Between 1920 and 1960 Thousands of Belgian colonizers arrived in the Congo civil servant engineers single white men away from their families in Europe when they arrived they did the same They took an African woman home to clean cook serve and for something else that no one said out loud they made them pregnant thousands of african women they gave birth to mixed-race children children of Belgian parents who never recognized them children with lighter skin than their mothers with the features of white men who pretended not to know them
By 1948 there was a problem with those children. They were living evidence that racial segregation it didn’t work They were proof that civilized white men They slept with African women that they considered inferior the belgian state decided solve the problem the only way I knew how if the parents didn’t want those children the state would take them by force like a European country organized the kidnapping of 20,000 children without the world doing anything what did they do to those children after tearing them from their mothers
and what happened to them When the Congo became independent in 1960 and the Belgians evacuated en masse The answer lies in what began in 1948 when the first trucks arrived in the villages when african mothers they heard the engine and they knew exactly what that sound meant and when they learned that running was of no use The Congo was a colony of Belgium from 1908 to 1960 52 years during which Belgium extracted rubber ivory minerals wood exploited millions of Africans He built his wealth on forced labor but there were rules
strict rules white people lived in their neighborhoods Africans in theirs relationships between white men and black women miscegenation was prohibited, it was officially illegal officially because in practice thousands of Belgian colonizers did exactly that They took African women as concubines they made them pregnant They had children with them by 1940 There were thousands of these mixed-race children throughout the Congo They lived with their African mothers in the villages their Belgian parents saw them from afar
but they never recognized them they never gave them their last name They were never registered as legitimate children and nobody did anything about it until 1948 that year the colonial government of the Congo created a special agency It was called Oeuvre de Protection des Métis the work of protection of mestizos Its official objective was protect children of mixed origin give them education prepare them to be useful citizens but the truth was different the agency started making lists children’s names ages villages where they lived physical description
and the name of the Belgian father that I had never recognized them before continuing if you haven’t already Subscribe to the channel and activate the bell so as not to miss these stories also leave us in the comments from which country are you watching us Ridoua arrived in the Congo in 1943 I was 28 years old he was an engineer his story It was the same as that of thousands of other Belgian settlers what happened to him it happened to thousands what he did was done by thousands the mining company that hired him
promised him a good salary a big house and the opportunity to build something important in Africa Henry accepted without thinking much. Europe was at war The Congo seemed a safe place to make a fortune when he arrived in leopoldville the capital of the belgian congo The first thing he noticed was the separation white people lived in kalina the european quarter large houses with gardens paved streets electricity running water Africans lived in the indigenous city mud and zinc houses dirt streets without basic services
between the two neighborhoods there was an invisible line that no one crossed or at least that no one admitted to crossing in Rhine was assigned to supervise a copper mine 200km from the capital the company gave him a big empty house Henry lived alone like most Belgian settlers he had arrived single white wives only arrived years later when men were already established meanwhile The colonists resolved their loneliness in the same way They hired an African woman to work at home to clean cook wash clothes and for something else that no one mentioned
in public but everyone they knew what was happening Henry hired Ensala in May 1944 she was 16 years old He lived in a village near the Mina his family needed money work for a settler white paid better than anything else In the room he accepted, he didn’t have many options no African woman had them at the beginning I only worked in the room I cleaned Henry’s house He prepared his food he washed his clothes Henry He treated her the way African employees were treated.
with distance with short orders no real conversation but the months passed the house was big Henry was alone in the living room he was there every day and one night Henry crossed the line that officially could not be crossed in the room I was 17 years old there was no physical violence there were no screams But there was no real choice either.
Henry was his employer in the room I depended on him to survive when he called her to his room that night she went because refuse It meant losing your job. lose the money your family needed maybe something worse in January 1945 In the living room she discovered that she was pregnant, she told Henry he showed no surprise He didn’t show anger He just told him to keep working as long as he could.
room worked until the 8th month in September 1945 She gave birth in her village, she was a girl. he called her Monique the baby had lighter skin than in the ward not as dark as the other children in the village He had Henry’s eyes the shape of his nose Anyone who saw them together could notice Henry. He never went to see Monique.
He never recognized her as his daughter. he never gave him his last name in official documents Monique appeared only under her mother’s name no legally registered father there was no connection between Henri Dubois and that light skinned baby that grew in the African village but everyone knew the mine workers knew it the living room neighbors knew it the other settlers knew it it just wasn’t talked about Henry I was not the only one in each mine in each plantation in every administrative office in the Congo there were white men
doing exactly the same They impregnated their African employees they had children with them They never recognized them By 1946 there were thousands of such children throughout the Congo they called them mestizo metis children who didn’t belong completely to neither world too light to be considered African too African to be considered white Monique grew up in her mother’s village I played with the other children but there was always something different the other children looked at her strangely The mothers of the village murmured when they passed by in the living room.
Monique didn’t understand why. I just knew it was different that his skin was not like that of others that when he asked about his father his mother remained silent room tried to protect her He taught him the local language Kikongo He taught him the customs of the village I wanted Monique to feel part of the african community but it was difficult Some accepted it, others did not.
there was resentment Monique was the daughter of a white settler It was the result of something no one wanted to admit. but everyone knew what was happening was living evidence that white men who preached racial superiority and strict separation They didn’t practice what they preached Henry continued working in the mine I kept paying him ansala to clean his house I saw Monique from afar sometimes when he took her with him in the living room never spoke to him he never touched her never showed any interest It was as if that girl didn’t exist for him.
and in a sense it did not officially exist legally Monique was not his daughter She was just the daughter of his African employee. a problem that Henry could ignore as long as no one forced him to face it but in 1948 something changed the colonial government of the Congo decided that he could no longer ignore the problem of Metis there were too many They were too visible and represented something dangerous were proof that racial segregation it didn’t work were evidence that the colonists Whites mixed with Africans
who supposedly considered the government inferior He decided he needed to do something with those kids. something that would change everything something that in the room and Monique They would discover just a few months later in February 1948 the colonial government of the Belgian Congo officially created the Ever of protection desmetis in french meant the work of protecting the mestizos In practice it was an agency with a single purpose identify all Métis children in Congo register and remove them from their African families
The government justified this with a simple argument mixed-race children They were being abandoned by their white parents they lived in conditions precarious with their African mothers They did not receive adequate education they did not learn European values the state had the duty to protect them to give them a better life to civilize them the truth was simpler those children were a disgrace were evidence that racial segregation it was a lie and the state I wanted to make them disappear from public view the agency started its work immediately
They sent officials to all regions of the Congo to the mines to the plantations to the administrative offices to any place where there were Belgian settlers His job was to make lists of children’s names and ages. physical description exact location and the name of the Belgian father officials did not need to investigate much everyone knew who the metis children were everyone knew who the parents were It was a secret that no one really kept.
the officials They just needed to write it on official paper. by March 1948 the lists were complete there were 4,000 names children between two and 10 years old living in African villages with their mothers the agency decided to start with the little ones children from 2 to 5 years They would be easier to separate easier to shape less able to remember their mothers later in the room he heard the rumors in April 1948 other women in the village talked about it The government was taking away Metis children.
there were trucks arriving at different villages mothers trying to hide their children officials with lists who knew exactly who to look for in the room he felt afraid Monique was two and a half years old was on the list I knew it in the room There was no way it wasn’t on the list. in the room he considered fleeing he could take Monique and hide in the jungle live with relatives in a more distant village change the girl’s name paint the skin with charcoal to make other mothers look darker they were doing that but in the room I also knew that it wouldn’t work
the officials had complete files They knew where each child lived. They knew who their families were. If she ran away in the room, they would come look for her. and maybe it would be worse maybe they would punish her for resisting then he waited in the room He waited because he had no other option. The truck arrived on a Tuesday in May In the living room he was cooking outside his cabin.
Monique played in the dust near her in the living room he heard the engine before seeing it stood still the sound was getting closer then he saw the dust it raised on the road In the living room he lifted Monique off the floor and hugged her tightly. The girl didn’t understand what was happening, she laughed and thought.
that it was a game The truck stopped in front of the cabin two men got down one was Belgian an agency official the other was African an interpreter the official had a token in his hand He looked at Ansala. He looked at Monique. compared with the sheet he said the girl’s full name He told Ensala that he had to hand Monique over.
which was an official government order that the girl would go to a better place who would receive education that I would have a decent life Ensala shook his head He said no, Monique. It was her daughter who would stay with her. the official did not argue He didn’t try to convince her. he simply signaled to the truck driver another man came down this one was bigger stronger He approached Ensala and ordered him to release the girl.
Ensala then refused the man spread his arms and snatched Monique from Sala’s arms the girl started screaming mom mom room tried to grab her daughter back The African interpreter grabbed her and pushed her back. room fell into the dust The men put Monica on the truck. there were other girls there all crying all screaming for their mothers the truck started in the room he stood up ran after the vehicle He ran screaming his daughter’s name.
he ran until his legs shook until he couldn’t breathe until the truck disappeared around the bend in the road then he fell to his knees tears ran down her face the dust settled around him Monique was gone. and in the living room she knew that the truck would never see her again took Monique and the other girls to an orphanage in catanga 600km from his village The building was large, made of red brick.
had been built specifically for children inside Belgian Catholic nuns were waiting They recorded each girl and assigned them numbers. They cut their hair and gave them new clothes. gray uniform all the same the nuns spoke French the girls spoke Kikongo or Lingala or Swahili depending on your region they did not understand each other the girls cried the nuns told them to shut up that they should be grateful that now they would receive a better life Simón Galula arrived at the same orphanage three months later
I was 5 years old His story was the same as Monique’s. Belgian father who abandoned her African mother from whom she was torn truck that raised dust cry that no one heard Simón was put in a room with 4 other girls wooden bunk beds without mattresses without sheets, a thin blanket for each one the roof was zinc during the day the heat was unbearable the metal was warming under the Equatorial sun the room became an oven the girls were sweating They asked for water the nuns ignored them The routine was strict, waking up at 5 in the morning.
mass at 6 breakfast at 7 French classes from 8 to 12 lunch at noon manual work in the afternoon orphanage cleaning wash clothes cook dinner at 6 mass at 7 sleeping at 8 any deviation was punished If a girl cried they punished her if a girl spoke in her language African instead of French they punished her If a girl asked about her mother, they punished her.
the punishment was always the same blows with a ruler in the hands sometimes in the legs the nuns showed no compassion They told the girls they were wild that they needed to be civilized that they should be grateful for the opportunity they were given one night after 6 months in the orphanage Simon asked another girl something I couldn’t stop thinking about Why do they hate us if we are their daughters? The other girl didn’t respond.
I had no answer none of the girls I had an answer they just knew they were different that they were not white enough to be European that they were not black enough to be African that they were trapped in a place where no one wanted them and that the next years of their lives they would be exactly the same but what they didn’t know was that in 1960 something even worse was going to happen In 1960 the Belgian Congo was on the verge of collapse For years the Congolese They had demanded independence protests strikes violence
the Belgian government finally relented 06/30/1960 Congo would become an independent country the belgians would have to go after 52 years of colonial control after decades extracting riches from the Congo the white colonizers They packed their bags and left the country But there was a problem that no one wanted to mention.
What would happen to the 20,000 Metis children? who had been locked up in orphanages during the last 12 years the Belgian government discussed different options some officials They suggested taking the children to Belgium and giving them Belgian nationality integrate them into European society but others opposed They argued that taking 20,000 children mixed race to Belgium would create racial problems that Belgian society was not ready to accept them that it was better to leave them in the Congo in the end they made a decision
that it wasn’t really a decision They just didn’t do anything, they didn’t evacuate the children. They were not given documents They did not provide them with resources They just left them where they were and left. Lea Tavares Mujinga was 14 years old in 1960 had spent the last 8 years at the saber orphanage in Rwanda his father was a Belgian officer who had returned to Brussels when she was 4 years old His mother was from a village that Lea no longer remembered.
had been torn from her mother so young that memories were blurry vague images sensations more than memories The only thing I knew about was the nuns orphanage. strict routines manual labor the endless masses and the constant promise that someday when it was enough civilized would have a better life in June 1960 Lea noticed that something had changed at the orphanage.
the nuns were nervous they whispered among themselves they packed boxes Lea asked the other girls what was going on. no one knew for sure but they all felt that something big was approaching June 28 two days before independence the superior sister gathered all the girls in the dining room He explained to them that the Congo would soon be independent that the nuns Belgians would have to return to Belgium than the orphanage would close the girls listened in silence then one of them He asked what everyone was thinking.
We are also going to Belgium the superior sister was silent for a moment then he shook his head He told them no, they were Congolese. who would stay in the Congo that the new government Congolese would take care of them Lea felt something cold in her stomach. he asked the sister if they could go with their mothers The nun told him that she did not have that information.
that files with their mothers’ names they had been lost that there was no way to contact them, Lea insisted He told him that his father was Belgian that she had the right to go to Belgium the superior sister He looked at her with something akin to pity. told him that his father I had never recognized her that she did not have Belgian documents that legally had no connection with Belgium The next two days were chaotic.
The nuns packed as much clothing as they could carry. books religious objects anything of value the cars arrived constantly they loaded the boxes they carried the nuns 1×1 the Belgian sisters were leaving Lea and the other 40 girls from the orphanage They watched from the windows they saw how the women who had been his only authority figures for years They just got in the cars and disappeared.
no goodbyes no explanation of what would come next without a plan for the girls they left behind 06/30/1960 the last car left the orphanage Lea went down the stairs the building was empty the offices the archives had been looted and had disappeared the classrooms were abandoned the kitchen had no food Lea went out to the patio the other girls were there everyone looked the road where the cars had gone no one spoke what could they say They were completely alone without family without documents no money no food in a country that had just been born
and that I was already on the verge of chaos that night They heard screams in the distance, gunshots the Congo was rapidly disintegrating the army Congolese had mutinied against his officers Belgians were looting in the cities violence in the streets and in the midst of all that 40 Metis girls were hiding in an abandoned orphanage at 8 at night They heard the sound of a truck was approaching the orphanage Lea and the others ran to hide some went into the closets others under the beds Lea went down to the basement with 5 other girls
the soldiers came in screaming They were looking for the white nuns they were drunk furious They screamed about revenge about the years of humiliation about everything the Belgians had done to them they broke furniture They destroyed what little was left lea listened to everything from the basement He covered his mouth with his hand to not make noise.
the other girls They trembled at his side Three hours passed before the soldiers left three hours in the dark three hours not knowing if they would find them when there was finally silence Lea walked up the stairs slowly. the orphanage had been completely looted there was nothing left over the next few weeks the girls tried to survive some went out to look for food some tried to return to their original villages but most didn’t know where they came from They had been plucked too young They didn’t remember their mothers’ names.
They didn’t know which village to belong to. Lea tried to get documents went to the offices of the new Congolese government explained their situation He told them he needed a birth certificate. identity documents something to prove that it existed the officials asked him information about your parents lea had nothing no father’s last name no mother’s full name no village of origin The officials shook their heads.
Without that information they couldn’t do anything. Lea was 14 years old and legally did not exist. She was not Belgian because her father never recognized her. she was not congolese because he had no documents to prove he was stateless and there were thousands like her in the same situation while lea was fighting to survive in a chaotic congo while trying get papers to prove that it existed his Belgian father lived comfortably in Antwerp had a wife had three legitimate children He worked as a retired officer of the colonial army
received a generous pension I lived in a house with a garden Their children went to good schools, they had a future. they had opportunities They had everything I read would never have and it wasn’t just Leah’s father thousands of belgian men they had done exactly the same African women had been impregnated They had allowed the state to steal those children They had returned to Belgium They had married white women.
they had legitimate children and they had gone on with their lives as if those other children those mixed-race children abandoned in the Congo they would never have existed but those children did exist and 50 years later some of them They would decide it was time for Belgium to respond for what he had done for 50 years no one talked about the metis children Belgium remained a respected country in Europe civilized democratic founding member of the European Union no one mentioned what had happened in the Congo Belgian history books
they did not include the systematic kidnapping of 20,000 children schools didn’t teach about orphanages politicians did not discuss colonial policies who had separated mothers and children It was like it never happened. as if those children had never existed but children had existed and some of them they had survived monique vintubengi He had managed to leave the orphanage at the age of 18.
She had worked as a domestic worker in a quinchaza for decades never married never had children I lived alone in a small room spent years trying to find information about his mother went to government offices he asked in his home village searched in files but found nothing the records had been destroyed or taken to Belgium when the Belgians evacuated Monique didn’t know her mother’s full name.
I didn’t remember his face I only remembered the moment when that memory was torn from his arms he never abandoned her Simón Galula had been luckier in some ways he had managed to obtain documents with Goleños after years of bureaucratic struggle he had married had had two children but I lived with the trauma of what had happened constant nightmares memories of the nuns hitting her off the tin roof from the unbearable heat of girls crying for their mothers Simón never told his children about his childhood it was too painful
too embarrassing I lived with that burden in silence like thousands of other survivors who had learned to remain silent to pretend that everything was fine not to ask questions about the past that no one wanted to remember lea tavares mujinga had managed to reach Belgium in the 70s I had gotten a job as a nurse.
had lived in Brussels for decades but legally he remained stateless he did not have Belgian nationality did not have a valid birth certificate when he wanted to get married discovered that he could not without valid documents marriage it was impossible Lea tried to contact the Belgian authorities He explained his story He told them that his father had been a Belgian officer that she had been torn from her mother who had spent years in a Catholic orphanage financed by the Belgian government officials told him there were no records
that without his father’s name They couldn’t do anything she would have to prove it how could I prove something that had been deliberately deleted files For decades the survivors lived like this isolated fragmented no connection between them each carrying their individual trauma without knowing what there was thousands of others in the same situation but in the 2000s something started to change the internet allowed people separated by continents they will meet support groups began to appear forum web pages orphanage survivors
sharing their stories and discovering that they were not alone in 2015 a group of survivors created a formal organization they called it metis from Belgium Its objective was simply to press the Belgian government to recognize what had happened to open the files to help the survivors find information about their families and to ask for forgiveness The Belgian government initially ignored the requests the officials They said it was a thing of the past that too much time had passed that there was nothing they could do
but the survivors did not give up They contacted journalists They told their stories on television in newspapers on radio programs the story began to become public Belgians who did not have idea of what had happened in the Congo They started hearing about Metis children. about systematic kidnapping about orphanages about abandonment in 1960 public pressure began to grow politicians began to ask questions in Parliament activists organized protests the catholic church who had managed the orphanages faced severe criticism in 2016
Belgian Catholic Church issued apology they recognized who had participated in the separation of children metis from their mothers who had run orphanages where children were abused who had been complicit in a grave injustice They apologized to the victims but many survivors said that the apologies of the church They were not enough the church had only been the instrument the real person responsible it was the belgian state It was the government that had created the lists who had sent the trucks who had financed the entire system
and the Belgian state had still not said anything in 2017 the belgian senate organized a colloquium on children metis survivors invited to testify Monique Simón Lea and other victims traveled to Brussels They entered the Parliament building some for the first time in their lives They sat in front of Belgian senators and they told their stories They told about the day they were torn away of their mothers about the years in orphanages about abandonment in 1960 about the decades trying to get documents about the endless search for their families
about the trauma they carried since they were children the senators listened some cried Senate President Christine de Freine She admitted that she knew nothing about this story. that I had never learned it in school which was a taboo part of colonial history Belgian that had been deliberately hidden after the colloquium the senate began to pressure the government to take action to officially acknowledge what had happened to open the files to help the survivors In April 2018, the Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel
finally made an official recognition in a speech before Parliament Michel recognized the systematic segregation of Metis children recognized that the Belgian state had separated those children from their mothers on racial grounds which had been a deliberate policy that had caused immense suffering But Michelle stopped.
before using the most important word He didn’t say it was a crime. He just said it was an injustice. in March 2019 Michelle went further on behalf of the Belgian federal government He apologized officially to the Metis It was the first time that the Belgian state admitted responsibility It was a historic moment.
many survivors cried when they heard the words after 70 years someone finally had recognized what had been done to them but for some survivors apologies were not enough the words were good but they needed more they needed real justice they needed repair they needed Belgium admit that it was not just an injustice It was a crime in 2021 5 women decided to go further Monique vintubingi Simon in galula Lea Tavares mujinga Noel berbeque and María José loshi filed a legal claim against the Belgian state they asked for compensation
for the damage they had suffered They asked that the court recognize that what had been done to them It was a crime against humanity His lawyers argued that the kidnapping systematic of children on racial grounds met the legal definition crime against humanity that it didn’t matter how much time had passed that some crimes do not prescribe the Belgian state argued that it had happened too long that the actions although they were incorrect by modern standards They were not considered criminals at that time that the victims were not entitled to compensation
because the legal period had expired in the first instance The court agreed with the state. rejected the claim the 5 women appealed and in December 2024 finally the answer they had been waiting for came throughout his life 12/02/2024 Chamber 31 of the Brussels Court of Appeal It was full of activist journalists descendants of the victims and in the front row 5 women Monique vintubingui was 77 years old Simón in Galula was 79 Lea Tavares Mujinga was 78 Noelle Berbeque was 77 María José loshi was 76 They had waited their whole lives for this moment.
They had survived a systematic kidnapping to years of abuse in Catholic orphanages abandoned in 1960 to decades of silence to the constant denial that something bad had happened and now finally a court was going to decide if the Belgian state was guilty The judge began to read the sentence his voice was firm clear The court considered it proven that the 5 women had been separated from their mothers before the age of 7 that had been separated without the consent of their mothers that had been separated solely because of their mixed racial origins
that this had been part of a plan systematic of the Belgian state a plan to identify and kidnap children born to black mothers and white parents the judge continued the court considered that these actions constituted a crime against humanity a crime that does not prescribe a crime for which the Belgian state had to be held responsible Monique started to cry not of sadness of relief after 77 years someone finally had told the truth what they had done to him was not just an injustice it was a crime the belgian state was guilty
the court ordered the Belgian state compensate the 5 women for the moral damage caused due to the loss of connection with their mothers for the damage to his identity Because of the years of suffering, the amount was not enormous. €50,000 each but it wasn’t about the money It was about recognition. it was that an official court say out loud what everyone had denied for decades it was a crime Simón spoke to journalists outside the court His words were simple but powerful.
they stole our childhood our families were stolen from us our identities were stolen for 70 years Belgium pretended nothing had happened today finally the truth came to light Lea said something that summed up everyone’s feelings. we don’t fight for money We fight so that this is not forgotten so our grandchildren know what happened so this never happens again the sentence was historic It was the first time in Belgium and probably in Europe that a court condemned a colonial state for crimes against humanity It was a precedent
It meant that thousands of other survivors They could now file similar lawsuits meant that the descendants of the victims They could also seek justice the doors had opened and Belgium would have to face completely what I had done during its colonial period But the ruling also raised uncomfortable questions questions that Belgium and the rest of Europe they would have to respond How was it possible for a civilized democratic country member of the international community organized the systematic kidnapping of 20,000 children
How was it possible that thousands of men they will impregnate African women and then allowed the state stole his own children and how was it possible that for 70 years no one did anything about it The answer lies in something that is difficult to admit but impossible to ignore racism was not an accident of colonialism was its foundation the entire colonial system was built on the idea that Europeans were superior that the Africans were inferior that white people had the right even the duty to civilize the blacks
This ideology was not just propaganda was codified in laws was taught in schools was preached in churches was accepted as scientific truth by European universities and under this ideology the Métis children represented a fundamental problem were evidence that racial separation it was impossible They were proof that white people mixed with the blacks and in a system that depended on maintaining that separation those children had to disappear the Belgian state did not kidnap those children despite being democratic and civilized, he kidnapped him
precisely because he believed that it was the civilized thing to do, he believed who was protecting those children of a lower life with their African mothers believed that by taking them to Catholic orphanages by teaching them French by giving them European education I was saving them this is the scariest part the perpetrators They didn’t think they were committing a crime.
they thought they were doing something good and that is the nature of institutional racism allows ordinary people to commit atrocities while they convince themselves that they are on the right side of history and no one paid for this the officials who made the lists They were never tried the men who ripped children from their mothers They never faced consequences the nuns who mistreated children in orphanages They were never held accountable.
Belgian fathers who impregnated African women and then they allowed their children to be stolen They lived long and comfortable lives received pensions they raised their legitimate children They died surrounded by their families meanwhile his other children those who had abandoned in Africa they suffered all their lives this is the reality of colonial impunity the perpetrators They were always protected by the same system who created the atrocities and the victims They never had a voice until it was too late to hold someone truly accountable
the ruling of December 2024 can’t undo what happened He can’t give Monique back. the 75 years he spent without his mother cannot erase Simón’s traumas can’t hit lea the documents that were denied to him for decades but the ruling does something crucial establish the truth says in an official document with the weight of a court of justice that what happened was a crime that it was not a well-intentioned policy gone wrong that it was not an error of judgment It was a crime against humanity and that truth matters because we live in a world
where colonial crimes are still minimized justified or directly denied There are those who will say that this happened a long time ago. that we cannot judge the past with the standards of the present that all countries They made mistakes during the colonial era but tearing 20,000 children from their mothers because of the color of his skin it was never a mistake it was a choice a choice deliberately done by people with power people who knew exactly what they were doing and the fact that it took 70 years so that that election was called by its name
a crime tells us something important about how power works tells us that justice does not come automatically that the truth does not reveal itself that someone has to fight for it Monique Simón, Lea Noel and Mari José fought They fought when they were over 70 years old when they had already lost most of their lives when they knew that no sentence could give them back what they had stolen they fought not for them They fought for their children for his grandchildren for the thousands of other victims who never had the chance
to tell their stories They fought to let the world know the truth and they won this is that story the story of how thousands of Belgian colonizers They impregnated African women how the state systematically stole those children how they abandoned them when they were no longer useful and how 70 years later 5 women forced an entire country to admit that it was a crime against humanity these stories should not be forgotten because forgetting them is allowing them to happen again
