Date: 2007-05-01
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Madam Speaker. I stand before you today in support of H. Res. 272. drafted by my colleague Representative BARBARA LEE from Califomia. I would like to thank her for her leadership on this issue in recognition of this important part of our shared history. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the end of the transatlantic slave trade. In 1807 the United Kingdom outlawed slavery recognizing. that the African slave trade and all manner of dealing and trading in the purchase. sale. barter. or transfer of slaves from any part of the coast or countries of Africa was unlawful and thereby abolished. The transatlantic slave trade conducted the capture of Africans. mostly from West Africa. for the purpose of enslavement in the colonies that would become the United States. during the 15th and late 19th centuries. The Middle Passage was the forced migration through overseas transportof millions of Africans to the Americas. many of whom suffered abuses of rape and perished as a result of torture. malnutrition. disease and resistance in transit. Those who survived this perilous journey were sold into slavery. More than 12.000.000 Africans were transported in bondage from their African homelands to the Americas. and an estimated 1.200.000 men. women. and children born in the Americas were displaced in the forced migration that was the domestic slave trade. It is important to acknowledge that as a result of the slave trade approximately 80.000.000 to 150.000.000 persons of African descent live in Latin America and the Caribbean. making them the largest -population of persons of African descent outside of Africa. The transatlantic slave trade is characterized as the largest forced migration in world history. The institution of slavery which enslaved Africans. their progeny and later generations for life was constitutionally and statutorily sanctioned by the Government of the United States from 1789 through 1865. Slavery in the United States during and after British colonial rule included the sale and acquisition of Africans as chattel property in interstate and intrastate commerce. However their presence in southern states posed a problem for representation when the Union solidified. The Great Compromise of 1787 declared that the enslaved Africans would be counted as threefifths of a person for the purposes of representation in the House of Representatives as not to give undue representa-. tion to southern states. The slavery that flourished in the United States constituted an immoral and inhumane dispossession of Africans life. liberty. and citizenship rights and denied them the fruits of their own labor. The enslaved Africans in the colonies and the United States suffered psychological and physical abuse. destruction of their culture. language. religion. and families. I am disappointed that this body has been slow to act on the resolution denouncing slavery and offering an official apology to the descendants of slaves and the African American community. The 2001 World Conference against Racism. Racial Discrimination. Xenophobia. and Related Intolerance. held in Durban. South Africa. declared the slave trade and slavery a crime against humanity. The world recognizes the magnitude of this atrocity so why cant we make this simple step towards reconciliation? The slave trade and the legacy of slavery continue to have a profound impact on social and economic disparity. hatred. bias. racism and discrimination in the United States. I urge my colleagues to support this and other legislation that serves to educate and .increase awareness of the history of the slave trade and its impact on American culture.