His name is King Leopold II of Belgium. He “owned” the Congo during his reign as the constitutional monarch of Belgium. After several failed colonial attempts in Asia and Africa, he settled on the Congo. He “bought” it and enslaved its people, turning the entire country into his own personal slave plantation. When we learn about Africa, we learn about a caricatured Egypt, about the HIV epidemic, about the surface level effects of the slave trade, and maybe about South African Apartheid. We also see lots of pictures of starving children on Christian Ministry commercials, we see safaris on animal shows, and we see pictures of deserts in films and movies. But we do not learn about the Great African War or Leopold’s Reign of Terror during the Congolese Genocide.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 21:06:50 +0000
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