Door of No Return

September 14, 2024, the first time I set foot on the African Continent and the West African Country of Ghana as diplomat on a 2-assignment. By October 2024, I was invited to visit 2 Castles in Ghana and I had no idea what they were but for sure I love castles. Not knowing what these castles were, I was warned that these were definitely not these were not the fairy tale, it was quite the opposite. We visited the Cape Coast and El Mina Castles. This was my first live experience of the Atlantic Slave Trade and it was daunting. I wondered why it was called Castles when they were far from my concept of what a castle I know was. The castle guides provided a detailed description of how the process was when the “slaves” were captured from within Ghana (it was said that some slaves came from beyond Ghana) and kept in the dungeons for months on end as they await the ship that would transport them to their final destination, mostly in the Americas. Most of the dungeons I saw had little or no ventilation where hundreds of men, women and children were segregated into blocks of spaces that could barely fit 20 people. The conditions were appalling not to mention the pain and suffering of people who were forced into these tiny spaces, exhausted from long arduous travels, chained and barely fed. What was horrifying is that these spaces are where these people sleep, eat, relieved themselves, including excrement.

The most disheartening of my experience was that these dungeons were built right under churches. In Cape Coast, the entrance of the Church had a hole beside where church goers could see and hear the wails of anguish of these captured Men, Women and Children. El Mina and Osu had the same structure. Were the churchgoers oblivious to what was going on or they chose to ignore what was happening.

The Castle guides walked us through the process from capturing, segregating into dungeons, auctioning, branding with the owner’s name using hot metal and transporting them to the merchant’s ship. Those who were bought and branded were dragged down to a small opening with a door heading that says “Door of No Return.

I started my Anti-racism Learning Journey in May 2023. I have closed my doors to denying that racism does not exist for a racialized person like me. Ghana is the first country in Africa that have I traveled to and it feels like I am about to embark on a deeper understanding of what anti-racism truly is. In my journey through the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, “Door of No Return” brings a deeper meaning wanting to aim to stop racism, discrimination, and biased behaviours.

I encourage everyone to go through the “Door of No Return” to racism. “Whether completely new to the topic of anti-racism or diversity mature individuals, start or continue your anti-racism learning journey.

Author: Marie Angelee Jake Conlu

HR Committee Lead of the SubSaharan Diversity, Inclusion and Anti Racism Committee