That flag looks familiar, doesn't it? I'm long overdue to post on the links between Liberia and the United States. Liberia is the only country in West Africa that was never colonized by European powers. Instead was the American Colonization Society who, in 1817 established a new colony on the area once known as the Pepper Coast to send newly freed slaves back to the motherland. It was a highly controversial move, to say the least. It had been generations since the would-be settlers ancestors were shipped across the Atlantic. America was their home, not Africa. Nevertheless, former American slaves arrived in 1822 and were forced to declare independence in 1846 as the American Colonization Society headed towards bankruptcy.
They soon became known as Americo-Liberians and made up about 3% of the population, the rest a mix of indigenous tribes. They established a government modeled after the United states, with a founding constitution that was written to meet the needs of their settler population. As a consequence significant portions of society were systematically excluded and marginalized from institutions of political governance and access to key economic assets. This marginalization was later perpetuated by urban-based policies of successive administrations, with political power concentrated in Monrovia and primarily at the level of the Presidency.
The stark inequalities that resulted from these policies created resentment towards the Americo-Liberians, which contributed to Samuel Doe’s bloody military coup in 1980. Initially Doe’s ascent to power was met with support, but it soon became apparent that the policies of inequality would only magnify under Doe’s regime. A decade of mismanagement and dictatorship ensured. An economic downturn in the late 80s precipitated the breakout of civil war in 1989, marking the beginning of Liberia's 14-year descent into chaos, violence, and destruction. You know where the story leads from there.
I write this from the bar of a hotel built by Bob Johnson, founder of BET. He feels strongly that African Americans should feel allegiance towards Liberia, and went to far as to make my jaw drop with a comment that "Liberia is to African Americans what Israel is to Jewish Americans."
It's a complex and twisted history, and one that I'm reminded of every time I mistakenly think I'm seeing the flag of my own country around town.
2 comments:
I think you mean 1867 shortly after the American Civil War, not 1817??
I actually didn't even process dates, and had just assumed it was after the Civil War. Turns out it was long before it! Shortly after comment removed. Thx for the catch Laila!
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