An American minister recalls the horrors of "slavery" at the "Door of No Return" in Senegal

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen paid a state visit Saturday to a salmon-colored house on an island off Senegal that is one of the most recognized symbols of the horrors of the Atlantic slave trade that for generations besieged tens of millions of Africans.

Yellen, who is in Senegal as part of a 10-day tour aimed at rebuilding economic relations between the United States and Africa, stood in the Gorée Island building known as the "House of Slaves" and overlooked the "Door of No Return", through which slaves were shipped. across the Atlantic.

In brief remarks during her visit, Yellen said, "Gurieh and the transatlantic slave trade are not just part of African history. They are also part of American history."

"We know that the tragedy did not stop with the generation of human beings taken from here," Yellen added. "Even after the abolition of slavery, black Americans were denied the rights and freedoms promised to them by our Constitution."

Hundreds of years of economic benefits accrued to the major slave-trading nations, including the United States, on the backs of unpaid labor generated tens of trillions of dollars, according to research on the trade.

In the United States, African slaves and their children contributed to the building of the country's most famous institutions, including the White House and Capitol Building, according to the White House Historical Association.

Yellen acknowledged the lingering repercussions of that brutal past.

"Both in Africa and in the United States, even when we have come a long way, we are still living with the disastrous consequences of the transatlantic slave trade," she said.

"What I take away from this place is the importance of redoubling our commitment to fight for our shared values ​​and principles wherever they are threatened - in the United States, in Africa and around the world ... We have more work to do," she added.


"Achieving prosperity on the continent will not only benefit Africa, but also help strengthen the US economy and the global economy,"

she said Friday after meeting with officials including Senegalese President Macky Sall, who is also chair of the African Union.

Yellen is due to fly to Zambia on Sunday and later to South Africa.

Yellen's trip to the island has been made by many dignitaries, including former US Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and South African President Nelson Mandela.

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