"In an 1883 letter to the colonial missionaries in the Congo, King Leopold stressed the following manipulative points which were designed to brainwash the Africans. Below are excerpts from his letters:
Reverends, Fathers and Dear Compatriots: The task that is given you to fulfill is very delicate and requires much tact. You will go certainly to evangelize, but your evangelization must inspire above all, Belgium interests. Your principal objective in the Congo is not to teach the niggers to know God. Through their pagan gods they know that to kill, to commit adultery, to lie, and to insult is bad. Have courage to admit it; you are not going to teach them what they know already. Your essential role is to interpret the gospel only in a way that will protect your interests in Africa. Ensure that the savages do not realize the full potential of the richness of their land. Use the gospel to encourage the natives to love poverty. Highlight biblical texts like “Happier are the poor because they will inherit the kingdom of heaven,” (Derived from Matthew 5:3) and, “It’s very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24). You must singularly insist on their total submission and obedience. Teach the Africans only to read and not to reason. Evangelize the niggers in such a way that they stay forever in submission to you. Every day, make them recite, “Happy are those who are weeping, because the kingdom of God is for them.”
In another letter to the missionaries in the same year (1883), King Leopold provided more manipulative and brainwashing strategies:
Always convert the blacks by using the whip. Keep their women in nine months of submission to work freely for us. Make sure that niggers never become rich. Brainwash them that it’s impossible for the rich to enter heaven. Make them pay tax each week at Sunday mass. Use the money meant for the poor to build flourishing business centers. Institute a confessional system that allows you to be good detectives, denouncing any black that has a different consciousness contrary to that of you, the decision-maker. Teach the niggers to forget their heroes and to adore only ours. Never present a chair to a black person that comes to visit you. Never invite him for dinner even if he gives you a chicken each time you visit him.
King Leopold and the rest of the colonizers used Christianity to subdue the Africans. In general, the Colonizers would send missionaries ahead of the settlers. The missionaries were given strict instructions to get the Africans to accept Christianity so they would not revolt against the occupiers who usually came behind the Missionaries once the Africans were felt to have been subdued sufficiently. When abused, the Missionaries taught the Africans to turn another cheek.
King Leopold would go down in history as one of the most evil man that ever walked the earth. How he orchestrated the massacre of over ten million people in the Congo from Belgium is beyond comprehension as he never set foot in the Congo." Yet it's not classified as a holocaust! Here is the reason why we Africans need to rewrite our own history.
Its good to know where we have come from, we need to know our history, this builds us up and gives us a focus on how we can deal with the challenges ahead. It gives us a perspective on what happened to us, it makes us understand things that are shrouded and it gives a clear direction for the way forward. Knowing our history is powerful no matter how bad it may seem. It empowers us. Reading this gave me clarity on why black people are so religious beyond logic. Our emotions was manipulated through religion. I believe there is hope for the African people.
Slavery is not African history, Slavery interrupted African history.