Reps. Kendrick Meek and Carrie Meek visit Ghana to Mark Nation's Golden Jubilee

 

Washington, DC – Congressman Kendrick B. Meek and retired Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek traveled to Africa in early March as members of the official U.S. Congressional Delegation to commemorate Ghana’s fiftieth anniversary of its independence.

A major departure point for slaves to the western hemisphere, Ghana was the first African nation to obtain its independence from colonial rule on March 6, 1957. The West African nation was formerly a British colony.

The delegation, comprised of Congressional Black Caucus members, visited the W.E.B. DuBois Center for Artists Alliance Gallery and the Ghanaian parliament; attended a formal parade and ceremony in Independence Square located in Accra, Ghana’s capital; and participated in a formal banquet hosted by Ghana’s President John Kufuor.

Prior to the formal state events, the U.S. Congressional Delegation visited Elmina Castle and Cape Coast Castle, two former slave forts along Ghana’s coast.

"Walking through the castles' dungeons and the infamous Door of No Return was a sobering experience. At these sites, indignity, suffering and man's inhumanity toward his fellow man was the norm, as innocent people were shackled, separated from their families, and forcibly sent to the United States by ship to work as slaves. For many of us in the black community, we can trace our ancestry to this region of Africa, and to this chapter in human history," said Congressman Kendrick B. Meek.

Retired Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek, the granddaughter of a slave and daughter of a sharecropper, added: "The sadness I felt walking around these slave dungeons, knowing that this was a place marked by extreme brutality, was mixed with feelings of faith and pride in the strength of our community to overcome hardship, persevere, and achieve our own American dream."

In Ghana marking the occasion was Kofi Annan, a native Ghanaian and the retired United Nations Secretary General, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, and RainbowPUSH Coalition President Rev. Jesse Jackson, along with international dignitaries and world leaders.

Congressman Kendrick B. Meek, the lone Floridian on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, and a Member of the House Armed Services Committee, represents the 17th Congressional District of Florida, which includes parts of Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.

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