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

[Anwulika]

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.

Are you Igbo?

Edit: nevermind, just realised that you're not. I'm not sure if you read my post thoroughly as I clearly stated that they ran to the shrines for protection. Like I said before, they were feared and nobody would go anywhere near them because they were considered to be property of the gods. You seem to be looking at this through a very western lense.

 

[the bossman]

The number of talibés begging in the streets that would kill to get adopted by a family are wannabe slaves too apparently

Real culture shock happening in this thread, really interesting

Exactly, most of the time people are doing them a favor by taking them in. I cant speak for Nigeria but when I stayed with my grandmother in Ethiopia she had a "seretenya" (basically house maid) who was a young girl straight from the streets and didnt have parents or her parents were not able to provide for her. Most people want to live like that since its usually an upgrade from how they were living before. She gets free food and a roof over her head and my grandmother also sent her to school so she could get an education. And yes she was free to leave when she wanted, and she did eventually. I understand it does not have the same connection to the slave trade and being "free born" as in Nigeria, but these people in here making the connection between house maids and slaves are just dead wrong lol

the culture shock is very real. Like I said earlier, I think until brehs actually sit down and spend some time in the culture, they just wouldn't get it.

I find it disturbing that y’all are not just explaining things but y’all are defending it and calling people ignorant

I don't see how squashing the misinformation and explaining why it's practiced is constituted as defending it. It's also absolutely ignorant to compare it to American slavery.

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

you think it's immoral and needs to be changed.

the hundreds of thousands of families facing levels of economic hardship that you couldn't even fathom don't think it's immoral. They think it's needed based on their circumstances. your solution for families in this situation is "let the rich just donate some blue's clue's books to the libraries and all will be well" no sense of reality or practicality whatsoever in what you're saying.

The government in some of these countries provides absolutely NO type of guaranteed social welfare safety net like we have in the states. there's no unemployment office you can just walk into and get a guaranteed $300 every week or shelter if you need a place to sleep. It's such a complex problem that your basic ass "donate harry potter books" is a slap in the face. So families have taken it upon themselves to use this system as an alternative when there's social security system that exists for them.

You coming across so close-minded it's not even funny

 

[MischievousMonkey]

Tech wasn’t produced by slave labor, workers in Asia maybe underpaid but they are being paid

So if servants are paid in coins/shelter and food is it all good to you?

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

That's a great solution for those whom have the luxury of time, but what about the kid that is starving right now on the other side of the street and can't even afford to go to school? With stunt growth and development from hunger? Am I really doing him a disservice if he comes to work for me as a servant? Am I violating his right if he comes to me willingly?

Do you see how people that live in these situations couldn't see it the same way you do?

 

[the bossman]

it’s not just the taking in children, it’s an actual caste system and unpaid servitude that y’all are defending

and breh for the 50th time stop conflating the Osu and house help system. They are two different things .

 

[@OffHalsted]

"WE HAVE MAID"

 

[Anwulika]

you got posters tryna rationalize modern slavery, like this guy, at least this guy admits its wrong

My Family’s Slave

Who's in here trying to rationalise modern slavery? I hope you know that both the oru and osu caste systems have been abolished?

 

[TallMan_J]

The vast majority of Africans are not our people, as so called “Black Americans”. The sooner you all realize that, the better.

 

[Huellz Santana]

Nigeria the wild wild wild west. In Edo, they be flying at night. People turn into cats in broad day light. Yeah, if you in the cities, you won't see it but come to the towns. Its ain't peaches and cream.

​

 

[badtguy]

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

exactly I think that's where the disconnect is coming from.

A lot are saying it's part of the culture- we know. But as people who are based abroad and somewhat educated people should know better as to what parts of culture should be unacceptable.

In many African cultures there is a lack of respect for one another.

You got dudes talking about we feed cloth them, educate them, they take on our family name- what they mean like how DOS- have last names like Jones, Johnson Williams?

And you got other dudes talking bout " I love sleeping with them, when I'm in Africa".

Africans be buggin sometimes-

If it was a cac saying that we would be heated.

Lol its crazy to say the least.

 

[badtguy]

"WE HAVE MAID"

I get maid- but

We have a servant
We have a house girl

 

[theworldismine13]

and breh for the 50th time stop conflating the Osu and house help system. They are two different things .

For the hundredth time, the details are different. But they all represent a violation of individual freedom

 

[GoAggieGo.]

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.

Yea, when I saw that “heritage” post, I took that as the same as when Africans say we have no culture. It’s a shot at us.

 

[Micky Mikey]

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.

If we're talking lineage and culture we have a lot to be proud of. We are the richest group of Africans to ever exist. We are descendents of those who survived centuries of enslavement and brutality.

And we are essentially a new people trying to find our identity in the diaspora. We now inhabit the most powerful country that has ever existed and have the unique opportunity to capitalize from it. If we really wanted to we could create a network of trade that bridges the gap between us and other Africans throughout the diaspora and the motherland. He is right in that we do not realize our own power. We have our own set of unique cultural dilemmas that we'll have to address in due time.

 

[The Fade]

Yea, when I saw that “heritage” post, I took that as the same as when Africans say we have no culture. It’s a shot at us.

Lol they can keep that caste system shyt if that’s what it means to have “culture”

 

[the bossman]

For the hundredth time, the details are different. But they all represent a violation of individual freedom

in YOUR eyes it's a violation. not in the eyes of that child who's now going to school/college/vocational because of this system. not in the eyes of that family who's now receiving some desperately needed financial help because of this system.

you are seriously reaching old head cac levels of being so close-minded

but hey. continue sitting in front of your macbook pro on your lunch break telling folks who barely have anything how they should be making a living and how they shouldn't