Ghanaian President, John Mahama is currently in New York to propose a resolution at the UN General Assembly for the recognition of the transatlantic slavery as the “gravest crime in the history of humankind” and to call for reparations.
This was as he pointed out that the United States under President Donald Trump is “slowly normalising” the erasure of Black history.
Within hours of his second term as president, Trump ordered the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices that were responsible for addressing systemic discrimination against minorities.
Weeks later, he announced plans to remove what he described as “corrosive” anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum complex.
Exhibits at the American Art Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture were among the Smithsonian institutions singled out in Trump’s order for promoting “narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive”.
Last August, Trump frowned at what he said was an excessive focus on “how bad slavery was”. In an interview he granted The New York Times in January, he said civil rights protections hurt white people.
The US President has also previously criticised the Black Lives Matter protests, saying there was “a definite anti-white feeding” in the US, criticising “woke” policies.
“These policies are becoming a template for other governments as well as some private institutions,” Mahama said at the UN event.
“At the very least, they are slowly normalizing the erasure.”
Mahama has previously criticised Trump for his false claims of white genocide and land seizures in South Africa, calling them an “insult to Africans”.
Speaking at an event on slavery reparations at the United Nations (UN) on Tuesday in New York, Mahama said the system of slavery was deliberately constructed to deny Africans their humanity.
“The entire transatlantic slave trade was designed to strip African people of their humanity, premised on a racial hierarchy that falsely elevated one race while dehumanising another without any basis in fact or science,” he said.
He pointed out that the crimes committed during slavery and the injustices that followed were made possible because enslaved Africans were treated as objects rather than human beings.
“These injustices occurred because human beings were reduced to objects. That is why, in discussing slavery and its legacy, we must begin by reclaiming racial equality and restoring the dignity of Africans and their descendants,” he said.
“Such a resolution allows the world to collectively bear witness to the suffering of more than 12.5 million men, women, and children whose homes, identities, families, dreams, and futures were taken from them over 400 years.”
He added that confronting this history honestly is essential to achieving justice, healing, and meaningful progress in addressing the enduring legacy of slavery.
Ghana has led the African Union’s increasingly loud calls for wealthier nations to address historical injustices stemming from colonisation, slavery, and systemic discrimination.
Last year, the AU placed slave reparations at the centre of its annual summit agenda.
Following the 2023 Accra Proclamation, the AU is pushing for the acknowledgement of slavery and colonialism as crimes against humanity, seeking restorative justice, artefact repatriation, and systemic financial reforms to address the enduring impact of these injustices.
