President John Dramani Mahama presided at a mournful wreath-laying ceremony at the African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan, New York, honouring the nearly 20,000 Africans buried at the historic site.
The President said, “We lay down this wreath to honour the memories of the nearly 20,000 Africans who are buried on these grounds, some of whom were free but the majority of whom were enslaved.”
When considering Ghana’s historical ties to the transatlantic slave trade, President Mahama pointed out that the country has more than thirty slave castles and forts than any other in Africa, highlighting the high probability that many of the enslaved either came from or passed through Ghana.
The President also made the following moving call to remembrance:
“We lay down this wreath in remembrance of all the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade—the men, women, and children who were taken from their lives and from those who loved them to be enslaved in a foreign land; and also, the people to whom they belonged… whose lives were forever altered.”
The event was a part of a larger series of events in New York that were centred on justice, remembering, and furthering the worldwide dialogue on reparatory justice.
Source: newsthemegh.com