See why African Americans do not want stolen African treasures to be returned back to Africa
An African American reparation group has filed a law-suit against the return of the Benin statutes to Nigeria
- Some people in the African American community have rejected the motion to return stolen African loot back to Africa.
- This charge is led by the founder of The Restitution Study Group, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann.
- She claims that descendants of slaves have more right to the stolen loot than Africans.
The Restitution Study Group (RSG) led by its founder and executive director Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, have opposed the return of the famous Benin statues from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC to Nigeria.
For some time now, American and European governments have been forced to return stolen African treasures back to their homeland, and slowly but surely they are being returned.
They argue that the descendants of slaves, referring to Black Americans are every bit as entitled to the statues, if not more than Nigerians are.
According to the BBC, they claim that “the bronzes looted by British colonialists in the 19th Century from the kingdom of Benin in what is now Nigeria are also part of the heritage of descendants of slaves in America, and that returning them would deny them the opportunity to experience their culture and history.”
However, this opinion has been pushed back by some primary Nigerian stakeholders, in the statues.
David Edebiri, a 93 year old member of the Oba of Benin’s (the king or traditional ruler in southern Nigeria's Edo state) cabinet stated "But the artifacts are not for the Oba alone. They are for all Benin people, whether you are in Benin or in the diaspora."
The RSG is a New-York based NGO that was founded in 2000 to help members of oppressed minority groups find healing.
According to Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, about 100,000 slaves from the Benin kingdom were shipped to the west, which means that numerous black Americans have Benin ancestry, and as such are entitled to the Benin Bronzes.
Another side of her argument focuses on the transactional exchange of manillas brass bracelets which the Portuguese used as currency for purchasing agricultural produce and of-course, slaves. She noted that the manillas were used to create the sculptures, manillas which paid for the enslavement of African American ancestors.
She noted, "Fifty manillas would buy a woman, 57 would buy a male slave.”
"What we are saying is that the descendants of the people traded for these manillas have a right to see the bronzes where they live.” She added.
There is no reason why we should be obligated to travel to Nigeria to see them." She said, citing US travel warnings. "I don't want to get kidnapped."
However, David Edebiri counters this argument by noting that not all manillas used in Benin were from the slave trade.
In his book about his great-great-grandfather Iyase Ohenmwen, who was prime minister for the Oba in the early 19th Century, Mr. Edebiri notes that his grandfather, "Would take these manillas to Igun-Eronmwon, a village in Benin that manufactured all these artifacts. They would then make them into bronzes and other fanciful things."
So far, British, French and American governments have committed to returning stolen loot, and conversations around the subject continue to intensify globally.
