Mr. Eric Adams, Mayor of New York,

Excellencies,

Distinguished delegates,

Dear Friends,

I am deeply honored to welcome you all to this special event.

I am deeply grateful to the Permanent Representatives joining us today; and of course, am pleased to welcome Mr. Mati Kochavi, Producer of Stelo Stories, and Mayor Adams, who is here on his first visit as Mayor to the United Nations. 

The Equaino.Stories highlights a defining but dark moment of history. Known as the largest forced movements of a people in recorded human history, the Transatlantic Slave Trade spanned more than four centuries, with over fifteen million African men, women and children enslaved and victimized as a result.

While the chronicles of this abhorrent and inhumane event go down as history, the legacies of the slave trade live on to this day. Racial discrimination, social injustice, prejudice, intolerance, and servitude, remain some of the most vivid and compelling legacies of slave trade.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

As I had mentioned earlier today at the General Assembly, years ago, I visited Goree Island in Senegal, which was the largest slave-trading centre on the West African coast. It is said that an estimated 15 to 20 million Africans passed through the Island between the 15th and 19th centuries. 

Packed into small cells, the enslaved who were chained and shackled, had only the small “door of no return” through which they walked into the slave boat to be shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to be sold in the Caribbean, the South and the North Americas. 

Slavery was not only a dreadful individual ordeal, but a cultural trauma whereby a group of people were subjected to such inhuman pain and torture that it dehumanized their existence, their group identity, values, feelings, and their cultural worldview.

Last week, I had the chance to visit the Ark of Return, which stands in honor of the victims of slavery and the Transatlantic slave trade. The depiction and engravings of human captivity and brutality on the Ark captured my heart, and ushered a sense of sorrow, compassion, and humility. It was a truly solemn moment to remember.

Today’s screening is another example of how we can remember; of how we can raise awareness and call for action against the legacies of slavery. 

Through its vivid imagery – and by using modern storytelling techniques to give a contemporaneous feel – Equiano Stories connects us to the past in a way that is often hard to achieve, particularly as we are prone to see the past as something long ago, distant and unrecognizable. 

While the experiences of each of the enslaved millions may never be known, by retelling stories, such as the self-recorded accounts of Olaudah Equiano, we help forge understanding.

This is especially important to reach younger audiences, including recurring to social media and similar platforms, to ensure that the memories and legacy live on.

The Equiano.Stories asks the question – What if an African child in 1756 had a cell phone when he was enslaved? – to reimagine the effects of social media during the slave trade era.

I hope the stories and message of Equiano.Stories will reverberate across societies.

Excellencies, dear friends,

Our brightest hope of the future ignites from the lessons and stories of the past.

We must never forget the past; we must continue to discuss the legacy of slavery, especially as it pertains to the marginalization of persons of African descent, who are still denied justice and equality. 

Let us strengthen our social contract with one another and stand united against racism.

I commend Mr. Kochavi for raising awareness through Equiano Stories, and I thank the Permanent Mission of Israel for taking this project forward.

I thank you.