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March 25 March 25 is the U.N. International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of


Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Learn more at www.un.org/en/ events/slaveryremembranceday.


that lasted several days. Once inside its walls, humans were traded for textiles, horses, guns, ammunition and other goods. As the demand for forced labor


increased in the Americas, so did the traffi cking of African people who knew how to domesticate crops like rice and mine such precious metals as gold. T e U.N. estimates that 15 million Africans were traf- fi cked to the Americas and Europe (4 million of whom survived the journey) in a practice that lasted more than 400 years. During my tour of Elmina, the


agonizing signs of the fort’s slave trading history were still visible. A torture chamber door was marked with a skull and crossbones. Cap- tives showing signs of resistance against their oppressors were forced into this tight chamber and deprived of food, water and light until they perished. Women and girls were equally vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse. T ose who fought off their attackers were chained to a 55-pound cannonball and leſt to die in the heat of the African sun. Inside the dungeons, living con-


ditions were so horrifi c and unsani- tary that half of the captives didn’t survive. Aſt er months of confi ne- ment, the survivors were baptized before exiting through the “door of no return,” a narrow passage that directed slaves to ships bound for the Americas and Europe. As the docent described the con-


ditions endured by enslaved Afri- cans, I wondered if this could have been the last place my ancestors’ beautiful feet touched African soil. Like millions of African-Americans, I may never know my ancestral identity. Writing about my visit to Elmina


still brings me great pain. It’s diffi cult to share my experience without


welling up with tears. I still mourn for the bodies tossed overboard like useless cargo. I still mourn for countless children, women and men stolen away from their families. I still struggle to understand the church’s own complicity. I still cry for the racism and racial discrimination that exist in stereotypes, racial profi ling and racial disparities in basic human needs for people of African descent. My friend Katrina Brown is


a documentary fi lmmaker and descendant of the DeWolfs, the largest slave trading family in U.S. history. She follows the transatlan- tic slave route in the documentary Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North. Brown calls the his- tory of slavery and the construction of race and racism in the U.S. an “unfi nished conversation.” For me, as a descendant of


enslaved Africans, and Brown, as a descendant of slave traders, part of our healing involves breaking the silence of slavery, acknowledging and facing the history of the past. Near Elmina’s exit, a plaque reads: In Everlasting Memory of the


anguish of our ancestors, May T ose Who Died Rest in Peace, May T ose Who Return Find T eir Roots, May Humanity Never Again Perpetrate such Injustice Against Humanity. We the Living Vow to Uphold T is. To that I say, “Amen.” 


Author bio: Roberts is ELCA director for racial justice ministries.


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