The story of El Negro begins with Jules Verreaux, a French dealer in "naturalia", who in 1831 explored the African interior. With the help of metal wire acting as a spine, wooden boards as shoulder blades, and stuffed with newspapers, Verreaux prepared and preserved the body of the warrior. Then he shipped him to Paris, along with a batch of stuffed animals in crates. In 1831 the African's body appeared in a showroom at No 3, Rue Saint Fiacre.
In a review, the newspaper Le Constitutionnel praised the fearlessness of Jules Verreaux, who must have faced dangers "amid natives who are as wild as they are black". This article set the tone, and the "individual of the Bechuana people" attracted more attention than the giraffes, hyenas or ostriches. "He is small in posture, black-skinned, and his head is covered in woolly frizzy hair," the newspaper said.
More than half a century later, El Negro popped up in Spain. In the world exhibition in Barcelona in 1888, the Spanish vet Francisco Darder presented him in a catalogue as "El Betchuanas", complete with a drawing in which he is seen wearing raffia finery and holding a spear and a shield. Only recently was recognized that he is a real human being and was returned to his homeland.
As more racist peoples (Chinese, Indians, Arabs) immigrate to America and make political progress, things will become much worse for African Americans. The new arrivals will no longer entertain them as wards of the state and treated with kid gloves.
ReplyDeleteUnlike white Americans they have not been psychologically conditioned to be self-corrective for racist thoughts.
Africans were given much political power. Immigrants have no political power at all.
DeleteThey have $$$$$$ power, which eventually translates into political power.
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