Kente cloth donned by top Democrats once worn by slave-trading Ashanti royalty
In a massive virtue-signaling photo op, top Democrats wore Kente cloth scarves and took a knee to honor George Floyd and Colin Kaepernick on Monday.
While some on the left might say the tribute qualifies as cultural appropriation, it may be even worse as the Democrats were wearing a symbol of Ashanti royalty.
The Ashanti elite were major players in the global slave trade market of the Seventeenth Century.
“Kente cloth, which was associated with Ashanti royalty, was made of silk during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,” according to UltimateHistoryProject.com.
“While Kente cloth was a product of a global trade route which stretched from Asia through Europe to Africa, this cloth and the people also came to be associated with another global trade route—the slave trade,” the site continues. “In fact, the history of the Ashanti people, who lived on the West Coast of Africa, is strongly tied to the history of the slave trade.”
“If the early Ashanti Empire economy depended on the gold trade in the 1700s, by the early 1800s it had become a major exporter of enslaved people,” BlackPast.org writes. “The slave trade was originally focused north with captives going to Mande and Hausa traders who exchanged them for goods from North Africa and indirectly from Europe.”
“By 1800, the trade had shifted to the south as the Ashanti sought to meet the growing demand of the British, Dutch, and French for captives. In exchange, the Ashanti received luxury items and some manufactured goods including most importantly firearms,” the article explains.
Knowing this, it’s ironic that Democrats chose to dress like Ashanti slave traders because their party thinks it owns black Americans.
Just weeks ago, presumed Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden said African Americans “aren’t black” if they don’t vote for him.
Perhaps Democrats should refresh on their history before attempting their next racially motivated stunt.
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