I live in a country where it feels like a crime to be Black or Brown-skinned, a crime to exist as a minority. I feel as though we’ve been stripped of our rights by the very system that was supposed to protect us. I don’t feel loved by this country—a country built on stolen land, taken from the Indigenous peoples who first called it home. The Native American tribes who nurtured this land were violently displaced, and their cultures were nearly erased by colonizers who claimed it as their own.
Let’s not forget that the so-called ‘discovery’ of the Americas is a lie perpetuated by history books. This land was not discovered by Christopher Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer whose name inspired ‘The United States of America.’ In truth, the Americas were known and explored long before their arrival. Evidence suggests that Abu Bakari II of Mali, an African king, sailed to the Americas nearly 200 years before Columbus set foot on these shores. Abu Bakari, known for his vision and exploration, abdicated his throne to lead a fleet of ships across the Atlantic, making him one of the earliest explorers of this land.
Yet, these contributions—along with the sacrifices, resilience, and brilliance of Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples—are ignored or erased in the narrative of this nation’s founding. Instead, we live in a system that continues to oppress, criminalize, and dehumanize minorities while glorifying the very people who stole and exploited this land.
This is why it’s so important to challenge the narrative, to reclaim our history, and to demand love and justice from a country that has given us so little in return.
(Link here 🔗: https://aaregistry.org/story/african-voyage-to-the-americas-a-story/)
https://aaregistry.org/story/african-voyage-to-the-americas-a-story/
