Remembering our ancestors...

A few years ago I attended the Annual Tribute to the Ancestors ceremony at Coney Island beach. This is truly amazing, calming and spiritual ritual that happens every year to pay respect to our ancestors who were forced into slavery via the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. It's one thing to be in America, Brooklyn to be exact and gaze into the ocean wondering how brutal the journey of the Middle Passage must have been, however on the other side of the ocean it is a different story. When we first arrived in the Cape Coast on Friday, we visited the Cape Coast Castle. On Saturday we visited Elmina Castle. Both castles are a very old and dingy white as they stand on the coast Ghana. I must say that I was very frustrated and angry after visiting both castles. We visited the actual dungeons in which our ancestors, lay chained at the ankles, feet and necks in dark, hot, humid and dehumanizing conditions. They were kept in these dungeons for months before actually boarding the ships. At this time they were left to lie in defication, urine, menstruation, and vomit. Just standing in these rooms left me with an eery feeling. I was also extremely confused wondering how could people be so evil?

To make matters worse we visted "death rooms" or rooms "of no return." These dark rooms were used for our ancestors who fought back or refused to be raped and abused. They would be taken there to be beaten and die. We visited the Governors Room where women were repeatedly raped. As I looked through the "doors of no return" for the first time, the waters cried in anguish and resistance.

One of the most profound things that I learned during these visits was that the Europeans set up there first churches and schools in the slave castles. Now isn't that something, right under the first Roman Catholic Church in Ghana, people were experiencing the most vicious holocaust to take place on earth. To add icing on the cake some "good" Africans were taken to Europe and "trained" to come back to Africa and become missionaries - and "education" begins...interesting.

Interestingly enough, African Chiefs created plaques formally apologizing for participating in such a dehumanizing activity such at the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Our tour guide made it clear that African Chiefs couldn't imagine in a million years the harsh conditions that their brethren and sistren would face. For servitide in Africa was something completely different.

Here is a photo of an entrance to the male slave dungeon - more photos will be posted when I return home...