Hola chicos,
Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Goree Island. Goree Island was the largest slave-trading center in West Africa from the 15th to 19th century. I am not going to give you the history of Goree as you can read that in the link above, however, I will tell you that it is one of the most difficult places I have ever visited. Everyone makes fun of me because even when I am sad, it looks like I am smiling. But look at this picture here. This was my face. I couldn't even smile even if I wanted to. Being on that island was heart-wrenching.
We toured through the House of Slaves and saw where the men, women, and children were separated to live for months in small rooms before they were sent to the Americas to work as slaves. We learned that over 20 million slaves were sent through Goree Island during the slave trade. I really cannot express how difficult and heavy it was to be there. I took some videos while I was there and in the moment. I am not sure if they can capture the feeling of being there but I tried...
While taking the tour, one of my colleagues asked how the Senegalese people feel about the island now. The guide said "We forgive but we will never forget". This statement was so powerful. What strength these people have to forgive such a tragedy. I didn't forgive my own ancestors while being there.
As a white American, my ancestors (and in turn, myself) benefited from what happened to these African people who were captured and sent to the Americas as slaves. It was terrible. I am still angry. One thing that really bothered me was that some people had written their name in Sharpie or carved their initials into the walls of some of the buildings. It made it look like the inside of a bathroom door in a sleazy restaurant. I thought to myself "how could someone do that?" How could they graffiti something like this? My co-teacher made a good point. She said that maybe these people do not recognize the gravity of what happened on this island because they do not see the effects of slavery every day like we do with the discrimination of African Americas. This is so true. What a sad reality. Slavery is still effecting us today and even if we decide to forgive it, we can never forget.
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