Voices In My Head Podcast Episode #296: Still Slaves - The West African Slave Trade Then and Now

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Welcome to Voices in My Head, the official podcast of me, Rick Lee James. I'm a recording artist, a singer, songwriter, an author, a worship leader, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. The Voices in My Head podcast is your source for discussions on music, literature, movies, pop culture, theology, and more. Now sit back, relax, and listen to the latest episode of the Voices in My Head podcast. And don't forget to let the voices in your head be heard by following me on Twitter @RickLeeJames and sharing your thoughts about today's show. Welcome back to Voices in My Head. As always, I am your host, Rick Lee James. I'm so grateful to have you here with me today. This is going to be a little bit shorter episode than usual because my guest is from another country, and, and she did wonderful with the language. She's a director of a new film that's coming out called Still Slaves, which is about slavery in West Africa. And it was a joy to be able to speak to her, but our call did not end up being very long. But it's a very important call, and I think it's a very important conversation that I really hope that you will take some time and listen to, because there is truly still a problem that maybe many of us in the world don't realize, but slavery is still a thing, and it's still a very serious issue that needs to be addressed. So I wanted to take a chance before the film eventually officially comes out to be able to talk with the director. I know that she's getting busy as days go by, and I'm usually not recording using Skype anymore. I'm usually recording the way that I'm recording right now using Clean Feed, and it always sounds great. But I wasn't able to, because of her location, to use Clean Feed, and so we tried to use Skype, and I hadn't used Skype in a while, and then I had to actually buy a Skype number, and then I had to upgrade something on the recorder, and it was a long, big thing. And so the call ended up being a little shorter than I would have liked to. But as I said before, it's a very important conversation, and I hope that you will listen closely and, and set your watch or your calendar, however it is, after you visit the website stillslavesfilm.com. That's stillslavesfilm.com. You can find more information about it on this episode's on this episode on the website. If you go to voicesinmyheadpodcast.com and look up the episode that is titled Still Slaves, I really want to point everyone there. They have a good website that probably has a lot more information than what you're going to hear on this podcast. So if you do nothing else today after this conversation, go and find out more about Still Slaves, the film, at stillslavesfilm.com. Just before we get going and I play this conversation for you that I had just a few moments ago. I am recording this call today on 11/14, that's November 14th for those of you out there who are not looking at the number on the screen like I just did. Even though it's going to be airing in December sometime, we're doing this in November. And I have some good news that I wanted to share with you that the other episodes before this are not going to have, so I might as well go ahead and tell you. The new album Thunder is finalized, it's mastered. Yesterday I just uploaded all the files to Disc Maker makers so that we can begin making the vinyl and the CDs. And hopefully, it's still— I have my fingers crossed I'm going to get all of the rewards out to everyone before Christmas this year. So if you had pre-ordered a CD, I'm hoping to get that in the mail to you. For some of you who wanted to have a chance to pre-order the record, I'm hoping to make that available before Christmas as well. Many of you like to listen to vinyl out there, but it's still a very expensive process, and I'm still waiting and hoping and trusting and praying that God will provide a bit more money so that we can get this out the way that we need to. But we are partnering once again with our friends at UTR Media, and they have so many great podcasts and so many great artists. So when the album does release on February 8th, that's the official release date, UTR is going to be working with us to help do some promoting. Old Bear Records, even though I'm not on their label, they've also said that they want to help us in that promotion process. So be listening and be attentive for several new things about the album that's going to be coming out soon. I also want to remind you that Mr. Rogers Say, my Twitter account, is just exploding. We have over 18,000 people on that following and interacting daily. And if you have not become a part of Mr. Rogers Say, that's the Twitter handle where I put out everyday quotes from Fred Rogers just to help enrich our lives a little bit and spread some positivity in the world. I hope that you'll find us over there on Twitter. My personal Twitter page is @RickLeeJames. You'll be able to find links to both of those if you go online. But one other exciting piece of news, just in case you missed it throughout all the busyness that's been going on— and, and I've been recording these episodes so far in advance that sometimes news happens and I don't have a chance to share it with you until after the fact, so that's what's happening today since it's a little bit shorter episode— I am now a Breedlove artist. Breedlove is a kind of guitar that I really like a lot, and I actually played a Breedlove Breedlove guitar on the new album Thunder. There's a classical guitar that I used, and you hear it on a few tracks, and it just sounds great. They play great. I am so glad for at least the next couple years to be endorsed by Breedlove as one of their artists. And so if you have not had a chance yet to check out a Breedlove guitar, I encourage you to go to breedlove.com and, and check that out. Just look up Breedlove. I may have gotten the website wrong, but In Google, if you just look up Breedlove, you'll be able to find their website. If you yourself are looking for a custom-made guitar that's affordable, that's just for you, you need to contact them. They do wonderful work. I have never heard a person say that they've played a Breedlove guitar and walked away going, "Meh." Everybody that I've ever heard play one goes, "Man, the tone is great, it's the right price." And so I really encourage you to check out Breedlove. I am proudly a Breedlove artist. Now. Well, that's enough talk from me on this end of things. This is a very important conversation, as I said before, about slavery and the way that slavery is still happening today. I hope you'll take some time to visit stillslavesfilm.com. This is my conversation with the director of that film, Anne-Margret Nielsen. Thank you for listening to Voices in My Head, and God bless you.

Through the lens of ancient slavery in West Africa, the new documentary Still Slaves explores the rampant slavery, known to most as human trafficking, that continues to thrive along this notorious coastline The film journeys from the vibrant city of Lagos in Nigeria on north to the deserts of Mauritania and unearths the slavery that continues to haunt 7 countries in between. Annemargret Nielsen, who directed the film, is here to speak with us today. Annemargret, welcome to Voices in My Head.

Thank you so much.

I am so grateful to have you here today, and I'm glad for this film that you made. As we begin, I wonder if you could tell us about Still Slaves and how you came to be involved with this film.

I had traveled to West Africa, to Ghana, to present a paper at an international conference. And I like to travel to many countries, but was not able to travel as much as I had wanted at that time because of the Ebola epidemic and it sort of closed many countries to any entry. But in Ghana, I did see the evils of slavery overall. It was just in their museums and in the slave castles up along their coast, and I became very touched about how evil this has been and how human beings had suffered during this. So at first I was just thinking about maybe coming back sometime and making a film on the slavery overall. But as I researched, did some more research, I also became aware of the modern-day slavery that now exists on the West African coast and started doing more research on that. And when we arrived in, when I arrived with my team in West Africa, again this was to make a documentary of both the old and the new slavery.

Hmm. Now the subtitle of the film, as you just alluded to, is "The West African Slave Trade Then and Now." Maybe you could tell us just a little bit about the then and the now and what the difference is between how slavery used to be and the way that we see it in present day.

Well, then it was It was mainly all of the countries, or mainly the tribes of East Africa that were fighting each other to take prisoners of war, which became the slaves. Because the Igbo already in that day, it was very profitable. The slave trade was very profitable. So that was a slavery of old. And of course, modern-day slavery is of course very different because here it's more or less people that strive to— again, it's people that strive to make a profit, but they go about it different. They go about it different that there's no wars really involved in it.

Hmm. Wow. And a lot of the slavery today, is it different today in that children seem to be a main target of this system of slavery, or has it always been that way?

No, I really think the main target is women. But because we also were surprised about how this affected children, that's why we ended up in our movie to actually We did do most of our footage really was about the children on the West African coast.

Hmm, wow. So are there many— because I haven't had a chance to see the film yet, is there a huge problem with orphans because of the women that are targeted?

No, it has absolutely nothing to do with the orphans. Okay. It has nothing to do with the orphans. It's just, it's just the They used, like one of our first stops was at the lake, Volta in Ghana, where they just, well, there's maybe some children that are kidnapped, but there's also others where actually their parents just cannot afford to feed their children and they And it's mainly, the slavery is mainly for the children, it's mainly to make a profit. I mean, they use them for labor and for work, and so they're able to make a profit in their industry, in the fishing industry, in the lake.

Wow. I wonder, as you set out to make a film like this, which seems like a very daunting challenge, what is the hope that you have that this film will accomplish?

Awareness. Awareness in the world about things like that exist.

Just, yes, so that more people will become aware of that. Was there anything in particular that being a part of this experience of making a film like Still Slaves. Is there anything that you learned that you didn't know before that has really changed the way that you look at the slave trade?

Uh, yes, like I said before, we got the view, we just were not aware how, how, how it really had affected so many children in so many ways. A big section of Our film is also about the child soldiers.

Hmm.

And how that became a really big problem in Sierra Leone and also in some other countries there. But fortunately, that is something that no longer exists because of the They finally finished the wars in these countries and people are again living a little bit better than they—

Well, good. I'm so glad to hear that that's something that's not taking place anymore.

Wow. Well, actually, I should say that on the West African coast, this has been stopped, but it still exists in other African countries.

Sure. Wow. And, and, you know, it's, it's such a difficult topic to deal with when we think about slavery. And in here in the United States where I live, um, you know, we, we often don't like to look at our own history to see how complicit we have been in such things. And yet I feel it's such an obligation because we know the bad path that our nation and our founding fathers took that we do all we can to combat this today and in some way atone for the sins of our past. And it's just so scary at times to think about all the different ways that slavery is still happening around the world and the way that it's still in our present day is seen to be okay by a lot of people. And it's just almost mind-boggling. When we think about it in those ways. I have to wonder, how many— how big of a crew, a film crew, did you have with you? Because I imagine with all the places that you traveled, you probably couldn't have taken a lot of people with you on locations, but you did go to many locations. I wonder if you could talk just a little bit about your film crew and the way that they were able to capture the footage.

Yeah, and there was actually just Just 4 of us. My main cameraman was actually my nephew. He owns a television studio in Denmark, and he was my main film man. And then I had my grandson. He was a film student, so I invited him to come along also. And then I had my daughter's very best friend, she was there mainly to do the interview and to conduct all of the interviews because my English is not that good. So just the four of us and And we did have an amazing trip besides the difficulties that we often encountered. Sure.

Well, I have to say, I think you say that your English is not very good, but I think you speak it wonderfully. You're doing a great job. I have to wonder, was there any one place that you went in particular that had the most dramatic effect on you personally when you were filming this?

Mm. I, I, hmm, that's hard to say. I mean, maybe the Boko Haram and the kidnapping of the girls, that was some of these things we talked, we interviewed about first, and the women also, the many women, because there's a corridor of Nigeria directly to Italy, where so many women are trafficked and always get, I mean, they are promised some nice jobs if they come to these countries, they are promised more money, and when they arrive, they just get involved, they are just there and get into this, it's a sex slave. Slavery that they actually end up being involved in.

Oh, that's terrifying. So the women will actually come together thinking maybe that they have a job interview in mind? Is that how I'm understanding it?

Yeah, they think they have— I mean, somebody— it's all of the traffickers. I mean, the traffickers are the really bad guys that come up with some promises that if you— I mean, and everybody knows that the people in— in Europe are a lot wealthier than people in Africa. And of course everybody wants to go where they can live a better life and get a better life. And so many are lured away by, by, yeah, by empty promises.

And then often as they are lured away, that's when the kidnapping takes place, I assume. Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, that certainly is—

Well, actually, lure away is more each individual, single women. Because the kidnapping, like with the girls at the Chi Box School, I mean, it was 276 that was kidnapped. So that's mainly the military when they kidnap big groups like that.

Oh my. Well, let me ask you, before we end our conversation today, I'd love to know, and I'd love to have a way to tell our listeners how they could best see this film. I know that right now it's been taken around to some film festivals and there's a few viewings here and there. What's the way that if a person wanted to see Still Slaves and find out more about the West Africa slave trade then and now, what's the best way for them to go about finding out how to see it?

Well, if there are people that actually work on, on work with anything like this, work with trafficking and any— yeah, we will send them, we will send them a copy of our film. We are right now just working because we just had one film festival, we still have a couple more to go, working on where we want to, yeah, where we want it to be after we are finished with the film festival. Sure. So we don't have, we don't have a at any places we can send you where you just can go and watch it on TV at this point in time.

Great. Well, that helps though to know, and I'll, I'll send our listeners to your website, which is stillslavesfilm.com, and they'll be able to see previews of the film there and find out more about it, the many locations where it has taken place, and to find out a little bit more about. And there's also a contact page there where they can put their information in to find out more information. And we want to get as many people— whenever the film does become available en masse, we want to put it before as many eyes as we possibly can. This is such an important topic, and I want to thank you for taking the time and the effort and the energy and the money that it takes to make a film like this. And, um, you know, most people don't think about it when they're thinking about films that they watch, just how much it costs to make make such a thing like this. And I know that this had to be a true labor of love and a true labor from your heart because you wanted to raise awareness about this problem that still exists. So thank you so much for that, Anna.

We appreciate it. Oh, thank you so much for taking an interest in our film. We really appreciate that too.

Yes, well, it's my pleasure. I wonder, before we end our conversation, is there anything that I haven't we haven't asked you today about the film that you would really like our listeners to know?

Well, I think just the general information about how— well, I don't really know how extensive this is now. How, how, how, how we did it affects so many people in so many ways. Certainly.

Well, I really appreciate your time, Ann, and thank you for making this film. We'll look forward to seeing it when in full, whenever it comes out and after it finishes the circuit with the festivals. It's been a real joy getting to talk to you today, and again, I applaud your work And as I tell guests every week as they are on this show, thank you for being one of the Voices in My Head this week.

Okay, thank you for, like I said, taking an interest in our film.

Thank you for joining me here this week on Voices in My Head. I hope you'll visit me on my website at rickleejames.com. Follow me on Twitter @RickLeeJames. Like my artist page at facebook.com/rickleejames and keep up to date on what I'm writing on my author page on Amazon. There's also the Voices in My Head Facebook community found at facebook.com/voicespodcast. And if you want to follow my alter ego on Twitter, follow my popular Mr. Rogers quote account found @MrRogersSay. Also, make sure to follow my appearance schedule on my website And if you would like to have me come to your town to do a concert, a speaking engagement, or a book event, you can book me through my website at rickleejames.com/bookings. And it would mean the world to me if you would write a review of this podcast on iTunes. The more positive reviews we receive, the more visible this podcast is on the internet. And now the benediction. May the God of peace, who raised Christ from the dead, strengthen you in your inner being for every good work, and may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, rest upon you and dwell within you this day and forevermore. Amen.