We are often reminded in our endearing history books that the glorious Taj Mahal was built by 20,000 workers who worked day and night for 20 years. The story concludes in a blood-curdling manner; the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan orders the men to have their hands chopped down in hopes that the Taj Mahal remains the only such majestic enterprise. The validity of the story is flimsy, however, the idea is quite straightforward; there is a human cost for what we create, what we use, and what we revere. One can see this human cost when it comes to landmarks, but how does one reconcile when a similar idea is presented in constructing a state? The standard response is an ode to the fallen heroes, men (because women are more often than not erased from such narratives) that sacrificed their lives so that we could have a better tomorrow. The same heroes are then remembered when something goes awry; did the martyrs of our nation fight for autonomy so that you could create a rather half-witted Tiktok? Whilst I of course do not deny the legacy of those that died on the frontline, there is something missing that renders the picture of history incomplete. And as you would see, it is more than just a blot in history; it continues to be the paradox that haunts those in power.
The United States was formed in 1776. The founding fathers Washington and Jefferson had apparently created the first nation built upon principles of freedom and liberty. In 1791, the 2nd Amendment even allowed citizens to bear arms, in the prediction that they may need to resist a future tyrannical regime. It was the alleged blueprint for a democratic nation, but alas the reality was a stark reminder of wishful thinking that many conservative commentators continue to evoke. In many states, around 1/5th of the population consisted of slaves, shipped mostly from Western Africa, against their will of course. Whilst more than 20% of them died aboard the disease infested ships, the remainder didn’t have much of a life anyway. Forced to work on cotton plantations, the men served as the actual backbone into building the US economy that relied on cotton as a major export. The women were separated from their men, and often worked as domestic workers, with reports of rampant sexual and mental abuse. Indeed, as Jefferson talked about the liberties of man and even about the oppression of blacks, he is reported to have freed only 7 out of more than 200 slaves he had power over. It is undeniable that these people were brought against their will to a foreign land, with most never returning to their homes. They were systematically abused as people and were coerced into developing the economy and subsequently the American nation. Most people acknowledge these wrongs, but that is precisely the problem. By accepting it is wrong in the past, it remains just that. Something that warrants disgust and anger when reading about it or watching a documentary, but then thanking God that we passed through that. Except many would argue that we didn’t.
There are ways that the enduring legacy of the slave-trade is beyond just the legislature or even the cultural discourse of the times. As slavery was outlawed after the Civil War, racist oppression took a new form. Organized groups like the KKK lynched black people without remorse and even after this practice faded away there was no respite. The Jim Crow statutes continued to deny black people the space to sit, travel, or even to think. But that was the 1950s and 1960s. More than half a century has passed, and the fact that a black jogger can be killed in broad daylight, and his killers prosecuted only after a leaked recording and subsequent public outcry, means that the racism is alive and well. Even as the George Floyd protests rage on, observation is often posited by many people including ourselves; “America seems more obsessed with race than most countries”. Many conservative commentators would follow a similar line of thought. If anything, I think it is the perfect answer. Only, the obsession here is not only warranted but also a means for any change to a broken system. It is this obsession that drives folk to drown the statue of Edward Colston in England, symbolically drowning the symbolic endearment of the slave-trade. It is an obsession that drives John Boyega, a Hollywood actor to vilify the legacy of white supremacy, risking his career in the process. And it is surely obsession that drives the George Floyd protestors to press on, as they are drowned in tear gas, labeled as thugs and looters, and are at risk of contracting the coronavirus. It is this obsession that will surely continue until Confederate statues stand tall whilst the slaves remain mere clandestine figures of history, until the police choke, maim and murder black people until the specter of discrimination reigns supreme. However, the United States is no exception to this. Every nation has this specter, and as it is chained and hidden, fear the day it breaks free and seeks revenge. As an African proverb resonates strongly,” The axe forgets but the tree remembers”. This tree has taken many forms of the oppressed. The Kashmiris of the Subcontinent, the Kurds in the Middle East, the indigenous people of the Americas; the list, unfortunately, has no end. And these trees remember what happened to them, and what continues to happen to them as they are chopped down. As black people around the world protest to claim their rightful place in the past, present, and future, the oppressed of the world watch them. The question of them asking for their legacy is not a question of if but when.