Going to Ghana for me is always a special joy. Curiously the matter that excites me the most is making a tour of the Elmina Slave Castle in the Central Region of Ghana. The place is steeped in the history of the slave trade. It was from this point that millions of Africans were sent into slavery. There is the particular place known as “Point Of No Return” from whence the captured slave learns the grave truth that he can no longer come back to his dear homeland.
Imagine what would be in the mind of a captured slave when he reaches that point of no return in which he must perforce board a ship to the New World! The hapless fellow of course comes to the harsh reality that he would no longer set his eyes on his own people ever again. It is akin to the highest point of man’s inhumanity to man.
The Portuguese reputedly captured the first African slaves in Elmina in 1441 AD. By 1471 the trade had grown and the Portuguese settled in the land. The Slave Castle was built by the Portuguese in 1482. Some 600 Portuguese soldiers built the castle. The Portuguese held the place for all of 155 years before they were displaced by the Dutch invaders.
The Dutch took effective occupation in 1637 and stayed on for 251 years. The fort on the hill of Elmina was built for the Dutch soldiers in 1665. By 1872 the place fell to the British who ruled for 85 years before Ghana
It was not a pretty sight beholding the cells for the male and female slaves. The top floor was reserved for the white administrator to have a good view of choosing the best female slave to have for each night! A dark windowless room was reserved as punishment place for disobedient slaves to stay there until they die. The only peephole into the horrendously dark place was for the soldiers to see when the punished slave had died!
The white administrator has Psalm 132:4 emblazoned in the castle: “This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.”
The Africans have since put up a plaque of their own at the entrance of the castle on which is written:
In Everlasting Memory
Of the anguish of our ancestors
May those who died rest in peace
May those who returned find their roots
May humanity never again perpetrate
Such injustice against humanity
We the living vow to uphold this
Slavery has been a very controversial matter in the annals of Africa . There are those that would argue that the African notables who sold their brothers and sisters as slaves should take more of the blame than the white slavers. Whoever is to take the blame, the point is that slavery is inhuman. The relics of slavery that I saw at Elmina was so revolting as to make one question the idea of complementary humanity.
Even as slavery is unarguably bad, the reality of life in Africa today has led to the issue of Africans today willfully asking to be taken as slaves in Europe and America Africa . It is against this background that one recalls the quip of the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali: “Thank God, my great grandfather got a place in that slave ship!”
The colonization of the African mind these days happens to be the worst point of no return as opposed to setting eyes on the slave ship of yore. The rampant corruption all over the land unleashed by conscienceless leaders has made the citizens to lose all hope of achievement within the continent. It is becoming a given that one is doomed to sure death unless one steps out of the shores of Africa .
The enslaved mind is of course worse than a body bound up in chains. The chains can always be broken especially with the example of slaves like Olaudah Equiano who bought over their freedom and prospered in life. There is a crying need to address the slave mentality currently holding sway all over Africa. God, give us leaders!
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