The term 'slave trade,' as articulated by Bayo Akomolafe, transcends a mere transactional history and delves into the unsettling corridors of human suffering, cultural severance, and the commodification of life. It epitomizes an egregious epoch where human beings were reduced to goods, shackled in chains of economic expedience and moral decay. This grievous trade, woven into the very fabric of Western modernity, facilitated a systemic dehumanization that reverberates across time and space, distorting the sacredness of identity, community, and ancestral ties. The slave trade is not merely a relic of the past; it is a haunting continuum that challenges us to confront the still-palpable legacies of exploitation, urging a collective reimagining of justice and healing in our shared humanity.

See also: middle passage, slave ship, white supremacy, black bodies, intergenerational trauma