Innocent Chia
Citizen Journalist
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By Innocent Chia
When I was done reading "A Man from Another Land: How finding my roots changed my Life” by the actor, producer and philanthropist – Isaiah Washington - all I wanted to do was ask him, “How are you doing Isaiah? The emotional response that Isaiah unshackles, in me and others who have read the book, is meticulously woven in the outcomes of a narrative that juxtaposes triumphs and tribulations which are simultaneously personal and communal. This centerpiece of personal, community, racial and continental befuddlement, I submit, is the story of perception of slavery, identity, conflict and human development starring Africans and African Americans.
Here’s how Isaiah Washington captures it:
“I felt a range of conflicting emotions – anger, hurt, disgust – but at the same time I was very proud about what I saw and heard there. The anger stemmed from my own ignorance. I knew nothing about Bunce Island’s history and its connection to the development of the Southern region of the United States...pg 138
During a meeting with the members of the BO Council, I felt my spirit shift from the despair I had been feeling earlier to something different. In the middle of the meeting I felt compelled to say, “Before I’m inducted as an honorary chief tomorrow, my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother says that she forgives you.”
The women in the council dropped their heads. The men sat there staring at me, speechless. Raymond’s brother, Alieu Manga, jumped and shouted, “There were extenuating circumstances, there were extenuating circumstances, there were extenuating circumstances then! What would you have done?” he asked.
I heard myself say, “I would have died before I sold you away.” Pg 143
Such riveting dialogue, smacked squarely in the middle of 286 pages, far from a mere coincidence, is a perfect segue from the chronicles of personal and family trials, adolescence, military service, university education, the foundations of his acting career, his peak and crash in the movie business and his new found identity and purpose. Yet, the dialogue on slavery denies to be buried and cuts through the pages for me, coming alive, as it were, with a sense of urgency that now is the time when dialogue must be had among all parties involved for a healing process to begin in earnest.
As an African I ask myself, is it possible for this generation of Africans to explain or even try to make excuses for acts allegedly perpetrated by their “great-great-great-great-great-grandparents” such as what Alieu Manga posits, “There were extenuating circumstances"?
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