LOOTED ARTEFACTS USED TO REINFORCE WHITE SUPREMACY

The British Museum houses around 73,000 African objects from the Benin, Dahomey and Ashanti Kingdoms (in present-day Nigeria, Benin and Ghana, respectively). In this video, Weyni Tesfai (@planbacktoafrica) reminds us that the continued display of colonial loot in Western museums is a form of violence. Furthermore, by juxtaposing ‘primitive’ African items with the ‘advances’ of Western culture, it reinforces false White-supremacist narratives. Over the years, European authorities have spuriously argued that they cannot in good conscience return artefacts because they cannot determine the legitimate owners or be sure the items will be looked after appropriately - as if it were for them to decide.

Video credit: @planbacktoafrica (Instagram)