I agree that the phrase “blacks sold blacks,” ought not to absolve whites that actively participated in the transatlantic slave trade from responsibility, or accountability. I don’t however think it’s fair to completely absolve blacks in the role they played either. I think this is a destructive binary opposition. We can still acknowledge the role blacks played, hold them accountable while simultaneously fighting for retribution today.

I also don’t buy the pre-white slavery in Africa by the indigenes being more humane simply because it wasn’t on the scale expanded to by the whites. In fact today, the slave trade roars on today in Africa, and I understand why whites would scratch their heads and ask where is the black anger today against this.