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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Visits the Door of No Return [1]

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Date: 2023-01-21  

Fatima Hussein, writing for the Associated Press, has a story on U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to the Door of No Return on Goree Island off the coast of Senegal. apnews.com/… The UNESCO World Heritage Site was the slave-trading post from which enslaved Africans were shipped as human cargo to the Americas. Standing at the Door of No Return in the building known as the House of Slaves, Yellen delivered brief remarks:

“Gorée and the trans-Atlantic slave trade are not just a part of African history. They are a part of American history as well,” ... “We know that the tragedy did not stop with the generation of humans taken from here. Even after slavery was abolished, Black Americans — many of whom can trace their descendence through ports like this across Africa — were denied the rights and freedoms promised to them under our Constitution.” … “In both Africa and the United States, even as we have made tremendous strides, we are still living with the brutal consequences of the trans-Atlantic slave trade,” ... “What I take from this place is the importance of redoubling our commitment to fight for our shared values and principles wherever they are threatened — in the United States, in Africa, and around the world,” ... ”We have more work to do.”

Yellen’s trip to Africa is part of the U.S. effort to boost economic relations with nations on the continent. The ramification of the neglect of those relations was made apparent by the acknowledgment of the growing economic interdependence among African nations and China and Russia during United Nations votes on sanctions against Russia in the aftermath of its invasion of Ukraine.

Aside from today’s realpolitik, Yellen’s trip is occurring in the backdrop of discussions of reparations for slavery throughout the Americas and Europe following scholarly studies that trace the global banking and insurance industries’ wealth to the transatlantic slave trade and the institution of slavery.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/21/2148443/-U-S-Treasury-Secretary-Janet-Yellen-Visits-the-Door-of-No-Return

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