Give Us Our Black-Ass Things!
Welcome to This Black-Ass Life! This week, we want to talk about robbers getting robbed and what they should do about it. Also, shout out to WGA! Union strong!
I. The Facts
*Extremely Ms. Barbara from Abbott Elementary voice:* “My thefts have been thieved!”
The British Museum, also known as the Great Stolen Goods Mall of the United Kingdom, has reported nearly TWO THOUSAND stolen antiquities over the last two decades.
Actually, that number may tick up because of poor record-keeping and a lax approach to some artifacts.
What’s even more comical is that an antiquities dealer suspected thefts as early as 2020 and found almost 942 unregistered gems missing, and told the museum about it, but they did nothing. The thefts were only recently discovered because the thief “got sloppy” and finally sold a traceable item.
This would be pure haha hehe if the colonizer’s retort against artifact repatriation, “the return of stolen or looted cultural materials to their countries of origin,” wasn’t that the countries looted for their wares don’t have the investment or security capacity to keep them safe.
It’s The White Man's Burden to keep your things away from you to keep it safe. Except when they lose millions of dollars of your things, then they want you to be the F the B and the I to help recover the items.
Deeply unserious behavior.
Why does it matter?
When we talk about imperialism, the conversation can feel theoretical, quaint, and so far gone that we can only situate it as something that belongs in the annals of history.
This is, of course, false because it’s not so far gone. Both of my parents (Jumoke) were born in colonial Nigeria.
The thievery is so ridiculously incalculable that when scholars try, the zeros just never end. For example, between 1765 and 1938, economist Utsa Patnaik estimated that the United Kingdom stole $45 trillion from India. That’s 17 times the total GDP of the UK today! In India alone.
Millions were brutally tortured or massacred to uphold theft at this scale. For example, at the behest of King Leopold II, in the 19th century in what is now Congo, mass rapes, murders, and widespread torture from rubber harvesting decimated the population. Ten million were dead within two decades, half of the entire population.
This grotesque, brutal legacy lives on in many ways, including in the refusal to repatriate plundered artifacts. It is a moral obligation to understand how to properly repatriate artifacts, taking into account shifting borders and populations, and to build guides for artifact maintenance (and tracking). It’s work that European colonizers have to do.
Finally, we must rid ourselves of the belief that the Brits and Western countries, period, are superior in their thinking and systems. Actual treasures were stolen for decades and weren’t discovered until the thief screwed up!
What can my Black ass do?
Learn about global movements to repatriate artifacts.
Learn more about repatriation and decolonizing archeology.
Learn more about the Open Restitution Project which seeks to open up access to information on restitution of African material culture and human ancestors.
II. Other Things
Black-ass happenings
On the Birmingham Church Bombing survivors’ fight to preserve their history.
Union strong! An explainer on the tentative agreement between the WGA and the AMPTP.
Kerry Washington is opening up while touring her new memoir.
Angelica Ross is bravely sharing their story and building a career in advocacy to help others.
We’re getting a Murder, She Wrote MOVIE! The Root has some fab casting suggestions.
Leslie Jones deserved so much better than she got before, during, and after filming the Ghostbusters reboot.
Our Black-Ass song(s) of the week (Mitu):
I am in full cozy mode and a go-to song for this mood is Corinne Bailey Rae’s Like A Star. And she has a new album, y’all!
Things we look forward to:
I (Jumoke) look forward to not having to braid my hair for like another month. You know when it's 2 a.m., and you’re still braiding, and your back hurts, and you’re hungry, so you don't even wash the gel off your hands to eat??? That’s where I was.
I (Mitu) look forward to hearty soup season. Soup hive, this is our time!
lll. Text from a Black-Ass Parent
Take this reminder to me (Jumoke) from my mama as a reminder for you to get vaccinated this fall!
Stay Black, have a snack, and take a nap today. We'll hit your inbox next on October 10!