加纳总统 John Mahama 先生指出，跨大西洋奴隶贸易的策划本质是为了剥夺非洲人的人性，并强调这一制度建立在虚假的种族优越论基础上。

3 月中旬在联合国总部举行的奴隶制问题活动上发表讲话时，他提出必须重新审视对奴隶制的历史叙事，首先应从描述用语开始革新。

"整个跨大西洋奴隶贸易的设计初衷就是要否定非洲人民的人性。" 他解释道，这个制度植根于 "毫无事实或科学依据" 的种族等级体系，将白人置于黑人之上。

Mahama 总统坚持认为，使用 "奴隶" 一词本身就可能抹杀受压迫者的身份与尊严。

"世上本不存在所谓 '奴隶'。只有被贩卖而后遭受奴役的人类。" 他表示："除非你否认个体的人性，剥夺其基本的尊严权利。"

他指出，这一时期暴行得以实施、不平等现象持续蔓延，根本原因在于被奴役的非洲人被视为财产而非人类。

"奴隶制催生的不公正延续至后续社会体系，正是因为这些人被当作物品而非人类看待。" 总统补充道。

Mahama 总统呼吁全球话语体系变革，主张关于奴隶制的讨论必须始于重塑非洲人尊严、承认受难者人性的自觉努力。

"当我们探讨奴隶制及其后果时，必须首先重申非洲人的尊严，铭记被奴役祖先的人性 -- 这自然也包括我们自身的人性。" 他郑重强调。

Transatlantic Slave Trade was Designed to Deny Africans Their Humanity – Mahama

President John Mahama has stated that the transatlantic slave trade was engineered to strip Africans of their humanity, stressing that the system was built on false notions of racial superiority.

Delivering remarks at a United Nations event on slavery at the United Nations Headquarters on Tuesday, March 24, he argued that the historical framing of slavery must be reconsidered, beginning with the language used to describe it.

“The entire transatlantic slave trade was designed to deny African people their humanity,” he said, explaining that the system was rooted in a racial hierarchy “with no basis in fact or science” that placed whiteness above blackness.

President Mahama maintained that the use of the term “slave” itself risks erasing the identity and dignity of those who were subjected to the system.

“There is no such thing as a slave. There were human beings who were trafficked and then enslaved,” he said.

“Not if you acknowledge an individual’s humanity and respect their basic rights to dignity.”

He noted that the atrocities committed during the period and the inequalities that followed were made possible because enslaved Africans were viewed as property rather than people.

“The injustices that were born of slavery and carried forward into successive social systems took place because those persons were considered objects, not human beings,” he added.

The president called for a shift in global discourse, urging that conversations about slavery must begin with a deliberate effort to restore the dignity of Africans and recognise the humanity of those who endured it.

“When discussing slavery and its consequences, we must always start by reclaiming the dignity of Africans, the humanity of our ancestors who were enslaved, and, as a matter of course, our own humanity,” he said.

来源：My Joy Online

文：Prince Adu-Owusu

翻译：无尽夏

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