SORROW AND SHAME

This article appeared in the New York Weekly The City Sun March 22, 1995

SORROW AND SHAME:
BRUTAL NORTH AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE
IGNORED AND DENIED

by Samuel Cotton

"On March 4, (1995) Black Africans journeyed from all over the United States to meet at Columbia University. Mauritanians and Senegalese from Washington--Ugandans and Sudanese from as far away as Ohio, would spend two days discussing the beast that continues to bite deep into African flesh—slavery.

"They would also grapple with the enigma of receiving virtually no support on the issue of chattel slavery from African-American spiritual and political leaders. Many of the Africans are Christians who have been murderously persecuted by the expansionist Islamic Fundamentalist Governments of Mauritania and Sudan. The problem-- they will not submit to a process of Islamization which demands that they renounce their Christian faith. Yet, these Africans are refused an audience with Black Christian ministers, who prefer in some cases to wine and dine with their Arab enslavers. Others, are Black Muslims from Mauritania who are dumbfounded and disgusted by the fact that the prominent Black Muslim Leader, Louis Farrakan continues to visit and have good relations with Sudan which enslaves Black Muslims and Christians alike. They are disillusioned by Black leaders with African names, who live in houses filled with African statues, and walk the streets in full African regalia but will not raise one voice against slavery."

"One African stated that 'African Americans have been at the forefront of the international campaign against apartheid. . . Yet as an African working in the field of human rights in Africa, I am constantly struck, and saddened, by the extent to which a combination of factors have discouraged the majority of Black Americans from speaking out about human rights abuses in sub-Saharan Africa.' Said Rakiya Omaar, a Somali, in the Washington Post. 'Each year, hundreds of Black Americans visit the famous island of Goree in Senegal, from which many of their ancestors began the painful voyage to enslavement. Yet, just a short distance north of Goree are villages and refugee camps providing sanctuary to thousands of blacks who ran away to escape slavery in Mauritania, some of them as recently as three months ago.'"

"Why don't African Americans speak out about chattel slavery in the sub-Sahara? Why does Jesse Jackson's office refuse to give a statement? The AASG has repeatedly, over the past months, mailed documentation and faxed material to the office of Jessie Jackson. Follow-ups with Jackson's aide Lisa Gibson did not yield a response. The author faxed documentation on March 9, 1995, to the Rainbow Coalition at the request of aide Jeff Griffith. The fax was received, and Griffith said that "Jessie Jackson is busy with affirmative action, and like anybody else, Jessie gets tied up and can only speak on one issue at a time. Right now, slavery is not on his agenda." However, I was told to call the following day for a statement. Sadly, Jeff Griffith met an untimely death and all the material was allegedly lost. His superior, Stephanie Gadlin, requested that I fax the material again and and call later for a statement. Ms. Gadlin felt that the slavery issue would be good for Reverend Jackson to have on his agenda, since he is scheduled to go to the Middle-East. No statement was issued.

"Two years ago, on July 15, 1993, White Congressman Frank Wolf wrote a letter to Benjamin Chavis who was serving as the Executive Director of the NAACP. "Most recently, I received a copy of a very disturbing State Department cable containing reliable information that in Sudan, human rights abuses such as kidnapping, slavery and the export of women and children from southern and central Sudan are escalating dramatically, despite the denials and rhetoric from Sudanese government officials. . .I hope that you will speak out against the continuing cruelty which has caused the people of Sudan so much pain and suffering. The efforts of the NAACP could be the difference between life and death for millions of people."

Benjamin Chavis did not repond, and Rep.White wrote again to Chavis on August 19, 1993. Since I last wrote to you, thousands more in southern Sudan have died. Please let me know if the NAACP is willing to step forward. Please let me know if you will personally become involved. This is not an easy task, but the combined efforts of many Americans -- could result in saving the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people" There would be no response to this letter or a similar plea sent to Randall Robinson, Executive Director of TransAfrica, on August 19, 1993.

"The weight of the evidence indicates that Whites are really the only ones working to stop the slave trade, and that Black leaders have no real interest in stopping the buying and selling of Black Africans. This slave trade is common knowledge in Congressional circles and shamefully, Black leaders have not educated the African-American public on an issue central to their history. Are Black Americans playing at being Africans and in reality have no real love or attachment to Africa and African people? Could it be that African-Americans are in love with a fantasy Africa and do not possess any real understanding of African realities and world views? These questions require critical thinking that will move African-Americans past the kente cloth and fashion, to examine if there is a relationship between them and the African. The presence in the United States of the Mauritanians and the Sudanese refugees can be a spring board for the exploration of African realities.

The African and the Arab

"For African-Americans to address the contemporary slave trade and offer support, they must first resolve the philosophical question of form versus content. The outward display of Africanisms, i.e., dress, language, and rhetoric versus the possession of a feeling of solidarity with Africans and an African view of the world.

"Both Africans and African Americans acknowledge a common place of origin, and both have served as human fodder for the Arab slave trade. However, the Black American appears to have forgiven the Arabs for their participation in the slave trade, while they continue to hold the feet of White Americans and Jews to the fire for their participation. Black spiritual and political leaders travel to Islamic Fundamentalist countries where they have ties and friendships, and sources report that Arab money funds a number of Black politicians.

In view of the above, when the Mauritanians and Sudanese request help from the African-American, will there be enough content in the Black community to offer support? Or will Black Americans have to effect a major paradigm shift to give such aid. The answer lies in an examination of the African's world view of the Arab and the problems that view poses for the African-American.

An African Perspective

"'The African never wanted anything to do with the Arab, because he is a slave trader and we have never forgiven him for the slave trade,' said Benedict Lagu, the soft spoken and friendly son of the former Vice President of the Republic of Sudan (1978 to 1980). 'The Arab will always try to enslave people because it is in his culture to enslave people. The Arab is an expansionist, he will never be satisfied with just the North of Sudan. In reality, he will not be satisfied until the whole world worships Islam.

"'This is the view of the whole Arab world, they are all fighting against the Southern Sudan (as of 1995 - Ed.), they are all pouring money into Sudan. Iran, Syria, Libya and Egypt-- all of the Arab countries are of one mind. They all support Sudan, so that it can crush the South. They want to enslave the entire south and use its resources. Through the South of Sudan they can move into all of Africa. It is the gateway.' Simon Deng, the Minister of Information for the Southern Sudanese Community in America added, 'To the Arab, the African is born to be his slave. It does not matter that some have the same skin color as you, color is not the issue here, they consider themselves Arabs. The issue is the mind and the belief of the people and this is a problem that involves two things--race and religion.'

"'They consider all the Southern Sudanese as slaves. When they look at you they say ''Abit'' which means slave, because if you are non-Muslim and Black you are fit to be a slave.' Deng shifts and leans back in his chair. He seems to be looking at me from some distant place and gathering himself. 'Arabs are not considered part of Africa,' states Deng. 'Egypt is not Africa because it is the mother of the Arabs.' Deng's perspectives, the enmity that exists between the Arab and the Black African, and the belief systems that say Black Africans are inferior and born to serve the Arab are supported by the historical narrative.

"Historically, we know that the Arabs, English, Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, Africans, Catholics and Jews at one time or another participated in the slave trade. Even the American Indian participated in the slave trade. 'All of the five civilized Indian nations were Black slave owners and slave traders' says Claude Anderson the author of Black Labor,White Wealth. 'Worse, all of these Indian Nations supported and fought on the side of the South in the Civil War in fear of losing their Black slaves.'

"These are historical realities that are part of the African past and cannot be changed. However, the saga of the Arab slave trader and his relationship with the Black African transcends time. The Arab Moslems were '[O]ne of the first and oldest religious enslavers of Black Africans' says Anderson. 'They began regular military invasions into East and West Africa around 700 A.D. By 1000 A.D., Moslems routinely combined their commercial trade with spreading the Islamic faith in Black African communities. Medieval Moslems considered Black Africans to be primitive and especially suited for enslavement.'

"'Moslems from the Middle East have enslaved and sold into North African slave markets no less than one million Black Africans every 100 years, for the past 1,000 years' states David Brian Davis, in Slavery And Human Progress. This practice represents no less than 10 million Blacks enslaved and exploited by one group alone. Ironically, most Black African countries converted to the Islamic faith during the 14th century. The Arabs' continuous enslavement of Blacks, therefore, must be driven by factors other than Blacks' religious faith.' What are these factors? Well, as in the case of the present day Mauritanians and the Sudanese, enslavement is not for the advancement of the Islam. This we know because the Law of Islam says that slaves taken in a holy war are to be released after conversion. However, this does not occur in Mauritania or the Sudan, because after the slaves convert, the Black Muslims remain enslaved. Ergo, the enslavement of Black Africans is the manifestation of an ancient racial belief system. The belief that the Black African is born to be the slave of the Arab.

"'Since color was [and is] the decisive factor in slavery, it was important to know who was and was not a member of the Black race. Moors were not classified as members of the Black race. In northwest Africa, the offspring of Blacks, White Berbers and Arabs became known as
Moors. . . .

"Few identified with West African Blacks, who lived south of the Sahara, states Anderson. 'However, the few Moors who were Black, with the aid of some Islamic converts, pushed the doors to West Africa's natural and human capital wide open.'

"To satisfy their rapacious appetites, Arab expansionists adopted specific strategies. With the Black Moors and Islamic converts, the Arabs began their penetration of Africa. Often they exerted religious pressure and continually fostered holy wars that weakened the great West African empires' posits Claude Anderson. 'Arabs labeled Black Africans pagans, then pressured them to disavow their own West African culture and practice of ancestor worship and to accept instead, Arabic culture based in the Islamic religion. This cultural and religious conversion undermined Black's African heritage and broad sense of a Black community. Moreover, the religious conversion to the Islamic faith gave Arabs nearly unrestricted access to West African societies and wealth.' This Arab approach to Africa and Black Africans continues down to this day and it is against this paradigm that the Mauritanians and the Sudanese struggle.

The Arab and the African American

"Benedict Lagu's statement that the African never wanted anything to do with the Arab requires further explanation. There were Africans who wanted relationships with the Arabs. They were the Black leaders--the African tribal chiefs. 'West African tribal chiefs had a long history of exchanging slaves with Arab traders. Eventually, they expanded the practice to European traders,' explains Anderson. '. . .The Arab and European traders became convinced that, if tribal chiefs could procure slaves, the trade would be profitable and they had no reason to expect reprisal from any Black nations. A massive slave trading operation developed, and according to an article in the The Washington Post, the Arabs were still engaged in the slave trading of Blacks in 1993.'

"Working from the centuries old paradigm that Blacks are primitive buffoons who will sell their people for a few trinkets while they extract the real gold from the situation; Arab expansionists manipulate the leaders in the African-American community with great faculty.

"A case in point: A Sudanese scholar, Dr. Augustine A. Lado, is an Assistant Professor, in the Department of Management and Labor Relations at Cleveland State University. Lado is also the President of Pax Sudani, an organization of African Sudanese and Human rights activists committed to exposing and campaigning against slavery and other gruesome atrocities perpetrated against Africans in modern-day Sudan. In Africa, Professor Lado routinely risked his life by resisting Arabization, and Islamization.

"Professor Lado began to seek the help of Christian churches in Cleveland. 'I contacted the Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Cleveland and requested to speak there on a Wednesday night to explain to them what Christians are experiencing in the Sudan. When we arrived, they were not ready for us. The church officials were absent, and we were given the cold shoulder--we eventually left,' explained Lado. 'Then shortly after that, it came to my attention, that a Reverend Sterling Glover, Pastor of the Emmanuel Baptist Church and Chairman of the Cleveland Cuyahoga County Port Authority had invited a Sudanese Delegation. It was headed by Dr. Ali Al-Hajj (Minister of the Bureau of Federal Government) and Minister Mirghani Mohamed Salih (Deputy Chief of Mission) of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington.
The meeting was to establish a trade alliance with the Cleveland business community and the African-American business community. My organization threatened to picket the luncheon, and to avoid this, Reverend Glover invited us to speak at the luncheon. Three members of Pax Sudani were picked to speak, but when the group arrived they were denied access.' Again, there would be no connection between the African Christians and the African-American Christian ministers. However the relationship between Dr. Ali Al-Hajj and Reverend Glover was solid and intact.

"The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's largest newspaper, on Thursday, December 15, 1994, commented on the Black Christian Minister's relationship with Sudan. 'The Greater Cleveland International Trade Alliance is hosting a lunch at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel today. . .Those who were planning to go to the meeting should consider a few well-known facts about the country they are courting,' stated the Editorial. "Sudan's ruling regime came into power in 1989 after overthrowing the democratically elected government. It has sought to impose strict Islamic law on all Sudanese, regardless of their religion. . .The Sudanese government has targeted not only Christians and Animists, but other Muslims who do not adhere to its strict edicts. . .Human-rights organizations have reported government involvement in massacres, kidnappings and in transporting and selling its captives, including children, into slavery.'

"Reverend Glover responded in the article by saying that . . .'he knew all about the accusations against Sudan before his first trip there. He maintains none of the atrocity charges against the government has ever been proven (Say what? - Ed.). A cease-fire has ended the warfare and elections have occurred. I know that my efforts are legitimate and right,' reports the Plains Dealer.

"Reverend Glover's responses are the same excuses that many African-American leaders give for ignoring the Black African slave and jumping into bed with the Arab slavers. When Black leaders betray the cause of the Mauritanians and the Sudanese by preferring dubious trade benefits and funding from the Islamic Fundamentalists, they appear foolish and naive.

"A journalist watching these events stated 'It seems as if Glover hasn't been keeping up. Almost as quickly as the warring sides agreed to a cease-fire, they broke it. If elections were held, it's hard to believe that a regime that has toiled so hard to suppress its opponents would suddenly embrace free and fair elections. Rather, Sudan has embarked on an extensive campaign to polish its image in the United States. Evidently, it's working in some quarters. Even if you can ignore the fighting, the slaughters, the abuses against children, the condemnation by the pope and a slew of world organizations, it's hard to understand the benefits of a trade relationship with Sudan.' (The Plain Dealer)

"Glover has been to the Sudan three times. Two paid trips by the Sudanese Government and one trip paid for by city tax dollars. Dr. Lado accessed the public records showing the expenses for the third trip. Glover stayed in the air-conditioned Hilton during his trip and the Sudanese Government convinced him that there is no slave trade.

"The results of playing the statesman are tragic. Reverend Glover returned to the United States, discredited the Sudanese human-rights activists in Cleveland by stating there are no atrocities or slavery. This resulted in further alienation of the Africans from the Black Christian community. Again, the Sudanese Islamic Fundamentalists had squelched an anti-slavery movement in Cleveland, and were free to continue raping, pillaging, and enslaving Black Africans without protests from Black America.

"This tactic is common knowledge among middle-eastern minorities suffering pressure from Islamic Fundamentalists. 'The Leadership committee For A Free Middle East, a coalition of non-Arab, non-Muslim captive nationalities in the Middle East and North Africa, is well aware of the situation in both Mauritania and the Sudan.

"Particularly in the Sudan, there has been a concerted effort to suppress the facts concerning the existence of chattel slavery. It is the most embarrassing, dark little secret in the Arab world. It's exposure in the West, particularly to the African-American community, would have a devastating impact on the oil-financed Arabist agenda' says Najib Khuri, a Lebanese Christian and New York Area Director. 'A major part of that agenda is to enlist, through deception and manipulation, African-American support in its efforts to both Arabize and Islamize Africa and the entire Middle East.' As the Cleveland Plains Dealer put it, it appears to be working in some quarters. Black leaders appear to be giving that support by their silence and ineptitude.

"Before the Black religious and secular community discredits the Mauritanians and the Sudanese they should consider a couple of important points. Black leaders are not trained to find slavery in countries with deceitful governments. In addition, Black ministers, even if they were sincere, do not understand how modern chattel slavery operates in countries with demographics like Mauritania and Sudan--the largest country in Africa. Leaders like Reverend Glover, are over their heads in this game and are betraying hundreds of thousands of Africans languishing in slavery.'

http://members.aol.com/casmasalc/sorrow_shame.html