This is actually a good nuanced comment with some valid counter points however it still does not refute the point that Africans were complicit in transatlantic slavery in a major way.
Not saying a few African tribes weren’t complicit, however, the level of complicity wasn’t as broad as the whitewashed narrative. Yes, some tribes sold some slaves but the volume isn’t plausible.
Africa is a huge continent with thousands of ethnic groups & only 2 regions (west & central Africa) were mostly affected (a few slaves were taken from Southern Africa). Even within both regions - out of the tens or thousands of tribes there, only a few even had contact with white people before colonisation.
Let’s use Ghana & Nigeria as an examples since both are the 2 countries most are conversant with. Ghana has about 10 real ethnic groups & out of the 10, only 2/3 did any type of trading with Europeans during the slave trade. And Nigeria has about 30-50 real ethnic groups & only less than 10 did any type of trading with Europeans during that period. Same is applicable all over the 2 affected regions. Also, a lot of the tribes didn’t have any type of contacts with one another. So, to accuse all Africans is preposterous to begin with.
Now, let’s look at how Europeans came back to colonise Africa & how they conducted the palm oil trade. A good story that would give you inkling into how Europeans did business with Africans is the palm oil trade business with King Koko of Nembe in present day Nigeria (Google his story, it was viral on social media a few months ago) & how they used cannon bombs to raze down every kingdom that rejected colonisation & the shameful looting of everything they could lay their hands.
So, how would anyone logically think these vicious Europeans with their big cannons all over the coast were legit buying millions of slaves from Africans who had inferior weapons? A cursory look at how kingdoms that rejected & fought against slavery were razed down - with kings & queens banished is a good pointer.
Europeans are just human traffickers. Even after transatlantic slavery ended, it didn’t stop them from shipping over 1 million poor & destitute Indians & Chinese to the West Indies & East/Southern Africa into indentured servitude as labourers to work like slaves. Heck, almost all the Chinese people they shipped to Panama died. Or were they also sold by African & Asian kings?
Just stop spreading whitewashed anti-intellectual propaganda/revisionism created to cover white guilt.
