Racism is probably one of the saddest products of our
society, and anybody can be a
victim or a
persecutor.
I heard a radio program here in the UK detailing the story of a young man who returned to his ancestral home of West Africa; his family were originally slaves shipped over to England hundreds of years ago.
He traveled around the coastal towns, looking at the history of the slave trade; the fortified towers where the slaves were kept for weeks or months until the next boat turned up...Told how the women were raped; other stories of how evil people could really be. His travelling companion, an American woman said 'I don't think I'll ever be able to look at another white person in the same way again...'
Having listened to the previous depravities I could well understand why; but me coming from a rural part of East Anglia, far away in time and space from this; I'm thinking 'Shit, what can I say, or do in light of this, damned for the sins of my ancestors' Aside from not committing the same acts, or thinking the same thoughts, perhaps not a lot.
The guy travelled around a bit more, and in one of these towns found a statue erected by tribal elders, by way of apology for some of their tribes past crimes. He asked his guide 'Why the statue was there, what crimes did they have to apologise for?', his guide explained that it was a slave trade. Tribes or nations would prey on others, and sell to the slave ships.
One of the most moving stories I've ever heard; there is such a thing as monsters, and they're us.