People of African descent around the globe must begin to look at world events from a global lens. This is because our concerns—whether on the African continent, in Europe, in Asia, in the Caribbean, North, Central and South America—are similar.
We are all part and parcel of the global events starting in the Fifteenth Century that eventually ushered in the current global dispensation. At the center of these events was the so-called trade in human beings across the Atlantic.
From circa 1450—certainly since Columbus’ voyages in 1492—the prior relationships among Africans, Europeans, the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and folks from Asian lands radically switched to accommodate the nascent trade in human beings. People gradually replaced other trade items of choice after the Europeans started to go farther afield and violently take land from its indigenous owners. All these peoples became part of the triangular relationship that connected Africa, Europe and the Americas. Africans were from the beginning a central part of this relationship, and we continue to be, still be a central part.
This era is also the era that is commonly referred to as Reformation and the Renaissance; even more important, the economic take-off of Europe is attributed to this era. The other side of this coin was the depletion of the African continent of its peoples and natural resources.
Looked another way, this is the era of colonization in the Americas and colonialism in Africa. Thus, we see the pan African idea that begins to shape the description and explanation of the African resistance to the European imposition. If after 500 years our cousins in the US will adopt our kente in their struggles, more power to them!
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