By Landing Ceesay
A Pan Africanist described resistance of Kunta Kinteh to the dominance of the white-imperialists during the trans-Atlantic slave trade as significant.
Ousman Touray made these remarks at the commemoration of ‘Kunta Kinteh Day’ in The Gambia on Monday from Westfield to Traffic lights in Fajara. The event was organized by the family of Kunta Kinteh to remember him and other enslaved Africans.
“…one thing that made him significant in the history of Africa, in the history of the Gambia and the history of the black race. That is [his] resistance [to] control, [his] resistance [to] dominance, [his] resistance in the fact that the intention of the [white] people who took him away from us was to erase his identity and he stood to correct that and that is why he is significant in our history and significant in our day to day affairs,” Ousman Touray said.
The young Gambian said Africans have a lot to learn from Kunta Kinteh and do on Kunta Kinteh day to reflect on themselves and their identity.
“The fight of the black person, the fight of the black race after our opening up by giving chances to the outsiders, they come to dominate us and eradicate our histories and making us look irrelevant or to stand straight of who we are as Africans and that was what Kunta Kinteh was fighting for. When we leave here today, we should all ask ourselves the same question. Are we fighting the battle that Kunta Kinteh did take over from that time?” he asked.
The young pan Africanist further stated the black person is always perceived as the lowest class whenever they are dealing with outsiders. He likened the fight of Kunta kinteh to the fight of Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere.
“What we need to do now is to stand straight and understand that we as a race have an obligation. That is to build a race, to build a community that is respected, a community that has dignity everywhere, a community that is identified everywhere, and a community that holds to its civilisation and history, “Touray urged.
At the commemoration of ‘Kunta Kinteh Day’, Touray observed the significance of Kunta in the history of The Gambia, Africa, and the black race at large.
“Kunta Kinteh Day is a day which is important in the history of the Gambia, important in the history of Africa and important in the history of the black race,” he observed.
Kunta Kinteh was a Gambian who was captured and taken to America as a slave by the white-colonialists in the 19th Century and later died there.
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