Vice President Kamala Harris at Cape Coast Castle in Ghana.Photo: AP Photo/Misper Apawu
Vice PresidentKamala Harrisis doubling-down on her belief that all Americans should be taught the unpleasant sides of U.S. history, offering remarks on the matter after her emotional tour through the dungeons of Ghana’s Cape Coast “slave castle.”
Harris and second gentlemanDoug Emhoffvisited the European-built castle on Tuesday, one of the dozens of Colonial-era fortifications dotted across the west coast of Africa that are remnants of thetrans-Atlantic slave trade. The vice president, who is thefirst-ever Black and South Asian personin her position, said being there was “immensely powerful and moving.”
“We don’t know the numbers who died on their way to this place, the numbers who were killed during that passage on the Atlantic. What happened here must always be remembered,“Harris said in a speechafter spending about an hour touring the castle. “It cannot be denied. It must be taught. History must be learned.”
AP Photo/Misper Apawu, Pool
“All these stories must be told in a way that we take from this place — the pain we all feel, the anguish that reeks from this place. And we then carry the knowledge that we have may gained here toward the work that we do in lifting up all people, in recognizing the struggles of all people, of fighting for, as the walls of this place talk about, justice and freedom for all people, human rights for all people.”
Harris and Emhoffwalked through the “door of no return” while touring the grounds, an infamous doorway through which slaves would be marched on their way to ships, never to return to their homelands.
“The descendants of the people who walked through that door were strong people, proud people, people of deep faith; people who loved their families, their traditions, their culture, and carried that innate being with them through all of these periods; went on to fight for civil rights, fight for justice in the United States of America and around the world. And all of us, regardless of your background, have benefited from their struggle and their fight for freedom and for justice,” Harris said.
AP Photo/Misper Apawu
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The vice president is in Ghana as part of a week-long tour which also includes visits to Tanzania and Zambia. Harris is the highest-rankingBidenofficial to visit the continent.
Prior to her visit to Cape Coast Castle, Harris spoke to a large crowd at theBlack Star Gatemonument in Independence Square. “This continent, of course, has a special significance for me personally, as the first Black vice president of the United States,” she said to applause.
The vice president went on to outline the United States' commitment to “strengthen our partnerships across the continent of Africa — partnerships with governments, the private sector, civil society, and all of you. Partnerships based on openness, inclusiveness, candor, shared interests, and mutual benefits.”
source: people.com
