Twerking at The Slave Castle in Ghana...Appropriate or Not?

Hi friends! We are back and better than ever with my What’s The Wahala, Esi? Blog. I will be talking about current events, entertainment news, travel, beauty, and so much more so stay tuned for weekly (hopefully) blog posts.

Today I wanted to talk about Twerkgate. If you haven’t heard the story, let me catch you up. There were African American women that were visiting Ghana recently. One of them is dating a Ghanaian man and she came to Ghana to visit him and meet his family. I saw the initial video of the mother embracing her and welcoming her with a traditional dance and music ensemble. This is a traditional way to welcome people into Ghana. They also can be present at weddings and other big events.

Fast forward to a couple of days later, I see a video of about 5 women twerking. I could tell they were on vacation and having a good time which I saw no issue with…at first. Then I looked at the environment more closely and noticed a canon in the background and the air behind them looked familiar. You’re probably like the air? Yes, if you know, you know. Anyway, I gasped and I thought to myself I hope this isn’t where I think it is. I looked in the comments and sure enough, it was confirmed this was at one of the slave castles in Cape Coast, Ghana and it included the woman from the initial video I saw the other day.

The slave castles in Cape Coast are open to the public to come and hear the stories of how slavery began, how the slaves were treated and killed, and all the horrific abuse that ensued in these places before they were taken on ships to America if they survived the trek. Hearing all of what I just said right now; would that make you want to twerk on basically a memorial?

I understand we are our ancestor’s wildest dreams. I’m sure they wanted to leave these castles and never endure the pain they went through again. I’m sure they wanted to not be stripped from their homes and be with their families. I’m sure they weren’t even thinking about all the “freedom” we would get to experience because they were dealing with their own oppression so yes we are their wildest dreams that they didn’t even know could be possible but there is a time and a place for twerking.

I love twerking, I love dancing, I love celebrating as much as the next person. I’m not a prude but I also think it wasn’t the best choice to twerk at the slave castle. For me, it’s a place of remembrance and somber hearts. It should be a place of pride in how black people have overcome and pride in how strong we are. Ghana is a fun and welcoming country to be in and I’m glad they were feeling comfortable in Africa and having a great time. That is my goal with my own travel company. I want those that travel with me to have fun and know that Africa isn’t just what American media has shown it to be. The only thing I remind my tourists is though we are fun and welcoming we’re still big on respect no matter who you are. When Meek Mill shot a video at the president’s palace and office, Jubilee House, it caused an uproar because it wasn’t an appropriate area to film a music video just like this isn’t an appropriate place to dance as such.