The Exercise of Slavery, Colonization, and Man inhumanity to Man

Alice Seeley Harris, a British missionary stationed in the Congo Free State in the 1800s - 1900s, took photographs of the inhuman treatments, which the Congo people were subjected to under King Leopold II of Belgium from 1884 to 1908. According to information from Wikipedia and other sources, Leopold felt that the African country was his personal property and that the African people were his subjects. They were forced to work in the rubber plantation and the resources from their labor were sent to Belgium, thus creating development and more wealth in Belgium while causing underdevelopment and extreme poverty and suffering in Congo. The foundation of this behavior was the thinking that the Congolese were culturally inferior to the Belgium people and therefore the Congolese must be ruled and suppressed.

This philosophy was not only exercised by Leopold and his associates, but also by other European countries or the Western World. It became the justification for colonialism.

African countries and people were considered and used as properties of the colonial powers. There was no consideration to the value, justice, and human rights of the Africans, though the colonizers projected to the world that they were to help better the lives of the Africans. In fact, as Wikipedia further states, "Leopold's colony was founded on humanity and that it would improve the lives of Congolese people. In Congo, as in other African colonies, European education, religion, technology, and medicine were all used as justification for the spread of colonization. They also helped to mask, or make more palatable, the economic interests that drove European empire-building including the theft of land, labor, and resources for profit".

In the photo of this article, the Alice Seeley Harris Archive shows that in West Africa, Kru boys or children were used to working on a ship. This practice would certainly amount to child labor, a human rights violation. Harris' pictures were used by anti-slavery advocates to bring attention to human abuse and "the racial thinking that underpinned it". Though Kru served as sailors in the Royal Navy during World War II, they were men hired following labor laws. Slavery was outlawed.

But slavery and human abuse were not carried out only by Whites, but also by Blacks. For instance, in Liberia in the 1920s, native African people, including children, were forcibly sent to Fernando Po, a Spanish colony in Equatorial Guinea for plantation labor. They were mistreated like slaves. Before and after the 1920s, native rights were generally abused in Liberia. Sadly, the perpetrators were Americo-Liberians, former Black American slaves who landed in Liberia two hundred years ago in January 1822. Like the Whites, the settlers felt that the natives were inferior and should be devalued, ruled, and mistreated. The settlers, a minority group of less than 10% of the population, ruled Liberia for over 140 years from 1822 to 1980. The natives were excluded in the forming of the government in 1847 and were not considered citizens of Liberia until 1912. Though they gained citizenship, they were not allowed to vote until 1946. These were colonial behaviors and the practice of human degradation, man inhumanity to man. But some natives, in collaboration with the settlers to gain social status, behaved like the Americo-Liberians. Further, the Congos and settlers from the West Indies joined the Americo-Liberians in ruling the country. Data suggests that over 90% of the combined settlers were illiterate. The Congos were re-captured African slaves from the Niger-Congo delta comprising present Nigeria, Niger, and Togo. They were sent to Liberia from the mid-1820s to the 1860s.

Like slavery, the fundamental principle of the Americo-Liberians was the notion that they were superior over the natives and hence the suppression and mistreatment. As newcomers, they failed to consider their experience as former slaves in America to embrace the Africans as their brothers and sisters to live together as one. Instead, they saw an opportunity to become masters like their previous owners. Their behaviors devalued some natives to feel inferior and to want to become Americo-Liberians.

The Liberian government this January and February celebrated the bicentennial of the coming of the settlers. Certainly, their coming helped stop the slave trade in Liberia and helped ameliorate tribal disputes. Moreover, Liberia is the first and the oldest Black Republic in Africa. She assisted in the independence of other African countries under colonization. She helped found the Organization of African Unity, OAU. These are noble accomplishments, which deserve stating. While in the celebration the government focused on the achievements of the arrival of the settlers, it failed to also mention the behaviors of the newcomers relative to the natives. It appeared that the administration intentionally did not mention the problems which the settlers had caused and which had resulted in the underdevelopment of Liberia. Balancing the story would have made the occasion credible and would help the government achieve its development goal.

However, the government saw the occasion as an opportunity to improve US-Liberia relations for assistance and for the development of trades and tourism in Liberia. The government invited some US officials to come to Liberia for the occasion. American President Joseph Biden sent a delegation to the celebration. The government may have thought that giving a balanced presentation of the coming of the settlers would discourage others. The Liberian government apparently hoped that African Americans in the US would historically view and consider Liberia as their second home in Africa. This too would enhance tourism and US investments in Liberia. Also, Diaspora Liberians who are nationalized American citizens supported the occasion to gain more government support in their quest for dual citizenship in Liberia. Though the Liberian people during the 2020 referendum overwhelmingly rejected dual citizenship, the group is pressuring the Liberian legislatures to overturn the will of the people. Meanwhile, telling the story partially could defeat the government's objectives.

Truth-telling does not only show honesty but also demonstrates sincerity in the true pursuit of assistance and reconciliation for national unity and peace. It would also educate the younger generation of Liberia of the truth of the coming of the former Americans. Hiding the truth and keeping people in the dark is a behavior of slavery. During slavery in America, the slaves were denied education for the fear that by gaining knowledge, the slaves would fight for freedom. That behavior benefited the slave masters. The slaves were their property. Slavery provided free labor and made the masters wealthy. The slaves were considered less than a human and were not viewed as American citizens. Through the American Colonization Society (ACS), the American government assisted in sending free slaves to Africa. Upon their eventual settlement in Liberia, the ex-slaves separated themselves from the African natives and called themselves Americo-Liberians to distinguish them from the aborigine population.

As stated earlier, the Congos and other immigrants joined the Americo-Liberians in functioning as the ruling class in Liberia. Like the American settlers, the ACS brought the Congos to Liberia but put them under the tutelage of the Americo-Liberians. Unfortunately, the American settlers viewed the Congos as inferior and treated them as servants. Here was another indication of man's inhumanity to man: rather than both settler groups working together, one group felt superior over the other and according to history, mistreated the "inferior". Here also, the view of superiority could not be based on culture and education. As pointed out before, the Americo-Liberians were former slaves who were deprived of education in America and who were at the periphery of the American culture and society. Thus superiority was a function of prejudice, a predisposition. It was this kind of feeling that gave rise to the enslavement and colonization of Blacks by Whites.

Meanwhile, the Congos felt superior over the native Liberians. That feeling was based on the Congos association with the Americo-Liberians. Both groups were settled and sponsored by the ACS. The foundation of this feeling was Race, Whites vs. Blacks, the base of slavery and colonization. The American settlers viewed that they were superior because they were from the White man's country America. The same would be true if dual citizenship is allowed in Liberia. Liberians with dual citizenship would feel superior over the local Liberians.

Former colonial masters and institutions have acknowledged their role in slavery and colonization, and many have apologized. That realization and openness have helped past colonial countries in their development. The truth about Liberian history must be told. The government has an obligation in this regard. Compromising the truth for any reason would create a state of mental slavery and underdevelopment.

Whether the Weah administration knows it or not, many American decision-makers know of the behaviors of the ex-slaves in Liberia. So there is no need to hide the truth. For example, in September 1976, Liberian former President William Tolbert in the US addressed the joint houses of Congress. While the members of Congress were waiting for Tolbert to arrive, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and Speaker of the House Carl Albert had a conversation over an open microphone discussing the settlers. News and recording of the conversation went viral nationally. The conversation went as follows.

ALBERT: Are there many Liberians that are mulattoes? There are?

ROCKEFELLER: Most are strictly blacks.

ALBERT: Real black huh?

ROCKEFELLER: But they've got a class system—the blacks that went 'back to Liberia and took on all the characteristics of the Southern whites. And they treated the local blacks.

ALBERT: They never let the local blacks get in on anything?

ROCKEFELLER: Oh, no. They've 'lightly changed their speech, but only slightly.

In short, many Americans know the history of Liberia; so, the Liberian government must tell and balance the historical truth of the country.

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