I'm chillin' here watching Amistad on this tranquil lazy Saturday afternoon with everybody here in the Kanes residence and I have to tell you it's a different kind of feeling.
Amistad is one of those movies that I purposely avoided due to the fact that I get quite sensitive about matters dealing with slavey and racism. I don't need to see a movie directed by Steven Spielburg to remind me of this fact. Although I must admit Djimon Hounsou is an attractive man and here's a fun fact: one of the languages the Africans are speaking is Wolof. I understood one word.
The thing that gets me in this movie and in others (Roots) is that African people are the ones that sold other Africans into chattel slavery. Yes, I know the institution of of slavery has been around for a very very long time and when there was war there were slaves. The movies told me nothing new.
But now that I'm on the Continent and in Senegal which was a large player in the slave trade, I have to wonder...is this the land where my ancestors were originally taken? Are these people that I interact with each and every day, the descendants of the very ones that allowed for my ancestors to be taken to America?
There is no way to be sure. It's a pointless question that I have asked myself many times.
The only thing I know for sure is that I reverence the past. The reason why I came to Africa was to form the connection that was lost in the greed and hatred that was the American slave trade. I want to build my bridge back to Africa.
I suppose my thoughts on this subject will continue once I am able to view and step foot on Goree's Island. Ramadan is almost over. So that will be sooner than later...inch'allah (if God is willing).
