Evil Happens in the Sunlight
Palm trees sway in the wind as waves crash on the shore
below. Emerald waters stretch far beyond the ancient white walls and neatly
aligned cannons. A cool ocean breeze gave relief from the overhead sun. On the
other side, a bustling market and dense single-room structures lie between the
castle and a hill topped by a colonial fort. This scene is picturesque, cliché,
and the setting where a thousand people at a time – some six hundred men and
four hundred women – were regularly manacled to each other in solid stone
dungeons with a few square inches of sunlight before being sent through the “Door
of No Return” onto death ships to the Americas. About 10 million total people went
through this ordeal.
Visiting Elmina and Cape Coast Castles, slave trade forts built respectively by the Portuguese and the British, reminded me of visiting Auschwitz four years ago. My first encounter with Auschwitz was as spooky as it gets – waking up at 3 am on the night train from Vienna to Krakow to look out…
Visiting Elmina and Cape Coast Castles, slave trade forts built respectively by the Portuguese and the British, reminded me of visiting Auschwitz four years ago. My first encounter with Auschwitz was as spooky as it gets – waking up at 3 am on the night train from Vienna to Krakow to look out…