RE: Let's start from the ending.

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(Edited)

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I went to sleep last night reading about Benin. Colonialism/imperialism/exploitation has long been an interest of mine--I've written about it and taught about it. This story is bigger than the historical record. As is always the case with you, there is a dark essence of human nature explored here. It's not just the cruelty of one group to another. It's our irrational blindness to how we betray our own communities, our own people.

The slave trade in Benin was an abomination by invaders on the people of West Africa. But it couldn't have happened, at least not as successfully, unless Benin itself had participated.

You present questions to us in your stories disturb. Personally, I live with these shadows by distracting myself and by trying to do tiny 'good' things that may make a tiny dent in all the misery. You do not distract yourself. You deal with the horror (I think of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now). Hard to get up in the morning so acutely aware.

Thanks for writing this story in the Ink Well. I might not have seen it otherwise.



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The history of Africa is filled with such tales. The part that hurts is our constant reliance on the opinions of the same people that broke us. We call it neo-colonialism. A better world for it would be modern slavery.

Do I have a solution to this dependence? Not yet. One day hopefully. Until then, this is my reality. I live in a country where everyone wants to escape, where tomorrow is not assured and people would rather do business with a foreigner than with their own fellow country people. This is the world is seek to express in my story.

Maybe the darkness in my stories is me seeking to show and understand this life.

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I understand. One of the first books I wrote for children was entitled Exploration and Conquest, Stories of Indigenous Peoples. I've written other books that tangentially touch on the struggles of people. While I cannot experience what you know, it is something I feel deeply.

Know that I was born in difficult circumstances. Know that these circumstances tore my family apart. That they resulted in great tragedy. That they determined the arc of my life. While there was eventually the opportunity to escape (as there is not for those who live in your country), it didn't always seem that way. I'm certain this is why I relate to people who struggle.

It seems that I speak from a position of privilege. That is true now. But I do understand the darkness and it follows me. I'm quite old, but those memories intrude. They are a truth I know, that I learned very early in life.

It is essential that you tell us the truth about your experience. Writing that tells us nothing is not worth anything to me.

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This is the biggest blessing I think; to be able to tell your own story. I believe that telling our stories are how we own who we are and what we have done, good or bad. This ownership is what makes identity. After all, to identify is to take action. One cannot be human and be inhuman to others.

I am always thankful for your words and your perspective. It helps me understand what I am unpacking when I write here on inkwell and that is a blessing. I appreciate you @agmoore

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Reading had me pondering on the past, the lives of indigenous people, played like cards by their colonial masters.

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