The Stolen History .
The last week was a week that the black Africans rose up in unity to destroy the statues of the slave traders in the UK.
The Prime minister came out in defense of the statues and called it a piece of history that must not be destroyed . Boris Johnson is really approaching this issue with a narrow mind of the Victors and the vanquished. The supremacist whites and the black slaves. The history that portrayed the black Africans as slaves of the whites. This did not come as a surprise. Boris Johnson has actually praised colonialism in an Article written for a magazine some years ago before becoming Prime Minister . He stated that Africans would have never known how to plant crops if not for British colonisation. He maintained that Colonisation should not have ended. He criticised Tony Blair for abandoning white farmers in the former British Colony , he was not certainly thinking of how those lands in Africa were acquired. He criticised Obama and emphasised Obama links with Kenya. There is no doubt that Boris Johnson’s sympathy lies with the white supremacists . So when he cited history in a reckless defence of the oppressors statues , he was saying that Africa should not forget that they were slaves and the statues are there to remind them of their status as slaves.
Boris did not consider the wider impact and the sufferness of Black Africans in the hands of the white slave traders. The black Africans were transported from their land to Europe, many young girls were raped inside the ships and in the houses of the masters. Many were thrown overboard, many were beaten to death, many were maimed forever. Some of these slave traders that their statues were pulled down committed this grievous offense , some of them were paedophiles that raped african children in their ships and at home and should be tried posthumously for the offense of crime against humanity.
The white masters changed the meaningful and beautiful African names to their anglicised names that are meaningless to the Africans.
The statues of the slave traders and slave trading combined with colonisation are the worst evils committed against black Africans . Worse than the atrocities committed against the Jews.
To remind them of the wickedness and the inhuman treatment is to make their blood boil over the evils committed against their ancestors and committed against them. The humiliation they suffers everywhere. Accoring to Martin Luther King ” One of the greatest Liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through a a great periods of social change”. There is a new awakening of a social change and the statues should not be allowed to remain.
We need to ask why the statues of Hitler was not erected in Germany as part of their history. They dare not tried it with the jews as all the Nazis and those who participated in the annihilation of the jews are still being hounded all over the world till today.
Why is the Prime Minister of the UK discriminating against the black Africans by maintaining the statues of the oppressors are part of the history that must remain in the UK. This is certainly history that he should be ashamed of. However, Boris glorify in it.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is not sensitive to the plight and the feelings of the black Africans as he pretends not to know what they went through and what they are going through .
Why is it that the black Africans are at the lowest ends of the Scale even in the UK and the Prime Minister closed his eye to this unfairness and injustice meted against them. What step is he taking to remedy their problems?
How many blacks are in Johnson’s cabinet? Is he amongst those who believe in inequality?
This summer of discontent that raised the consciousness and unity of black people all over the world came suddenly when George Floyd was assassinated by a white police officer in USA. The authorities initially failed to arrest the culprits and he would have gone away with it but for the ferocious protest of the african Americans. Their rights have been trampled over for hundred of years .
Most of our Artefacts are in British Museum. They were stolen by the imperialist , the Ori Olokun ( The head of the goddess of sea) from Ife South Western Nigeria is on display at the British Museum . It was initially stolen by a German archaeologist in 1910 but he was forced to return it. It was however stolen.by the British and brought to the UK. Professor Wole Soyinka with the collaboration of the Federal Government of Nigeria tried to recover it in 1978 and actually got one in another country which turned out to be fake . He later realised he was looking at the wrong place when he saw the original in the British Museum. Many Artefacts were stolen from us, our good history have been stolen and the prime minister is not condemning this evil act but praising the history of the thieves and oppressors. Most of these Artefacts shows clearly that Afrcans were not primitive the way they were portrayed by the colonial looters. Their method of carving precious stones and bronze displayed high level of sophistication.
We are living in a sad world where we must not relent on our efforts to fight for equality and Justice . This unity must continue and we must stand as one irrespective of our geographical locations. Offense against one is offense against all. It is only through this we can be successful.
Niyi Aborisade is a Legal Practitioner in the UK and the President of International Movement for Positive Change .
