Ladies and gentlemen, elders, and young people of The Gambia,
I ask you, I beg you to listen not just with your ears, but with your hearts. For if we don’t feel the weight of what’s happening, if we don’t let it sink into our very souls, then we might as well be turning a blind eye, just like the world has so many times before.
What’s happening in Tunisia, in Libya, in 2024, is not just a tragedy it’s a sickening echo of history repeating itself. How many of you know the history of slavery? Of West Africans being taken from their homes, shackled, dragged across deserts, and sold as if they were cattle? This isn’t ancient history. This is the story of us. Our ancestors.
And now, 2024, we see the same twisted pattern emerging again. The chains have changed, yes. No longer are they worn around the wrists but they are worn in the hearts of those who see black Africans as less than human.
I want you to understand something.We have not escaped the nightmare of slavery. We are still in it. In Libya, in Tunisia, the face of slavery has changed but its spirit the spirit of hatred, of exploitation is the same.
Tunisia, a country that should be a place of refuge, has become a battleground for racial violence. Just recently, there were riots, mobs of angry citizens blaming West Africans for the country’s economic troubles. And what happens next? Families are driven from their homes, beaten, cast out onto the streets, simply because their skin is darker. Imagine that! Imagine being a human being, simply trying to survive, only to be attacked because of where you were born, because of the color of your skin.
And Libya , a country that once welcomed West Africans, now traps them in a nightmare of violence, exploitation, and abuse. Migrants, many of them desperate for a better life, are locked up in prisons, beaten, sold into forced labor, or worse sold back into slavery.
Let me say that again Slavery In 2024. And this isn’t fiction. This is real. And this is happening today.
Why does this keep happening? Why do we stand here, in this century, and still watch this horror unfold before our eyes?
The truth is simple. It’s racism. It’s hatred. It’s the idea that black Africans are somehow worth less than others, that their lives are expendable, that their pain doesn’t matter. It’s the idea that because they were born in a poorer part of the world, because they were born black, they don’t deserve the dignity and rights that others take for granted.
But let me be clear. This is NOT a problem just for Tunisia. This is NOT just a problem for Libya. This is our problem. All of us. Every one of us who shares this planet we call Earth.
What happens when a young West African, in search of a better life, risks everything to cross the Sahara, only to end up being treated as nothing more than a piece of property? What happens when they are told, time and time again, that their life is worth less than a euro? This is a crisis a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions.
We’ve seen this before. But today, it’s different. The world is watching. The world is seeing. And we cannot afford to look away.
This is where we come in. This is where we, as human beings, must stand up and say Enough. We will no longer stand idly by as people are oppressed, exploited, and abused. We will not be silent as people are trapped in a cycle of pain, all because of the color of their skin.
It’s time to make noise. It’s time to raise our voices in unity, to say enough is enough. These governments Tunisia, Libya they must be held accountable. They must stop this violence. They must stop this discrimination. And the rest of the world must stand up and demand it.
But it’s not just on them. No. It’s on us. Each and every one of us. If we sit back and do nothing, if we continue to let this happen, then we are complicit in this cruelty. We are complicit in the ongoing tragedy of modern day slavery.
AMAC, in 2024, is working tirelessly to ensure these stories are told. We are working to create systems that protect migrants, that reintegrate them with dignity, that give them a future beyond the suffering they’ve endured. But we can’t do it alone.
This is a call to action. This is a plea for justice, for equality, for humanity. We need to build a world where no one is judged by the color of their skin, where no one is seen as less than Human, where every person has the right to live with dignity.
To the youth of West Africa understand this. You are not less than Human. Your dreams matter. Your lives matter. You deserve more than what the world has told you.
And to the elders, to the leaders understand this Your voices are powerful. You can change the course of history. You can rewrite the narrative for the next generation.
So, let’s stand together. Let’s raise our voices. Let’s make sure that this cycle of exploitation ends. Let’s make sure that no one no matter where they come from, no matter what they look like has to live through what we are seeing in Tunisia and Libya today.
