In a dark dungeon I stood with a broken heart on centuries-old dry excrement. I was visiting the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, a transshipping point for African captives in the British Atlantic slave trade. In each dungeon, hundreds of slaves were so tightly packed that these desperate humans could only stand day and night for weeks at a time.
In the courtyard above, our guide pointed to a quaint, whitewashed two-story building (at the extreme left of the picture): “This is where the Christians met on Sunday for worship.” My heart was pierced. The British who ran this fort professed to worship Christ while, a few feet below them, thousands of slaves—each one precious to Jesus—suffered horribly.
Engraved on the outside wall of the chapel was this sobering testimony:
Too many living did not remember. In the 20th Century, the Nazis slaughtered eleven million fellow humans, including six million Jews. At the time, 80 percent of Germans were professing Christians. No doubt Christian farmers watched as trainloads of Jews, jammed into over crowded boxcars, were transported through their fields into the death camps. They could see the smoke pouring from the ovens; the soot of human remains settled on their fields. Some believe that governmental leaders in England and America knew what was happening.
The Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project includes another commendable pledge: “Forget You Not – preserving the past to protect the future.” I read these pledges and agree: Never again! My whole body rages at the horrors of the Cape Coast dungeons and the Nazi death camps. Yet these pledges have had little moral force. They have spurred few to significant action: few in the human family … few in the church. They are merely sentiment.
The British Atlantic slave trade ended about 200 years ago. The holocaust almost 70 years ago. But today, another unspeakable wave of horror rolls over many of the world’s nations.
Misogyny–hatred towards women—continues to fuel a war against the female. Today’s global sex trade in women and girls dwarfs the slave trade of the past. And, in sheer numbers, the holocaust pales in comparison to gendercide–the systematic murder of females.
Take a moment to view these videos which highlight the war against women.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISme5-9orR0&w=560&h=345&rel=0]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1xlTz1DZas&w=560&h=345&rel=0]
Also, go to All Girls Allowed to see how this organization is working to end gendercide in China, and how you can help.
International Justice Mission another fine organization worthy of your support, is working to end, among other injustices, sex trafficking.
Please, if you are moved, point your friends to this post.
By the grace of Christ, may the cry Never Again become a reality, not just a slogan.
– Darrow Miller
Print this page
4 Comments
brian goodall
September 26, 2011 - 9:41 pmThis is a tremendous article. I was able to tour Elmina Castle in March of 2009. What you wrote resonates deeply with me. I was so grieved over the church built on top of the male slave dungeon. I was completely wrecked that day. In response I wrote string orchestra piece. It was premiered last week by the Tucson Pops Orchestra (see http://www.briangoodallmusic.com/music.html). I’m currently serving on the Steering Committee for a ministry organization called Streetlight in Tucson, AZ that exists to help abolish child sex slavery. To me, the connection between the church back then allowing injustice to happen underneath their feet and our responsibility as the church today is blatant and can’t be ignored. Thanks for writing this. Keep up the good work.
disciplenations
September 30, 2011 - 1:27 pmDear Brian
Thank you for your touching story and the beautiful stringed response to what you saw in the Cape Coast Prison. My heart is to encourage artists to write music, paint and create poetry that speaks prophetically to culture. Thank you for being such a person. We have friends in India that are affiliated with the DNA. They call themselves SALT and have a group of painters and a group of musicians. You can see their exhibit at their <a href="“>Reflections Art Gallery in New Delhi. Their pamphlet “Female Foeticide: Why Care?” details the reality of the war against women – gendercide – as it manifests itself in India.
Brian, if you have not seen <a href="“>Wintley Phipps story on the creation of John Newton’s famous hymn Amazing Grace, it is well worth the few minutes it will take. Phipps imagines what John Newton, the captain of the slave ship, might have experienced one dark night on the Atlantic Ocean as he heard a West African slave chant come from the hold of his ship. As I read your story and listen to the music you wrote, I could not but think of the story that Phipps narrates.
Brian, thanks for your sensitive heart. May your tribe be multiplied.
Darrow Miller
Darrow