Although I immigrated to the United States, this has been my home for many years. I survived the shock and all the “learnings” it takes to understand the “issue” of race in the U.S.
I close my office to honor the Juneteenth Holiday and make jokes about how I am not crazy enough to pretend this day doesn’t have significance in my life. I tell my team I am not oblivious to the fact that, but for all the work of the freedom fighters and all those involved in the Civil Rights movement, I’d be sitting in the back of the bus, and becoming an attorney would be but an elusive dream.
At the same time, and for everyone reading this, from every side of the equation, this celebration doesn’t have to cause stress. It doesn’t have to be about shame, blame, guilt, anger, or resentment. It can be about acknowledging the growth and change in human consciousness. Since recorded history, humans have been enslaving each other and believing it was fine and normal. In fact, it is still practiced in some places today.
However, the transatlantic African slave trade was unprecedented in many ways. It targeted a specific race. It was sanctioned by the religious establishment. It lasted over 350 years and, by some estimates, involved as many as 30 million humans from the African continent. It was, without doubt, very barbaric, but that wasn’t new to us as a species. We have had, and unfortunately continue to have, lots of practice in barbarism.
Although I refer to myself as a person of African descent, I’m not exactly sure what this means anymore. Most of the descendants of the enslaved from the transatlantic slave trade rarely “only” carry DNA from the African Continent. Additionally, it is noteworthy that Africa is not a country; it is the second-largest continent on the planet, with a landmass and population at least three times that of the U.S.
My own DNA results indicate ancestry from multiple countries along the West Coast of Africa, as well as multiple countries in Europe. Yet, convention in the U.S. does not dictate that I would be labeled “European” in any way. These ironies underscore how the enslaved, labeled as sub-human, inferior, and unclean, were regularly involuntarily impregnated by their supposedly “superior” owners. We’re crazy humans, right? But I digress. I want to address the situation from a macro perspective and examine our behavior as a species.
Before I go on, let me make it very clear that, despite the attempt at sarcasm, the horror of this human tragedy does not escape me. I cannot “imagine the kind of human who survives the months of the transatlantic journey from the West African coast tied up in the bowels of a ship.”
It is difficult to imagine the stench of the unbathed humans stacked on top of each other; their urine and waste falling on each other; the blood of the women from their monthly cycles just flowing without care; and the decomposing bodies of those who didn’t make it (before they were thrown overboard).
This, followed by the indignity of being dragged out of the bowels of the ship into light, naked and shackled, displayed as dirty as you became after the months on the ship. Then, to add insult to injury, whether male or female, to be sexually assaulted at the whim of your “owner/s.”
I’m sure I don’t need to describe the events any further. My question, though, is always: what kind of human survives this? I am always grateful that whoever needed to survive so I would be born did.
Most of the time, the descendants of the enslaved point the finger at the Europeans as the reason for their plight. European responsibility and cruelty can’t be denied. However, the natives of the countries on the West Coast of the African continent who participated in the trade bear a great deal of responsibility for this human tragedy.
Those natives in power on the West Coast were just as cruel as the Europeans involved. In fact, in many cases, Europeans would not have been able to capture humans without their help. In certain cases, if a tribe was at war, it would capture its enemies and sell them to Europeans. So, there is more than enough responsibility to go around. But, at this point, apportioning blame is not necessarily helpful.
Apologies for the transatlantic slave trade and everything involved have trickled in slowly over the centuries. However, in March of 2026, the United Nations General Assembly officially adopted a landmark resolution declaring the trafficking and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans during the transatlantic slave trade as the “gravest crime against humanity.”
The petition for the resolution was submitted by the West African country of Ghana, which includes one of the areas that was known to have participated extensively in the slave trade. It was also supported by the African Union.
In one of my posts on social media, I mentioned the fact that humans of “African” descent in the Americas who are descendants of the enslaved “Africans” should consider not only forgiving the Europeans, but also the natives of those West Coast African countries who are known to have participated in the transatlantic slave trade. That statement met with little response.
Based on my life journey, I found certain things helpful. One is to learn to find the truth about things and see them for what they are. Things are what they are. If we pretend and don’t acknowledge the truth, there can be no healing, because you cannot heal what you don’t acknowledge as an issue. Once you grasp the truth, you can move to forgive and lighten your load. I have found no way around this in my life.
From a macro perspective, America’s abolition of slavery in 1865 represented a massive shift in human consciousness. It is noteworthy that although the United Kingdom abolished slavery in the colonies in 1834 and France in 1848 (slavery had never been practiced in either country as a legal system). The abolition of slavery in the United States of America was key to a world that was beginning to look at the U.S. as an emerging leader and powerhouse.
There were other countries in the Americas that abolished slavery both before and after the U.S., but this shift in the U.S. signaled a change in the belief of a significant number of humans across the world that slavery was acceptable.
Yet, as we look around the world today, we see that we humans still have a lot of work to do. Although in America, and some other places around the world, the transatlantic slave trade seemed to center on the color and/or race of the enslaved, when we take a macro look, we see it is really not about that at all. It was just that in that round of human barbarism, it was easier to divide people by the difference in color and/or physical appearance.
What it has always been about is humans in positions of power and authority seeking more of the same by taking advantage of and abusing those they believe to be beneath them. This applies to both the Europeans and the natives of the countries on the West Coast of Africa.
This kind of barbarism cannot occur unless there are humans who believe this is the only way to live and maintain control. The question for each of us then is: when will this change? When enough of us come to believe and understand, this is not the only way for us to exist in the world.
I began to understand the level of our unconsciousness and misunderstanding about certain things in life when I learned that in certain places around the world and throughout world history, it was common for freed slaves who “made it” to acquire slaves themselves. Life had taught them this was the way to be.
In the U.S., even down to this day, there is more irony with this drama, particularly in some places in the South. There are some who inexplicably remain angry at the descendants of the enslaved and still seek to make their lives difficult. No one has offered a rational explanation for their reason for being angry at the descendants of humans who were involuntarily brought to the U.S., subjugated and abused in every way possible, and then freed with no resources to heal their lives.
This phenomenon remains one of those unexplained mysteries, in which anger is misplaced and directed at those perceived as weakest. Perhaps the anger is really intended for those who created this whole drama to begin with, but easily dropped at the feet of the less powerful.
There is so much human insanity and irony wrapped up in the transatlantic slave trade in America that it would take volumes to address them all. One that often widens my eyes is how church-going men of “high society” often had consensual and non-consensual sexual relationships with humans, males and females, they clearly believed were inferior, while claiming to be respectable “God-Loving” humans of a civilized society.
Despite all of these things, I believe that, little by little, humanity has advanced, and we are evolving to recognize that if we are in a position of power, abuse is not the only option for retaining that power and managing those beneath us. Recently, I was reminded of the saying: When you are powerful, you must be merciful.
Since I believe forgiveness is key to transforming our lives, on this day of celebration, I suggest it is important to consider forgiving all those involved in this human tragedy. I continue to be grateful to all the ancestors who survived so I could be here today. At the same time, I am hopeful for the day when enough humans gain the awareness that there are not only two options: either we are on top or we are on the bottom.
—Olivia S. Benson
For more on my journey to healing from my absent father, check out my book “For the Love of my Father: A Spiritual Guide for Women Healing From the Absence of a Father in the Age of Spiritual Evolution” here: https://www.oliviasbenson.com/for-the-love-of-my-father/
For more information on my journey to finding solutions to my work-life issues, please check out my book titled “Answers From Within: A Spiritual Guide for Finding Answers to Work-Life Issues.” You can access it by clicking here: https://www.oliviasbenson.com/answersfromwithin/