Theories of Relativity

You can't know where your going, until you know where you've come from. Thus this trip, a pilgrimage of sorts, was very necessary for me. The last couple of days, I've spent time piecing together that which is my heritage. The other day we took a trip to cape coast, which was about 5 hours away and visited Kakum National Forest and the Cape Coast Slave Castle. On the long trip we drove through numerous towns, and i saw the town where my father lived for part of his childhood, as well as the town where my maternal grandmother was raised. The trip, being both experiential (Go Dukes!) and entertaining began at Kakum National Forest, which is home to the sky scraping canopy, which is only one of 4 in the world. I braved the canopy, and temporarily conquered my fear of heights ( and i have pics to prove). We also took a brief tour of the forest and learned a bit about the different animals and creatures that inhabit the forest, although we didn't see any since most of them are nocturnal. A mini exhibit at the beginning of the forest displayed a lot of information on things that the forest has provided such as vaccines and cures from plant, leaves, and roots.

After leaving the forest, we went to the Cape Coast Slave Castle and took a tour, which began in the male slave dungeon. In the past I've studied slavery in school, as well as seen and heard about the slave castles, but being inside one is definitely an experience that I think everyone needs to have. The male slave dungeon was built under a church. There was also a tunnel that led from the male slave dungeon into the female dungeon which ultimately led to the "Door of No Return." There was torture and punishment rooms for women that protested being raped, and a cell that slaves were left in to ultimately die in, which had now windows, or other holes for food, light, or air.

I once spoke with a Professor of West African descent and in the conversation they made a comment of the sort comparing African Americans to Africans. What i took from the conversation was that the Professor felt a sense of superiority to African Americans for the fact that they were descendants of slaves while he was rather a descendant of an African heritage untarnished by slavery. That conversation has stuck with me to this day, in hopes that i would one day find an understanding for their sentiments. It was also ever present in the tour of the Cape Coast Slave Castle. The tour guide talked about how a number of the slaves were captured from town raids, as well as sold as prisoners of tribal wars in exchange for arms and other goods. So if this is the case, Africans selling other Africans into slavery, how could one, whether of African descent or African American descent be untarnished by slavery? It was definitely a surreal experience to stand there, and think of how many souls could have possibly passed through that space.I think everyone

While on the subject of relativity, i also met my paternal Grandmother,in a sense. I went with my father and his sister to visit her grave. Rest in Peace Elizabeth Asante Opokua 2.1.1916 - 10.11.2002