“History must be learned”: Kamala Harris on slavery on her visit to Ghana

First modification: 03/29/2023 – 01:25

“On the African continent we know that women grow most of the food, but they are less likely to own the land they farm,” US Vice President Kamala Harris said on her visit to Ghana. And she added: “They represent the majority of frontline health workers, but they face disparities in health outcomes.”

In her speech, delivered this Tuesday, March 28, Harris addressed issues such as gender equality on the continent, female empowerment, and the importance of knowing the history of racism and slavery. All these phenomena that, according to the vice president, connect the United States and Africa.

Similarly, Harris underscored the importance of the continent’s youth by mentioning that, by 2050, one in four people in the world will be African. A figure that reveals that what happens in Africa has a great impact on the entire globe.

“We must invest in Africa’s ingenuity and creativity, which will unlock incredible economic growth and opportunity, not only for the people of the 54 countries that make up this diverse continent, but also for the American people and peoples around the world.” world,” Harris said.

“The horror of what happened here must always be remembered”

Following her speech in front of the monument, Vice President Harris took a tour inside Cape Coast Castle, a building known for its slavery-related past.

The castle is one of the fortresses that housed African slaves before being shipped to the American continent.

During the visit, Harris stressed the importance of never forgetting the continent’s past and was moved by the tour. “Anguish is breathed in this place,” she said. In addition, she spoke about the horrors that occurred in the vicinity of this enclosure.

“Because of this history, this continent has, of course, a special meaning for me personally, as the first black vice president of the United States,” Kamala Harris said during her visit.

The vice president’s statements come within the framework of a political controversy within the United States, unleashed after some congressmen from the states of Florida, Texas and Georgia approved new laws to limit the teaching of history related to racism and slavery. in the schools.

Rapprochement between the United States and Africa

Ghana is the first destination of Kamala Harris’ week-long visit to the continent. Tanzania and Zambia are the other African nations that are part of the official tour of the vice president in Africa.

Harris’ tour follows the initiative recently adopted by the US government, being the second high-level official to set foot on African soil in recent weeks. In early March, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was in Ethiopia in early March of this year.

China’s political and economic influence on the continent has caused the United States to once again turn its gaze to Africa, trying to counteract the power of the Asian giant in the region.

Many voices express that the future of the world is on African soil, being the continent with the youngest average age. A factor for which the world powers are attentive to the development of the region.

With Reuters, AP and EFE