IS NOW WHOLLY DIGITAL
About a year ago, I had a long conversation about slavery and its origin with my friend, Kola. I learnt that day that the original idea behind slavery was not to enslave people but, in fact, as a means of showing wealth, and it was commonplace for wealthy African men in those days to gift their slaves to a guest on their return home. These slaves were treated well, not necessarily as equals, but they were allowed to marry and have kids. Those kids became the master's responsibility to care for just as they did their parents. How, then, did it become such a lucrative business? The Caucasians who travelled by sea came to Africa and saw these people who were stronger than they were. And for the Africans, although these 'white men' seemed pale and looked sick compared to the Asians (Middle East) they were used to doing business with, they felt it was safe to gift them some of their slaves, as they did with Asians. And because they were used to travelling by land, they didn't know how these 'white men' crossed to their own land by sea and, of course, could not witness the horrific conditions they put their slaves through on their journey to and when they reached their new homes. On the other hand, the white men had found strong, hardworking people to pick cotton on their cotton farms. Soon enough, the demand for these strong people increased, so they came more often and eventually began kidnapping Africans from their homes to a faraway land, making them work under horrible conditions without pay. In modern times, there is a mix of how exactly human trafficking, or being enslaved, operates. While some do it for money, others are cases of vulnerability. Some are lured under the guise of a better life when they get there (a job, etc.); for others, it's more a willing decision. Regardless of the victim's reason, at the end of the day, you will not shoot someone in the head just because they ask you to, will you? And so the point remains: Trafficking is a crime, and whether or not someone willfully agrees to be trafficked does not make it any less one. Until next week, enjoy your read. Onah Nwachukwu