POSTCOLONIAL: "HOW WE BECAME BLACKS" BY SULAIMON KHALID

they came at first,

to buy from us;

& as open men as we were,

we welcomed them

with open hands & an open heart,

like we had been friends from heaven.

we showed them our doorsteps,

our farm paths,

how to open our doors,

& what nature had left with us.

then we walked them as they left

to the seabank,

waving our hands: “See you again.”

they came again, at second;

not to buy,

but to steal.

they came with guns, two:

one for our heads,

saying, “give us your men for more,”

& the second in their arms,

watching us

as they made us steal

from our soil.

they came with printed myths,

telling us we had no yesterday,

telling us we knew nothing of gods;

and yes, we did;

we learned cruelty,

more than they taught.

then they destroyed houses,

Esu’s own before ours;

they stole from houses,

baskets & calabashes,

& took along with them

heads before tails.

they carried us away

through deserts, forests & oceans,

in hundreds,

in thousands,

in numbers letters cannot write.

& when we arrived

on their shores,

they looked at our skin

and called us black,

& we deserve not to walk their walls.

they had forgotten

that from our soil came life;

they had forgotten

how they changed

the colour of our seas to red.

they had forgotten how,

when they came to us

at first and at second,

we had treated them

like one of us.

& even now,

the third & fourth,

we still treat them as one,

like we knew

nothing about their robbery.

© SULAIMON KHALID 

- Nigeria 

The poem “HOW WE BECAME BLACKS” by Sulaimon Khalid explores the historical experience of Africans before, during, and after the transatlantic slave trade. The poet begins by portraying Africans as hospitable people who welcomed foreign visitors, shared their resources, and treated them as friends. However, this relationship gradually changed when the visitors returned, not as traders but as aggressors who used weapons, violence, and deception to capture Africans, plunder their lands, and destroy their homes and cultural institutions.

The poem then traces the horrors of enslavement as Africans were forcefully transported across deserts, forests, and oceans in unimaginable numbers. Upon reaching foreign shores, they were reduced to the colour of their skin and labelled “black,” a designation that became associated with exclusion and inferiority. The poet challenges this racial dehumanisation by reminding the oppressors that their prosperity was connected to African soil, labour, and resources, while their violence had literally turned African waters red with blood.

Ultimately, the poem is a powerful reflection on slavery, racism, colonial exploitation, cultural erasure, and historical injustice. Through irony, the poet contrasts the generosity Africans showed their visitors with the cruelty they received in return. The closing reference to the “third & fourth” suggests that exploitation did not end with slavery but continues in different forms, while Africans, despite their painful history, continue to extend acceptance to those who once oppressed them.