One can only wonder how they all felt that day in 1884, these representatives from 13 European powers and the United States. Did they realize the mind-numbing violence they were about to ignite?
German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had organized the conference. All these men were gathered together so that they could come to an agreement on which slice of Africa they could claim for their own! It sounds like a conspiracy theory – but it’s true.
Despite Africa being a place of life, and a culture and people who owed them nothing, these white men felt it was their right to claim the continent of Africa through violence. They cut it up like it was a piece of meat, deciding that their desire for resources justified them horrifically changing lives and ancient societies.
This radically changed the course of African AND European history. The violence required to systematically colonize an entire continent meant that the Western world truly did not have any civil values or regard for human life.
That harms the people within those Western societies as well.
Black people globally have to remember that our oppression and the theft of our native lands was planned. White men did whatever was necessary for their success – we must make sure we do the same when it comes to our liberation.