By Nicholas Gochai.
Lomdon. (News of The South) – THE 1840s story of Sara Forbes Bonetta Davies (originally Omoiba Aina) from Nigeria is a stark reminder of the evils that are inherent in slavery.
Among some of the countries which indulged in direct slave trade where Britain and the United States.
Davies, a West African Egbado princess, was captured and sold into slavery after she was captured during intertribal warfares to some slave masters from England.
She was later donated to Queen Victoria.
The eight-year-old slave girl – whose royal Yoruba family of Nigeria was murdered during the raid was – like all black slaves (during the period) – later indoctrinated and forced to pursue White cultural norms.
At 19 and also against her will, Davies was given into marriage to a successful Nigerian businessman, who was more than a decade her senior.
As the world celebrates another anniversary of the abolition of slavery, the story of Davies should remind Africans in the diaspora of the systematic enslavement of blacks by many whites around.
The adoption of Davies by Queen Victoria and the rest of the royal family was clearly meant to use the black girl as a guinea pig, so that the latter would have an in-depth understanding of black royalty.
Ironically and on a much bigger plane, too, Queen Victoria’s attitude towards Davies and the ultimate capture of other blacks from the Caribbean (and other white men’s territories) to date represents a major shift and disruption to the coming of age (bildungsroman) of most blacks, both in and out of the diaspora.
Bildungsromans are stories that trace the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of their main characters, usually from childhood to maturity.
Davies’ dislocation from her family in Africa obviously had a disorienting effect.
The black woman ended up in an arranged marriage, giving credence to the adage that “he who plays the song, plays the piper”.
Meanwhile, the events of last week have placed a dumber on the claim that globalisation has brought real equility to all the peoples of this world.
It is the murder of George Flyod – a Blackman – by suffocation that will remain a black spot on white people’s consciences.
That Davies eventually died far from home in Europe as a result of climate change-induced tuberculosis at 37, is symbolic.
Ironically, this frontal attack on Davies’ health away from home has now become a rallying point for the Black Lives Matter protesters: I Can’t Breathe.
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