President John Dramani Mahama has sounded the alarm on the ongoing erasure of African history and Black experiences, highlighting how historical distortion continues in education and public discourse.
Speaking during the UN High-Level Special Event on Reparatory Justice, Mahama said, cited examples from the United States.
He said, “In the United States, Black history courses are being removed from school curricula; schools are being mandated to stop teaching students about slavery, segregation, and racism in American history courses. Books about those topics are being banned in schools and public libraries.”
According to him, this form of erasure mirrors the language of violence used during the transatlantic slave trade.
“Erasure begins with language, when words are used as a sleight of hand, to gaslight, to trick you into doubting what you know to be true,” Mahama explained. He warned that such practices risk normalizing forgetting and rewriting history, much like the laws during slavery that codified inhumane treatment of Africans.
Mahama stressed the importance of confronting historical silences and myths.
“Earlier, when discussing the importance of this resolution, I said it was a safeguard against forgetting. This is the type of forgetting that I was referring to,” he said, urging the international community to actively protect historical memory and acknowledge the full extent of slavery’s impact.
According to the president, recognizing the deliberate silencing of African experiences is essential for reparative justice.
He called on the UN and its member states to uphold the truth and ensure education and public knowledge reflect historical realities, not sanitized versions that diminish the suffering and contributions of Africans.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
