During a 1998 trip to Uganda, President Bill Clinton provided what many historians considered to be the first apology by the United States for its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Speaking before a school in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, Clinton apologized for “European Americans” benefiting from the “fruits of the slave trade.”
“And of course, going back to the time before we were even a nation, European Americans received the fruits of the slave trade,” Clinton said. “And we were wrong in that as well.”
While his remarks drew the praise of 90s liberals, Democrats, and leftists around the globe — especially white liberals, Democrats, and leftists — it was Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda who Clinton was meeting with (who is still in power today), that, as someone born and raised on the African continent, provided a pragmatic assessment of the horrors of the African slave trade. He said an apology from the U.S., or anyone of European descent, was unnecessary, for African chiefs were the real culprits and bore responsibility for slavery, claiming it was “black traitors” and not white Europeans who were to blame.
“I don’t have time for that diversion or rubbish,” Museveni said in 1998 regarding the blaming of the white man for slavery. “African chiefs were the ones waging war on each other and capturing their own people and selling them. If anyone should apologize, it should be the African chiefs. We still have those traitors here even today.”
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“The black traitors, they are the big problem of Africa, in the past and now,” he said.
It’s a history lesson that many in the world today need reminding of. This includes Pope Leo XIV, who, nearly 30 years after Museveni’s comments, apologized for slavery, this time on behalf of the Catholic Church. And even though the slave trade ended in the 19th century, liberals, Democrats, and global leftists have been committed to habitually promoting guilt over the institution, especially among white people, starting in the late 20th century and continuing today.
Furthermore, regarding the pope’s comments, while my personal recollection might be a little hazy, I don’t recall the Catholic Church having a significant presence or influence on the African continent during the peak of the African slave trade in the 15th through 19th centuries. In fact, it can be legitimately argued that the Catholic Church owes more of an apology to people of European ancestry whose descendants were slaves during the Roman Empire than apologizing for the African slave trade.
Moreover, while in contemporary times, it is fashionable to besmirch people of European descent and force them into feeling guilt over the slave trade, the truth is that the leaders of African countries should be the ones facilitating apologies for slavery since it was their ancestors who originated the slave trade. One African leader who could start this acknowledgment is Ghana President John Mahama, who was all too eager to accept the pope’s apology but has not offered one of his own or sought more apologies from the leaders of countries on his continent.
Incidentally, earlier in the 21st century, there was a push for African nations to accept their responsibility in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In 2009, the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria called on leaders of African nations to acknowledge their sins and denounce their ancestors’ involvement in slavery. This little-known effort generated mixed results and was arguably suppressed as it threatened one of the Left’s most profitable grievances. Nevertheless, it was a more honorable and realistic recognition of world history than the agenda-driven pursuits of radical leaders such as Ghana’s Mahama.
“We cannot continue to blame the white men, as Africans, particularly the traditional rulers, are not blameless,” the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria said in a communication to African leaders. They called for taking responsibility for the societal ills they helped create, which led to the suffering of so many. They sought a shared accountability for slavery, especially after countries and people of European descent apologized for their roles.
“In view of the fact that the Americans and Europe have accepted the cruelty of their roles and have forcefully apologized, it would be logical, reasonable, and humbling if African traditional rulers … [can] accept blame and formally apologize to the descendants of the victims of their collaborative and exploitative slave trade,” the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria noted.
The plea was largely disregarded. But while this initiative by the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria did not result in a transformative moment of African accountability, it should be noted that, over time, at various points in the 20th century, some African leaders did follow Museveni’s advice from 1998. Their apologies aren’t widely known and definitely not publicized, but starting in 2000, some African leaders recognized their country’s prominent role in the slave trade and offered apologies.
In 2000, then-Benin President Mathieu Kerekou apologized for his people’s role in the slave trade, which was known as the Kingdom of Dahomey. In 2007, then-Ghanaian President John Kufuor accepted responsibility for the role of his country in the slave trade, admitting that it was not just Europeans who engaged in the slave trade but that “local indigenous groups were also guilty.” And in 2013, Ngako Ngalatchui, a local tribal chief in Cameroon, issued an apology for selling Africans into slavery.
Also, warranting equal recognition is the apology offered by Nana Obokese Ampah I, the king of Asebu, in 2022. He sought forgiveness for the ancestors of his people for selling Africans into bondage.
“It is time to address what must be said to the African Diaspora,” Ampah said. “We must engage in a meaningful conversation to acknowledge and reconcile our actions and inactions as rulers of our kingdoms during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, which we deeply regret.”
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Many, if not all, of these apologies were not publicized, nor did they receive appropriate recognition worldwide. None received the magnitude of news coverage as the pope’s apology or the efforts of Mahama to capitalize on the publicity of his return to the well of trans-Atlantic slavery guilt. As mentioned above, hiding African accountability and responsibility for the trans-Atlantic slave trade is an integral part of contemporary social and political left-wing ideologies. The grievances do not elicit the same emotional response when Africans bear responsibility in the same way as people of European descent.
Nevertheless, blaming the white man is a vital aspect of contemporary grievance culture, in Europe and especially in the U.S. Give credit where credit is due, as the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria at least had the courage to lead a crusade to do the right thing, even if it did not generate the same kind of publicity as current social justice movements regarding slavery.
Due to either fear or years of indoctrination, it’s unquestionably easier to blame the white man for the slave trade than to provide an accurate and honest historical account of it. It’s a habitual practice that must end. Pope Leo’s apology is probably sincere. Yet it does nothing to shed light on the historical truth and facts about the African origins of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The pope would have been better off apologizing and asking the leaders of African nations to join him.