re: #153 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo

Slavery apologists put a lot of emphasis on Africans selling other Africans to the slave traders, as though it is the Africans’ fault in general that some of them were willing to participate in the trade. Of course this happened, Europeans did not usually go into the hinterland to round people up. The apologists ignore, though, that European goods, especially firearms and gunpowder, soon made the slave catchers dominant and powerful. It was this, and not some general moral deficiency among Africans, that led to large scale African involvement in the trade.

One of the documents I have my students read is a letter from the King of the Kongo to the King of Portugal to demonstrate the unequal relationship between Europe and Africa in the 15th century. In the letter, he pleads with the King of Portugal not to enslave his people, but by this time, the Kongo was dependent on European goods. So, the King of the Kong had to walk a fine line.