucks traveling across a highway with children, the tunnels are high-tech and the detention cell is a room in someone’s house with no windows and a lock on the door, it’s in the deplorable work conditions at a factory.
I pray that more people of all backgrounds visit history for a moment and return. You can make an impact by ensuring that your career, company or job changes lives of people in need.
Avoid the trap of being stuck in the past however. Like the runner, step back and return to grab the baton but run forward as fast as you can!
you go girl great story