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Well, that mayor made one giant mistake. He had the best opportunity to make history by telling JJ to stuff it and high himself back across the pond where, BECAUSE of slavery, he was born in a country where he could become a millionaire instead of running around in the African Bush with the descendant cousins of Kunta Kinteh that Halley found when he went to visit his ancestral homeland of Gambia, on the African Coast. (Whew. 'catch my breath.)

(Maybe I'm looking at all wrong? Maybe I could make a fortune by going to England and shaking them down for what they did to my ancestors?) That is the site of the port where captive blacks were brought (captured and sold to the slavers BY BLACKS) and held until bought by the slavers. The white slavers didn't dare go into the country to capture blacks. Without the 'delivery system', they would've had no trade. It was a 50/50 trade arrangement between the African chieftains and the white traders. But when have we ever heard about the blacks part in this? (I'd wait for an answer, but, as a grandmother, I don't have enough time left.)

Now Gambia celebrates an annual "Homecoming Roots Festival" , per:

"The festival is open to all descendants of black Africans around the globe interested in returning to their “roots” This gives all The Gambians, separated for hundreds of years and thousands of miles, a unique opportunity to experience the life and the cultures of their nation"

So why doesn't JJ and his ilk take advantage of it - and move on over? (But first, JJ is missing a grand opportunity for a shake down of the prime source of the slave trade - in Gambia!)

My direct ancestors were harried out of England almost 400 years ago, after suffering years of persecution, arrests, jailings, confiscation of lands and goods, - even women and children jailed - all because they had the audacity to think they could read and understand the Bible themselves.

Very few of you, I could bet and win, know even a small part of what "The Pilgrims" went through for 2 decades before they sailed in the Mayflower. (Governor Bradford's own words are still available in his published journal: " Of Plymouth Plantation" - but more amazing is the movie made last year, aired on The History Channel, the most authentic = only a couple small glitches = about the entire saga. It's a top shelf movie, photography, drama, and every other wise, even if you weren't interested in the history of it.)

DVD available in Amazon and other outlets

Now I look at this persecution of my ancestors this way: Were it not for them being hounded from pillar to post, from England to Holland to the shores of New England, I would likely have been born in England. I must admit that I am a proponent of Genetic Memory. I have a great affinity for my ancestral home, particularly the countryside of Yorkshire and Nottingham Shires = but the England of today? I am Eternally, with a capital "E", grateful I was not born there.

So I have oft wondered why the blacks in this country today think: "Hmm, but for slavery, I would likely be living in the inland Bush Country in and around Gambia."

And if their answer to themselves comes back, "I've been cheated. I should be in Gambia." - then who is stopping them?

Bottom line: Until they admit that the slave trade was a 2 way deal, that the blacks of Africa first captured and sold their own countrymen for profit, "STFU. Because of it, dastardly as it was, it's long over and you have riches and/or opportunities you would never have had."

(Maybe I'm looking at all wrong? Maybe I could make a fortune by going to England and shaking them down for what their 11th and 12th great great grandparents did to my ancestors? Ya think?)