Obama sees Africa's dark past at slavery monument

[undeterred]

Source: Reuters

CAPE COAST, Ghana (Reuters) - After outlining his bright hopes for Africa's future, U.S. President Barack Obama got a glimpse on Saturday into one of the darkest chapters of its past -- the transatlantic slave trade. Obama, America's first black president, took his family for a poignant tour of Cape Coast Castle, a seaside fortress used by slave traders starting in the 17th century and which is now a monument to millions of Africans cast into slavery.

"As painful as it is, I think that it helps to teach all of us that we have to do what we can to fight against the kinds of evils that sadly still exist in our world, not just on this continent but in every corner of the globe," Obama said somberly at end of his visit to the compound.

He likened his tour of the slave castle to his visit last month to the site of the former Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald in Germany, saying "it reminds us of the capacity of human beings to commit great evil."

But Obama also suggested that from an African American perspective, seeing Cape Coast was bittersweet. "There's a special sense that on the one hand this place was a place of profound sadness," he told reporters. "On the other hand, it is here where the journey of much of the African American experience began."



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_2_MOLT/idUSTRE56A2CE20090711

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This must have been a very powerful experience for the Obama family.

[BumRushDaShow]

1. And especially Michelle

:cry:

Generations of African-Americans pass the stories on to their progeny and you don't even have to go to the actual slave facilities to get the sensation. Just setting foot on the continent is bittersweet as well.

[kirby]

2. I bet he takes flack...

I bet some nutjobs will wonder how can he compare concentration camps with slavery?

[Odin2005]

3. K&R