What does it feel like to be owed so much but never receive anything? Reparations it seems, is a loaded term unlike the obvious reference to the abuse of black people throughout history. Epigenetics, another term to describe the pain held within DNA passed on from ancestors who were the unfortunate recipients of such trauma, is also confusing. Yet we cannot misconstrue how King Leopold II of Belgium decided to unleash a colony of terror upon its inhabitants in Congo Free State in the late 1800’s. What dreams did these people have and how did their lives then compare eerily to what is happening now in the harrowing present? Now it may prove tricky to wrap our heads around the concept of reparations because, what form will it take and how will the current generation of people from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) get healing for the now?

When protestors started pelleting the King of Belgium’s car with rocks, amidst BLM protests in January, the act was a more shattering cry for the years of injustice that has plagued the historical ties the country has with its black-minority population. This is because European countries alongside Belgium, like France for example, have chosen for decades to be colour blind to minority racial groups of African descent. This has sanctified the subtle racism and silence of people who may have a European passport but aren’t necessarily treated like full citizens. The mood, however, changed, if ever so slightly, when the current Belgian monarch, King Phillipe, issued an apology for the atrocities committed by King Leopold II stating his “deepest regret” for the “acts of violence and cruelty” in the DRC. But this apology may come a little too late as the 60th anniversary of Congo’s independence from Belgium arrived last year accompanied by an apology letter to the president of the DRC as a supposed, symbolic olive branch of solidarity.

Many crucial questions appear unchallenged when King Leopold II of Belgium decided to build a colony in what was known as the Congo Free State, where his greed resulted in what can only be thought of as the genocide of 10 million Congolese people between 1855 and 1905. Tragically, amputation was the main punishment for workers on the colony evidenced by archival photos disturbingly showing victims with missing limbs - hands, feet and worse as their eyes sold the sadness of a past when their lives were reverent and happier. All the torment forthwith pursuit of ivory and rubber which helped Belgium gain ample recognition for the state it became and is today.

It therefore comes as no surprise that what happened in the Congo Free State in the 1900’s parallels so many stories from the soured tale of children pushed into being child soldiers fighting for a blind cause or the brutality of rebel warriors terrorising communities and using women as weapons of war. There’s no coincidence that the DRC, like many African countries, are mineral rich, including cobalt, used to build the materials for our mobile phones. That seems to be where the conflict ends, but, where it starts is the same point where the struggle for natural resources by the Belgium colony began in the DRC. Similarly, a lawsuit filed against tech companies who knowingly or unknowingly use child labour in cobalt mines made controversial news in 2019 after a number of deaths and injuries were published. This is significant because many of the victims of the barbarity in the Congo Free State colony were sadly children. A picture of a father looking at the hand and foot of his five-year-old daughter, cut off after failing to meet a rubber quota, is viscerally disturbing.

Thankfully by 1960 the DRC became independent from Belgium and earlier, King Leopold II was forced to give up his colony, after Human rights activists and progressive liberals abhorred his bloody reign. Now after statues of the fallen king were defaced amidst the Black Lives Matter protests last year, the conundrum lies in what grace should be given to the people of DRC as this tragic history comes to light. The statues of King Leopold II have already been removed after widespread petitions swarmed its country, but this will never be enough to mitigate the horror-stories that were realities for the descendants of the victims as well as recent generations who live in European countries like Belgium.

Reparations in theory, is a simple concept. Belgium should pay the DRC an insurmountable amount for the use of forced labour in its colonies. However, as this idea festers, it’s clear that the generational damage caused through pillaging and destruction of human souls means that Belgium is forever indebted to the DRC. No amount of reparations can stand as a golden cup that overflows to soothe irreparable damage, just like an apology letter isn’t going to fix decades of colonial trauma. Yet, the importance of preserving and keeping alight the history of the DRC pre- and post-colonization, is vital in manifesting the voices of Congolese people however they choose to use it.

Words by Funmi Olagunju