By George Alleyne
Transatlantic slave traders
got their way and cooperation
from some Africans because
kings and other community
leaders were made proverbial
‘offers they cannot refuse’
wherein they be facilitators
of slavery, die, or worse yet –
become slaves themselves.
Faced with threats to their
lives or own enslavement and
that of their community, many
African kings and other leaders
in sub-Saharan communities
opted for cooperation with
slave traders, and some even
got into the trade themselves.
This account, recently given
by University of the West Indies
Vice-Chancellor, Hilary Beckles,
deals with the issue of black
involvement with this slave
trade, a question with which
many — including descendants
of those who survived transatlantic
slavery – have struggled
to come to grips.
Beckles, a renown historian
who has authored over 21
books, including 17 on slavery,
said last Friday that when
confronted by slavers backed
with the military might of
their European governments,
African leaders had to decide
whether to fight in battles they
were sure to lose or cut deals of
cooperation that would spare
their immediate community
in exchange for other ethnic
groups.
He said that from the era
from the 16th Century and over
300 years, the average king had
three choices in the face of
powerful slavers: 1) stand his
ground and refuse to hand over
fellow Africans and fight “and
many of them fought and they
were wiped out; 2) you could
make a deal, ‘don’t take my
people but you could take my
neighbours’”; or 3) “don’t take
my people but I will allow you
access through my country. So,
from the interior I would allow
you to pass through my country
in the way to the coast. I
give you the access in exchange
for not taking my people.”
His explanation was in
response to a question from
the floor querying why historians
do not often discuss the
involvement of Africans in the
transatlantic slave trade.
“Those African governments
were placed in the most extraordinary
complexed environment.
But most of them, if not
all of them that resisted and
opposed the juggernaut called
the slave trade were destroyed.
They were destroyed government
by government.”
Beckles said that no doubt
there were local participants
in this slave trade, a criminal
practice that comprised a triangular
journey from Europe
to the West African Coast then
to the Americas, including the
Caribbean.
“It is impossible to commit
a global crime without a local
partner,” Beckles said.
“But the presence of a local
partner doesn’t make the crime
any less evil and wicked because
the global organisers of crime
always have small groups of
local partners.”
Explaining the complex and
tyrannical circumstances African
leaders faced during that
slave trade, Beckles cited an
example.
“We have the records of the
Royal African Company that
Borough Prez Adams offers overdose prevention training
Caribbean L 20 ife, March 22–28, 2019 BQ
was established in 1672 to supply
10,000 Africans to the colonies
in the Caribbean. It is
owned by the King of England
and family,” the vice-chancellor
said and detailed how these
slave ships of this company
owned by the British royalty
was accompanied by “an armada
to West Africa to get those
Africans.”
He said that troops from
the military armada built a
fort as ‘a warehouse’ for captured
slaves. “The locals can’t
stop them. They arrive in these
small states and they tell them
‘you deliver a 1,000 of the
neighbours, or we will take
1,000 of yours,” Beckles said as
he pointed out that small and
even some big African states
were unable to confront the
military might of these ‘joint
stock companies.’
There followed negotiations
by these kings as a matter of
survival.
Beckles said that annals of
the slave trade show messages
from Whitehall, the seat of
British government, instructing
troop commanders to kill
certain African kings who were
found to be resistant to the
slave trade.
“Instructions were coming
from London to assassinate
African kings who are standing
in the way. We have the records.
And we have the names of the
people who were supposed to be
assassinated.”
The Barbadian professor
said, “the era of the slave trade
was the era of the beginning of
terrorism where African governments
were terrorised.”
“Those small nations that
decided to play a part were
Professor Hilary Beckles. Photo by George Alleyne
given guns to enable them to
perform the role as partners,”
he said, adding, “Europe’s largest
export to Africa in the 18th
Century was guns…in order to
facilitate the slave trade.”
Beckles said that African
resistance continued in many
instances despite the fall of
governments to the European
brute force.
“The people regrouped even
without leadership to fight
against them.”
Pointing to an example of
how “that memory still exists”
among Africans, he spoke of
his discovery three years ago
during a visit to the southern
Nigerian port city of Calabar.
“There is a very distinguished
leader in Calabar whose family
200 years ago were participants
in the slave trade. That family
got their enrichment by being
brokers for the British.
“One of the members of that
family now sits in the Nigerian
parliament.
“But his political seat is
not in Calabar, it’s in Lagos
because the people of Calabar
to this day, 200 years later,
have not forgiven that family,”
Beckles said.
“When he leaves Lagos and
goes to Calabar to his town,
he comes with an armada of
about 200 soldiers because he
is not safe even today in his
own town, because the people
of Africa, they know all the
families that made a deal. They
know who they are.
“It isn’t that that history has
disappeared.”
Beckles tackles thorny issue:
Africans trading in slaves
By Nelson A. King
In light of the nationwide
opioid crisis, Brooklyn
Borough President
Eric L. Adams is hosting
of a series of boroughwide
free overdose
prevention trainings that
teach Brooklynites how
to save lives.
Adams said on Tuesday
that he will redouble
his partnership with the
Brooklyn Alcoholism and
Addictive Services Council
(BAASC), New York
City Police Department
(NYPD), Brooklyn Public
Library (BPL), and the
New York City Department
of Health and Mental
Hygiene (DOHMH) in
offering free trainings to
be held on select dates at
Brooklyn Borough Hall,
BPL branches and community
centers throughout
the borough.
The trainings will start
on March 21.
Adams said participants
will be trained on
how to recognize and
reverse an overdose and
restore breathing using
the lifesaving medication
naloxone; learn how to
become a certified opioid
overdose responder; and
receive a free overdose
rescue kit with naloxone.
According to data
compiled by the New
York City Office of the
Chief Medical Examiner
(OCME) and the DOHMH
Bureau of Vital Statistics,
in 2017 there were
359 overdose deaths in
Brooklyn involving an
opioid, the second highest
total of the five boroughs.
Bedford-Stuyvesant /
Crown Heights, East
New York, Coney Island,
Downtown/Brooklyn
Heights/Park Slope, and
Bensonhurst/Bay Ridge
were the most severely
impacted neighborhoods.
“Naloxone trainings
play a critical role in
increasing access to this
life-saving intervention,”
Adams said. “Opioid
addiction is a community
crisis, and we must have
a community response.
“These trainings are
literally expanding the
opportunity to save lives,
and I thank our partners
and all who will participate
for their willingness
to take on this mission,”
he added.
Anyone interested in
attending one of Adams’
free overdose prevention
trainings can call (718)
802-4299 or visit brooklyn
usa.org/narcan.
/narcan