From The New Yorker: "My Great-Grandfather, the Nigerian Slave-Trader"

[GoAggieGo.]

The "this sound like White Supremacy propaganda...I'm not buying it" shtick came a lot later than I expected I might post some parts of Barrac00n later on in the thread.

Please do. I speak for myself, but as an African American who is just recently learning of the role Africa played in the slave trade, and their involvement in slavery overall, I’m trying to learn as much as I can. Thanks in advance!

 

[Anwulika]

Exactly.

I am still blown at:

The descendants of freed slaves in southern Nigeria, called ohu, still face significant stigma. Igbo culture forbids them from marrying freeborn people, and denies them traditional leadership titles such as Eze and Ozo. (The osu, an untouchable caste descended from slaves who served at shrines, face even more severe persecution.) My father considers the ohu in our family a thorn in our side, constantly in opposition to our decisions. In the nineteen-eighties, during a land dispute with another family, two ohu families testified against us in court. “They hate us,” my father said. “No matter how much money they have, they still have a slave mentality.” My friend Ugo, whose family had a similar disagreement with its ohu members, told me, “The dissension is coming from all these people with borrowed blood.”

I first became aware of the ohu when I attended boarding school in Owerri. I was interested to discover that another new student’s family came from Umujieze, though she told me that they hardly ever visited home. It seemed, from our conversations, that we might be related—not an unusual discovery in a large family, but exciting nonetheless. When my parents came to visit, I told them about the girl. My father quietly informed me that we were not blood relatives. She was ohu, the granddaughter of Nwaokonkwo.

I’m not sure if this revelation meant much to me at the time. The girl and I remained friendly, though we rarely spoke again about our family. But, in 2000, another friend, named Ugonna, was forbidden from marrying a man she had dated for years because her family found out that he was osu. Afterward, an osu friend named Nonye told me that growing up knowing that her ancestors were slaves was “sort of like having the bogeyman around.” Recently, I spoke to Nwannennaya, a thirty-nine-year-old ohu member of my family. “The way you people behave is as if we are inferior,” she said. Her parents kept their ohuancestry secret from her until she was seventeen. Although our families were neighbors, she and I rarely interacted. “There was a day you saw me and asked me why I was bleaching my skin,” she said. “I was very happy because you spoke to me. I went to my mother and told her. You and I are sisters. That is how sisters are supposed to behave.”​

The ohu are descendants of people that were more like indentured servants than slaves in Igboland. They would work 7 years for a family and then leave or choose to work some more years for that family. They were often treated as part of the family, only lesser than the head of the house. The practice no longer exists and these people are mostly treated as other Igbos.

The osu case is slightly different as a lot of Igbos still discriminate against them when it comes to marriage but that's it, for the most part. I'm happy that this is changing though.

Btw, a lot of these people don't marry osus because they think that they're beneath them, rather that they are genuinely scared that they will become cursed for mixing with a people who (they believe) have a special connection with the gods. Before Christianity came to Igboland, the osu were feared.

 

[ultraflexed]

Cornellgang wins again...

 

[Anwulika]

That sounds like slavery.

The osu were slaves to the gods, not men. In the past, when someone was in trouble with the law, they could seek refuge with the gods by becoming their slaves. They were seen as property of the gods, which is why so many people were afraid to go anywhere near them. Today, that practice is non-existent as most Igbos are Christians but many are still scared of getting married to them.

 

[theworldismine13]

They really are. They are putting American standards to African standards. They dont realize what Claude Anderson, Tariq and others told them is Black Americans have it 1000 times better than any Black group in the world in terms of quality of standard when it comes to living. Now white supremacy has made your life hell on a day to day basis but you come home and you got something, food, Js, Madden or 2k. nikkas in African countries wait for a major event just so they can eat. Yall worried about the bus fare or the gas prices, these men and women worried about if rice go up just 50 cents. That's a critical expenditure.

Threads like this let you know really fast, Black folks in America have zero clue how poor Africa really is. It's like they are white people.

They shouldn't be servants, some people aren't and some are but what's the alternative. Well, idk but couldn't they get a job at a McDonald's or something

nikkas really have no clue. It's crazy because it wasn't but in the 1950s, nikkas in the Delta region had a similar situation on average. But how quickly do nikkas forget...

Black folks like it or not are living their worst life in a global system of white supremacy and it's not just in Merica' either.

I know how to read, I completely understand that there is a different level of poverty

It’s fine to explain and I like learning new things but y’all grew up in the states y’all should know how crazy yall sound, I find it disturbing that y’all are not just explaining things but y’all are defending it and calling people ignorant

The part that I have beef with which I’m be been saying from the beginning is this reticence to admit that’s it’s some fuked up immoral shyt that needs to be changed, and it’s not just the taking in children, it’s an actual caste system and unpaid servitude that y’all are defending

 

[5n0man]

I'm not sure I can

I would have said this was because they were outcasts due to their actions/tribes but they never could make up for it because they chose not to serve.

shyt you're right

So you dont even know what your trying to defend and cant explain it without going back 100s of years and bringing up some people who may or may not have been falsely accused?

 

[MischievousMonkey]

So you dont even know what your trying to defend and cant explain it without going back 100s of years and bringing up some people who may or may not have been falsely accused?

Once again, despite yall propensity to throw yourselves into internet diaspora wars, I'm not trying to defend anything. I'm here to learn, teach and discuss.

I conceded that your point: "Osu are looked down upon because they refused to go into slavery" has some truth to it. Because even if in reality they are avoided because they became gods' property, they had no other option except being sold off to whites. So I recognize that this is an indirect consequence.

Admitting you're wrong doesn't mean you don't know what you're talking about even if I know it doesn't happen often in these Coli streets

And yes I'm going back 100 of years if we're to talk about Osu

 

[Micky Mikey]

You don't even have any heritage that you can trace nor do you know your own power or blood. You do not know what you are talking about. You just like hearing yourself talk, shut up

If you only had a clue, you would not be saying what you are saying

I peeped how you agreed with in one post and now you're talking reckless as soon I made my critique. Its no reason to come at me like that brother. My self worth isn't predicated on whether or not I can trace my lineage. Ultimately it means nothing in the grand scheme. In fact placing an exorbitant amount value on things like blood lines, lineage is prime example of stage purple thinking.
You should not confuse my critique with belittling African culture and customs. However, there certain beliefs and value structures that will need to melt away if Africa as a whole expects to advance with the rest of human civilization.

 

[5n0man]

The osu were slaves to the gods, not men. In the past, when someone was in trouble with the law, they could seek refuge with the gods by becoming their slaves. They were seen as property of the gods, which is why so many people were afraid to go anywhere near them. Today, that practice is non-existent as most Igbos are Christians but many are still scared of getting married to them.

Yall still going with this magical hocus pocus shyt?


There was no god demanding their enslavement, they were manipulated and abused by real people.


Still looked down on because of ignorance.

 

[xoxodede]

I peeped how you agreed with in one post and now you're talking reckless as soon I made my critique. Its no reason to come at me like that brother. My self worth isn't predicated on whether or not I can trace my lineage. Ultimately it means nothing in the grand scheme. In fact placing an exorbitant amount value on things like blood lines, lineage is prime example of stage purple thinking.
You should not confuse my critique with belittling African culture and customs. However, there certain beliefs and value structures that will need to melt away if Africa as a whole expects to advance with the rest of human civilization.

Yeah - that lineage/heritage trace comment was a diss. I just when I see someone try to throw that in.

It's just like when they say we don't have "culture" -- but I don't even go in anymore or care like I used too. I love AADOS people, culture and the "blood, power and heritage" I can trace here due to my ancestors toil and triumph in America.

 

[5n0man]

Once again, despite yall propensity to throw yourselves into internet diaspora wars, I'm not trying to defend anything. I'm here to learn, teach and discuss.

I conceded that your point: "Osu are looked down upon because they refused to go into slavery" has some truth to it. Because even if in reality they are avoided because they became gods' property, they had no other option except being sold off to whites. So I recognize that this is an indirect consequence.

Admitting you're wrong doesn't mean you don't know what you're talking about even if I know it doesn't happen often in these Coli streets

And yes I'm going back 100 of years if we're to talk about Osu

There has been no history shared, only c00n talk arguing the schematics of servitude.

I dont care about all this magical man religious shyt you talking. It's pure ignorance.

If your excuse is to bring up ancestors from the past to explain the treatment in 2018, then your a c00n.

 

[ignorethis]

I know how to read, I completely understand that there is a different level of poverty

It’s fine to explain and I like learning new things but y’all grew up in the states y’all should know how crazy yall sound, I find it disturbing that y’all are not just explaining things but y’all are defending it and calling people ignorant

The part that I have beef with which I’m be been saying from the beginning is this reticence to admit that’s it’s some fuked up immoral shyt that needs to be changed, and it’s not just the taking in children, it’s an actual caste system and unpaid servitude that y’all are defending

unless you boycott all companies or business that utilize unpaid internships and apprenticeships you're being a hypocrite.
You're posting from a piece of tech that is 100% a product of slave labor in Asia and Africa.

You still haven't posted a real alternative other than charity which is a joke.
That's like telling African-American that they could fix their problems by just donating to more black charities.

Just except that you're clueless on economics and global economies especially. You're spoiled and can never understand the mentality of people in true destitution.
You're really trying to argue for people to feel guilty about something we know isn't wrong because we've seen in firsthand have generational life-changing effects.
While you don't even understand what is being discussed, you're still conflating Osu/Ohu/servants after dudes have explained multiple times the differences.

 

[theworldismine13]

Yall still going with this magical hocus pocus shyt?


There was no god demanding their enslavement, they were manipulated and abused by real people.


Still looked down on because of ignorance.

Smh, why can’t people just admit it was or is some fuked up shyt

The whole “bu bu now the Igbo are Christians” is a fuked up explanation also, so it was the white mans religion and white man laws that stopped the practice? SMH

 

[theworldismine13]

unless you boycott all companies or business that utilize unpaid internships and apprenticeships you're being a hypocrite.
You're posting from a piece of tech that is 100% a product of slave labor in Asia and Africa.

You still haven't posted a real alternative other than charity which is a joke.
That's like telling African-American that they could fix their problems by just donating to more black charities.

Just except that you're clueless on economics and global economies especially. You're spoiled and can never understand the mentality of people in true destitution.
You're really trying to argue for people to feel guilty about something we know isn't wrong because we've seen in firsthand have generational life-changing effects.
While you don't even understand what is being discussed, you're still conflating Osu/Ohu/servants after dudes have explained multiple times the differences.

Tech wasn’t produced by slave labor, workers in Asia maybe underpaid but they are being paid and overall Asian economies have grown to the point that they are at the edge of dominating Africa....(this is my overall point btw, black people are on the cusp of a third wave of domination after being dominated by Arabs and Europeans )

As far as the mining of minerals in Africa, using your logic whatever means are used is acceptable since there is such great poverty

I gave a real solution, the solution is free public education throughout Africa, that is what we should all be working toward, until then people with money should donate to schools

I am not confused, thank you and others for enlightening me, but I’m deliberately putting child servitude and other forms of servitude in the same bucket because those are cultural practices that don’t respect individual freedom and are morally and economically detrimental to the black race

 

[MischievousMonkey]

There has been no history shared, only c00n talk arguing the schematics of servitude.

I dont care about all this magical man religious shyt you talking. It's pure ignorance.

If your excuse is to bring up ancestors from the past to explain the treatment in 2018, then your a c00n.

Aight I see you don't want to discuss/are not ready to do it.

You knew all that talk about Osu? Ohu? Servant system in Africa? In Senegal? The details that have heen shared?

All this is history that several posters brought to yall to share, and most of what I see from your posts is insults, c00n talk this, CAC talk that... Acting mad emotional.

You don't even understand that nobody cares whether the religions are real or not, this is an historical thread, yall are asking what was going down, and brehs answering with the why and how this and that happened, and you're getting mad at history. You think it's ignorance, that's fine, but that's what people believed in and that's why they moved like they did-> historical facts.

That's like saying "crusaders fought X to bring Christianity to them" and you're out here like "I don't believe in Christianity" what you believe in has nothing to do with what happened. When we are talking about motives whether they are baseless or sensed don't matter.

I already said I don't care about excuses, just reporting on what happened but you ain't listening, just tryna argue.

That's fine tho I think Ima be out of here anyways or exchange with those that want to do it honestly take care