The second day in Lagos after running, picking up and dropping off letters for the program, Pam, and I set out for Badagry the largest slave port in Nigeria, where Africans caught and sold other Africans to Europeans for the slave trade. We were joined by a young man who was recommended to us by one of Pam’s friends from the assembly, who’s uncle was the chief of the town, Chief Mobee. The town is about 2 hours from where we were in Lagos- lots of dusty countryside, crazy roads and traffic but it was worth the trip.
We first met the chief of the village and then we were taken on a tour to see the shackles and chains that were used to imprison and control the slaves. It is hard to comprehend the kind of fear and horror these slaves had to experience. The ways they tortured slaves was so inhumane, I won’t attempt to describe.
We also saw the tiny quarters in which they were held before going on ships to South America and the Caribbean (the middle passage). Believe it or not, there was a slave that was taken to Brazil, somehow won his freedom and then came back to Africa and became a major slave trader himself. How does that happen?
After slavery ended, I understand that some slaves (and their descendants) who were taken to Brazil came back to Africa to reclaim Africa as their home. Therefore you will see some Brazilian architecture and other signs of Brazilian culture in Lagos.
The most important part of the experience was taking the ferry (actually a very small motorized boat) over to the “Point of No Return.” The boat ferried Pammy, two other African-American women (mother and daughter), their Nigerian-born friend, our guides and me, to another piece of land about a 10-minute boat ride away from the mainland. This is actually what was done with the slaves.
From the boat, we walked the 2 miles the slaves walked chained to each other at their ankles, hands and sometimes their necks to the “Well of Attenuation.” It was a well where all the slaves were taken and forced to drink water that had been bewitched (spiked) by the local black magic “practitioneer”so that when the slaves drank the water, they became calm, malleable, sedated and numb.
From there we traveled another mile on the same land as our ancestors tread to the “Point of No Return”- a large arched structure has been placed there to mark the spot. This is where the slaves are able to see the ocean and were forced on boats to a land completely unknown to them.
I imagined that this place is where that thing happens in the pit of your stomach, your hope dissolves and your fears multiply. They were forced to lay side by side crammed on the floor of the ship in large numbers chained together for the entire journey. There were no provisions made for them to move about or go to the bathroom. I don’t know how they were fed. The journey took 6-8 weeks. Can you imagine?
I was talking to one of the black women with us. I asked her what kind of slave she thought she would be. I know this is something that lots of black Americans ask themselves. She said, “the suicidal kind.”
Of course, I could see her point, but then, I thought, but you have your family with you; it would be hard to leave them; most of us would struggle to live out of the motive of unselfish love and protection. How could you leave your family in such a horrible predicament? I had always thought that I would be a “dead slave” because you know my mouth, and my sense of justice and my augmentative spirit. But that day after hearing what it was really like for the slaves, I could just imagine the fear brought on by such loathsome cruelty. I remembered that I am a “good girl” a “true believer” and optimist. I bet you that I would have tried to be a “good slave.” I think I would be afraid of having my limbs torn apart or my lips stretched, or my arms nailed to a tree. I think I would have obeyed and hoped for the best. Yuk! This kind of makes me sick.
Pammy and I looked at the ocean beyond the point of return and considered all the spirits that have gathered on the beach- many of which had ultimately survived such a devastating and destructive passage. [Believe it or not, while lots of slaves died, the slave traders usually only loss 16% of their “cargo.”] I am sure the cost benefit analysis suggested that 16% was an acceptable loss- therefore no need to improve conditions or do anything differently. Good God! MAN’S INHUMANITY TO MAN.
The British abolitionist, certain African chiefs and missionaries helped to put an end to slavery in 1863. We saw the first bible ever translated into the Yoruba language and one of the first schools established for African children in Nigeria by missionaries. But of course, then the British went onto to colonize Nigeria until 1964. What can you do?
I remember being really heartbroken (almost like when you see your first boyfriend in middle school or high school kissing another girl) when I learned that it was Africans who hunted down and traded slaves to the Europeans. Somehow, I wanted my ancestors to be above reproach, impervious to greed, power, selfishness, cowardice, etc. In exchange for slaves they got all sort of goods(like metals, cannons, etc.) from Europeans. I assume they wanted to subdue others and protect their power. I guess I wanted them to be something other than human.
When history is recorded, being the victim sometimes seems better than being the perpetrator. But then again, I think about what it takes to escape the self-righteousness of being the “wronged” or the condemnation of being the evil doer, or worse yet, the phenomeon of the "wronged" who become the evil doers. (Did you ever read the “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”?- changed my life)
When we stopped by the Well of Attentuation in fact I thought of how sinister it was to drug your prey so that they would cooperate with their own enslavement. And, of course, it brought to mind how many of my folks (black folks) still seem to be drinking from that well.
It takes a lot of faith and courage to rise up out of the psychosis, to reverse the destruction, to channel the anger and resist the nihilism. We are still at it in the U.S. and they are definitely still at in Nigeria. But with courage, faith and love, all things are possible. These virtues come in the human form too. THANK GOD!
V.
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