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The dirty little secret about slavery is that the Africans were just as involved in it as Europeans and Americans were. Slavery began in the Caribbean on sugar plantations, and initially the slaves were natives. Problem was that they died off, mostly from malaria but also from overwork. African natives were more hearty and could stand up to the work better, which made them preferred, and initially the slavers went to Africa and captured people there to take away. But that was slow, expensive and hazardous, and a better deal was soon found. Local tribes living near the coast made a deal with the slavers: the locals would capture their neighbors and bring them to the coast, and sell them to the slavers. The slavers would pay with finished goods from Europe such as iron pots and pans or cloth or other manufactured goods. Thus, the vast majority of African slaves used in the New World were made slaves by other Africans. This didn't offend the sensibilities of the Africans at the time, who already used slavery locally, and in any case there was no sense of being "African" to them. They were members of their own tribe, not members of some larger affiliation associated with their continent. There's nothing good to say about slavery except that it's over. We're still living with the consequences of it and it may be centuries before those effects fade completely, if they ever do. African nations today are stuck in a cycle of poverty which is unimaginable to the West, and indeed are stuck in what is almost a form of national indentured servitude due to foreign loans. In many cases it takes a large portion of those nations' foreign income just to pay interest. This has got to end, and there is finally slow painful motion in the direction of debt relief. It must move faster and be more complete. There are many problems in sub-Saharan Africa and they probably can only be solved with money. The nations of sub-Saharan Africa have been pleading for increases in foreign aid and haven't been getting it. So they've decided to try a new tact and to demand money as reparations for slavery. This is wrong. First, it was a very long time ago, and no-one alive today was alive at the time that slavery in the US was abolished. Second is that none of the modern nations of Africa existed then, so even if reparations are due it's not clear that they should be the recipients. Third is the involvement of the Africans themselves in the slave trade. Fourth is that slavery still exists in Africa itself even though it's been abolished here in the US, which makes a mockery of claims of victimhood. This is sheer opportunism, the cult of victimhood writ large. How long a memory should we have for past wrongs? If any horizon makes sense, it should be for the duration of human lives. Any event whose victims are all dead of old age should be left in the past. Sub-Saharan Africa desperately needs money, but this is not the way to get it. (discuss) Update 20010730: The president of the National Urban League says the Bush administration should not dodge debate over whether the United States owes compensation to blacks because of slavery. I fully agree. We should stand up and forthrightly state that we don't owe any compensation at all to anyone who is not actually a freed slave. |
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