By
Nathan 'Jolly' Green. June 22, 2020.

Is there
a time and place for apologising even if you are not personally
guilty? Perhaps, but all situations are different.

It is
important to remember that apologising is not necessarily an
admission of guilt; it can also be an admission of responsibility.
Taking responsibility for something that someone else has said or
done within a department, government, or a corporation is common when
you are the one in control of the perpetrator. Some people even go
further than just apologising for the actions of others; they often
resign their position of power.

Would
you expect to be held responsible for something your predecessors in
a company or government did? How about what your ancestors did, or
what your country did 200 -400 years ago? Well, I suppose it would be
unreasonable to hold a person responsible for the past behaviour of
others. But it does not hurt to apologise for the conduct of others,
particularly if it helps quell the ill feelings of others. But the
apology must be sincere.

Some
African rulers have apologised for their predecessor's involvement in
the slave trade. They apologised knowing full well that it was
Africans that sold Africans and their African ancestors involved in
the trade earned millions from it.

1998,
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told an audience including Bill
Clinton: "African chiefs were the ones waging war on each other
and capturing their people and selling them. If anyone should
apologise, it should be the African chiefs. We still have those
traitors here even today."

Ref:
Smith, David. "African chiefs urged to apologise for the slave
trade". BBC News.

Ref: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/18/africans-apologise-slave-trade

1999,
Odeefuo Boa Amponsem III, the King of Denkyira, was elected President
of the National House of Chiefs. During his term heading the national
chiefs, officially apologised to all descendants of victims of the
Trans-Atlantic slave trade for the role that African chiefs played.
The Kingdom of Denkyira itself was enriched by the slave trade and
grew to its greatest strength in the 17th century through a
combination of the gold and human trade.

Ref: https://www.eaumf.org/ejm-blog/aug-10-denkyira-apology

1999,
Benin, Africa: Luc Gnacadia, minister of environment and housing for
Benin said: "The slave trade is a shame, and we do repent for
it."

1999,
President Mathieu Kerekou of Benin (formerly the Kingdom of Dahomey)
while in America astonished an all-black congregation in Baltimore by
falling to his knees and begging African-Americans' forgiveness for
the "shameful" and "abominable" role Africans
played in the slave trade.

Ref:
"Ending the Slavery Blame-Game", The New York Times, April
22 2010.

Adding
to the apology Luc Gnacadia, minister of environment and housing for
Benin, later said: "The slave trade is a shame, and we do repent
for it."

Ref:
"Benin Officials Apologise for Role In U.S. Slave Trade".
Chicago Tribune, May 1 2000.

Researchers
estimate that 3 million slaves were exported out of the Slave Coast
bordering the Bight of Benin.

1999,
West African President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana apologised for his
country's involvement in the slave trade.

Ref:
Ref: "Ending the Slavery Blame-Game", The New York Times,
April 22, 2010.

2000,
West Africa, Benin: In Cotonou, Benin, before an audience consisting
of high-level delegates from Africa, Europe and the Americas, the
president of Benin, Mathieu Kérékou, formally apologised to the
descendants of slaves throughout the world. These two unprecedented,
dramatic events were part of a two-day conference convened by
President Kérékou to start a reconciliation process between the
descendants of slaves, the descendants of slave traders and the
descendants of their African accomplices. In his opening speech,
President Kérékou welcomed delegates from the black Diaspora to
Benin, a country, he said, they "are related to by such links
that the tragic painful mistakes of the dark centuries of our history
have not been able to alter. The president added that "the heart
and conscience of Africans and African Americans are swelled up with
the chapters of four centuries of history written in tears and blood.
He recalled the "sad memories of blood-trailed route, of
ephemeral objects sailing out of view on the sea, of Blacks thrown to
sharks, families parted forever. Recalling "Those men and women
sold in the shameful trade markets, enslaved and turned into mere
cattle on hostile plantations, the president did not shy away from
"our guilty complicities in this hideous trade: the man-hunts
that took place in the hostile forests, moments of great anxiety and
the time of departure for unknown places."

Ref: http://www.theafricanmag.com/Africans-apologize-to-the-black-Diaspora.html

2002,
Ghana, West Africa: The Archbishop of Accra [Ghana] Charles G.
Palmer-Buckle apologised on behalf of Africans for the part Africans
played in the slave trade, and the apology was accepted by bishop
John Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee.

Ref: Tom
Roberts, Ghanaian bishop offers apology for Africans' part in slave
trade, National Catholic Reporter, September 13, 2002.

2003,
USA: Cyrille Oguin Ambassador for Benin Africa, whilst touring
schools and churches throughout the United States offered a formal
apology for the country's ancestries' involvement in the slave trade.
"In the name of the government and the people of Benin, on
behalf of President Mattie Ke're'kou, I say to you all, we are
sorry," says Oguin. "We are deeply, deeply sorry."

Beyond
the straightforward apology, a key part of the ambassador's message
addressed the issue of responsibility. Slave traders only share part
of the blame for what happened centuries ago, he says. "We
believe it is easy to say that those other people did it, but we also
believe that if we are not helping them, if we did not assist them,
if we did not play a role in it, it would not have happened."

Benin's
slave trade reconciliation movement has been under way since 1999,
when the country's president sponsored a conference on the subject.
In addition to healing old wounds, the ambassador says seeking
forgiveness has offered new economic opportunities. Reconciliation,
he says, is the first step to healing old wounds and opening economic
development. "The president of Benin, the people of Benin have
asked me to come here and apologise for the government, for the Benin
people and for Africa for what we all know happened," Oguin
says. "Where our parents were involved in this awful, this
terrible, trade."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/2003/07/10/african-ambassador-apologizes-for-slavery-role.html

2009,
Nigeria, The Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria wrote an open letter to
all African chieftains whose ancestors participated in the slave
trade calling for an apology for their role in the Atlantic slave
trade: "We cannot continue to blame the white men, as Africans,
particularly the traditional rulers, are not blameless. Because the
Americans and Europe have accepted the cruelty of their roles and
have forcefully apologised, it would be logical, reasonable and
humbling if traditional African rulers accept blame and formally
apologise to the descendants of the victims of their collaborative
and exploitative slave trade."

Ref: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/18/africans-apologise-slave-trade

Ref:
"Ending the Slavery Blame-Game", The New York Times, April
22, 2010.

2010,
Libya: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi apologised for Arab involvement
in the slave trade, saying: "I regret the behaviour of the
Arabs… They bought African children and then bought Africans then
brought them to North Africa, they made them slaves, they sold them
like animals, and they took them as slaves and shamefully traded
them." Ref: "Gaddafi apologises for Arab slave traders".
Press T.V. October 11, 2010. Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muammar_Gaddafi#CITEREFSt._John2012

2013,
Alabama, USA: African King Kpoto-Zounme Hakpon III of Benin told a
black audience in Alabama, "I want to apologise for the role my
ancestors played in the slave trade….I knew one day I wanted to
come to this land and ask forgiveness of my black brothers and
sisters. I wanted to cross the ocean to see the land where my
ancestors suffered."

Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJbyh0RgmUc

Ref: http://originalpeople.org/king-west-african-country-benin-visits-relatives-alabamas-oldest-black-town/

2017,
February 2, Ghana: A plaque at Elmina Castle [installed] shows the
role African chiefs played in the slave trade and apologises for
letting it happen in the first place. Ref:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNGcKZ7hCWc

2018,
Nigeria: In a statement, Oba Akanbi [Oluwo {king} of Iwo land] said:

Excerpt:
"I regret the involvement of traditional institution in slave
trade. Monarchs were one of the stakeholders that promoted the
ignoble trade. "White men never forced us to sell our children
as slaves. Humans were offered in exchange for glittering material
gifts. Such ignorance shouldn't have survived without the [African]
monarch's consent, which by then were the heads. So, as a paramount
and natural ruler, I am taking the lead to tender our apologies.

Ref:
Article by Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo. June 16, 2018, in News, News
Update.

2018,
African King apologises for slavery, video.

Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thhEqHMBDiI

2018,
October, Jamaica: African religious leaders made an apology to
Jamaicans and the world, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in
Kingston, for the role their forefathers played in the trans-Saharan
and transatlantic slave trade centuries ago.

Led by
Chairman of the African Forum on Religion and Government (AFReG),
Professor Delayno Adadevoh, the leaders asked for forgiveness and
made a number of promises, to work for the betterment of humanity.

http://www.loopjamaica.com/content/watch-african-tribes-apologise-forefathers-role-slavery

Hilary
Beckles is demanding more than $70 billion from Britain and Europe,
but nothing from African countries?

So why
do Afro-Caribbean’s - still deny that slavery was an African thing
for centuries, long before the white man arrived, and want to deny
that Africans sold their ancestors? Here are several Africans who
have apologised after admitting their ancestors captured, kept, and
sold slaves. Has anyone demanded reparations from them or their
country's? Why not? Because it is better to demand reparations from
the white man, it helps with the ingrained racism and hatred that
many Caribbean’s carry and portray.

Plus, Hilary Beckles has a second job, writing and selling books. The books sell much better when the white man can be totally blamed for everything. It does not help his demand for reparations when Africans are in the frame as well; it ruins his book sales.

END

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