Stories That Were Never Told

I've never really warmed up to history either as a subject to be learnt in school or as a tool for enlightenment. After all, history has always been littered with one-sided stories of whoever is bold enough to shout it out or which side of the story you listen to. The fact remains that anyone given a platform to speak about anything will say things that will definitely favour them. Like, people are used to pushing their narratives, and when they linger for long without a strong counterword, those narratives become history.

Every major event that has happened always has more than one side to it. What you believe depends on the side you listen to. For example, when my grandma told me about the Ife-Modakeke clash that claimed many lives and properties, everything she said pointed to the fact that Ife and the late Ooni Sijuwade were the aggressors who tried to trample on Modakeke's rights, thus leading to the bloody clash that lingered for several years.

In typical fashion, when I was at Ife for my senior secondary school, their indigenes blamed Modakeke for overstepping their boundary and trying to usurp them in their land, thus leading to the clash. In the end, both sides told a compelling story that depicted them as the victim and not the aggressor. Of course, I chose to believe the story of the side I'm most closely affiliated with. That right there is how history is passed down.

If there is one part of history that I'm yet to come to terms with, it is how slavery started and how it is represented. Now, being the kind of person that I am, slavery and its aftereffects are not something to be joked with. However, with what has been passed down, I can't help but wonder if knowing the full story will lead to some sense of closure and put to check on some idiots who have seized on the inaccurate version of the story for their benefit and to cash out.

Most stories I have read about slavery and the slave trade demonize the white men who benefited from the sadistic exercise. However, if there is one question that continues to beg an answer inside me, it is, "Did the white folks just appear one day and start rounding up the indigenes to be sold into slavery? Is that even possible?"

Does it make sense for some people to just appear in one place and start selling people off to their own benefit? No. Never. I mean, from the books I've read and movies I've seen, the slave trade boomed because kings and lords back then orchestrated it. Most of the people sold weren't captured by the white folks; they were captured by their kings, their rulers, who sold them for pennies to the white folks to be shipped away.

While the loud part of history continues to subdue this truth, the fact remains that the most powerful blacks back then were slave traders. As a matter of fact, they also house fellow blacks and keep some as their slaves. Why am I bothered about this? It's because history has a way of repeating itself, especially the ones we choose to ignore the whole truth.

Just like the blacks were pillaged by their own kind and sold into slavery, so also we are witnessing a bit of it now with the politicians who continue to make dangerous deals with other countries to favour their purse and ambitions while dragging the country into penury. They build rich empires for their lineages by ruining the lives of others. Those lords who became wealthy through selling their kin passed that wealth down. If we are not careful, we'll get sold again, this time, in broad daylight.

[Source](https://pixabay.com/photos/palace-city-building-structure-7701252/)