This is gonna toss a spanner in the US discussion of race...

I made comments in previous posts such as; 

"US Black history should have a basis in African Cultures such as the Mali Empire and the Kingdom of Benin (not the modern country)."

And something along the lines of my wanting to be Kosovar to feel European, which sort of relates to the meat of today's post.

Meet the Bozo people!

Yes, there is an African ethnic group called the Bozos. They are part of the larger Mande ethnic group located predominantly along the Niger River in Mali.

And Mali has a long tradition of slavery:

The slave trade in Mali has a long history, with slavery existing since before the Mali Empire and continuing through the Trans-Saharan slave trade. Today, an estimated 200,000 people in Mali are still held in forms of servitude, often linked to descent-based slavery practices that persist in various forms. Slavery in Mali exists today, with as many as 200,000 people held in direct servitude to a master. Since 2006, a movement called Temedt has been active in Mali struggling against the persistence of slavery and the discrimination associated with ex-slaves. There were reports that in the Tuareg Rebellion of 2012, ex-slaves were recaptured by their former masters. Moreover, the phenomenon of descent-based slavery still persist in different ethnic groups. 

 As I said, the issue of reparations is much more complicated than most people realise.

But back to the Bozos! I wonder how many "African Americans" have Bozo in their genetics?

This is gonna make the discussion of the slave trade far more interesting because Africa is like the Balkans in that there are loads of ethnic groups with even more sub-groups like the Mande and the Bozos.

And slavery is part of African culture.