Speaker Pelosi Leads Congressional Group To Ghana On Anniversary Of U.S. Slave Trade
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a congressional delegation to Ghana this week to observe the anniversary of the landing of the first enslaved Africans in America.
In an address to Ghanaian Parliament that Pelosi delivered Wednesday, she affirmed the U.S.'s partnership with Ghana, and recognized the 400th anniversary of the start of the transatlantic slave trade.
Pelosi went to Ghana along with a congressional delegation including Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, who Pelosi lauded in her address for fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa and called "a friend who traces (her) DNA to Ghana."
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Somalian refugee who President Donald Trump recently urged to leave the country, also joined the delegation, according to a news release from Pelosi's office.
In the days before giving her speech, Pelosi and members of the delegation met with President Nana Akufo-Addo and senior cabinet officials, and visited historic slave sites.
It was humbling, Pelosi said in her address, to visit dungeons at the Elmina Castle where slaves were tortured, and the "Door of No Return" at Cape Coast Castle where millions caught their last glimpse of Africa.
"These profound places are a sobering testament to humanity's capacity for evil -- and also a helpful reminder of the capacity for great resilience, renewal, and strength of a people," Pelosi said.
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