Today, March 25, marks the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, established in 2007 by the United Nations General Assembly.
For more than 400 years, over 15 million men, women, and children were victims of the tragic transatlantic slave trade, which was the largest forced migration in history and one of the most inhumane: it involved millions of people who came mostly from the African coasts and were taken to the Americas and the Caribbean Islands.
Today we remember and honor these victims; today we reflect on the dangers of racism and prejudice.
Together against racism
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, says in a message dedicated to this Day: “There is much that we know about the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans, and today is a day when we remember: the crime against humanity, the unprecedented trafficking in human beings, the degrading economic transactions, and the unspeakable violations of human rights.
We will never know every act of resistance, great or small, that slowly but surely triumphed over injustice, repression, and slavery. But these accounts are crucial to our understanding of a past whose most pernicious and persistent legacy continues to damage our present: racism.
The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is an opportunity to learn about and reflect on these stories. To pay tribute to the millions of Africans torn from their lands and communities. And to stand in solidarity against racism everywhere. Today, people of African descent continue to face racial discrimination, marginalization, and exclusion. On this International Day, let us unite against racism and build together societies founded on dignity, equality, and solidarity.”
The story of Bakhita
“If I were to meet those slave traders who kidnapped me and also those who tortured me, I would kneel to kiss their hands, because, if it had not happened, I would not be a Christian and a religious sister,” these are the words of Saint Josephine Bakhita, who, with the light of Christ, was able to illuminate even the darkest moment of her life. Born around 1869 in an African village in Darfur, she was kidnapped and sold to slave traders: “I was about nine years old when, one morning, I went for a walk in our fields. Suddenly [sbucano] two ugly, armed strangers emerged from a hedge. One drew a large knife from his belt, pointed it at my side, and said in an imperious voice, ‘If you scream, you’re dead, come with us!’”
For Bakhita, a life of deprivation, beatings, and being passed from one master to another begins. Then she is tattooed in a cruel tribal ritual: 114 knife cuts along her body. At last comes the fifth and final sale of the young enslaved girl. She is bought by an Italian consular agent, Callisto Legnami. When the Italian official leaves Khartoum and returns to his homeland, Bakhita becomes the nanny of Alice, the daughter of a couple of the consul’s friends.
And then comes her encounter with Christ: Alice’s mother decides to send her daughter and nanny to boarding school. The young girl is taken in by the Catechumenate run by the Canossian Sisters of Venice (1888). In 1893 she enters the Canossian novitiate. Cook, sacristan, and porter are her humble duties. A woman of prayer and mercy, she wins over the people of Schio, where she remains for 45 years. The “chocolate” nun captivates people with her goodness, joy, and faith. She dies on February 8, 1947. Saint Josephine still has much to say to our time, when more than 40 million people are victims of human trafficking, the majority of them women.
Our drop
We are often tempted to think that problems such as racism do not concern us, or rather that there is little we can do in our own small way: Saint Teresa of Calcutta reminds us, however, that “what we do is just a drop in the ocean, but if we did not do it, the ocean would have one drop less.” Sometimes a smile, a gesture of welcome, or a simple, small act is enough to express solidarity and brotherhood.
Racism is not yesterday’s problem; “racism is a virus that mutates easily and, instead of disappearing, hides, but is always lying in wait. Expressions of racism renew our shame by showing that society’s progress is not guaranteed forever” (Pope Francis). If you wish, share your thoughts about racism with us; tell us a story of brotherhood.
