A Story of Two Countries: Dennis Siaw-Lattey, US and Ghana Column Black History Month

BY KAREN ROBERTS WASHINGTON

As the government deals with Title 42, I draw your attention to immigration and our Dallas-based colleague Dennis Siaw-Lattey He is what the United States government calls a “naturalized citizen.” He lived in the United States as a legal alien for nearly 10 years before he swore allegiance to the flag and the Constitution and became a United States citizen.

He was born in Ghana, West Africa, and moved to the United States in 1995. He says that he has lived in the United States for 27 years, but Ghana will always be his home. He tried to visit home once every 2-3 years to see friends and extended family.

When he went home, his itinerary was limited to finding and enjoying the comforts of home—family, good food, good drink, and good friends. He did not seek the attractions or historical sites as tourists do…it was, after all, home.

In 2017, he along with his mother and sisters took a trip home. His sisters brought along their American husbands and children to visit Ghana for the first time. On this trip he had no choice but to engage in tourist activities, as this was his brother-in-law’s first trip to Ghana, and he and the nephews and nieces deserved to see more of the country than his usual haunts. They visited and toured just about every historical site and monument in and around the city of Accra.

Siaw-Lattey’s brother-in-law’s final excursion was to a town called Elmina. The historical site he wanted to visit was one he had resisted for years. On this occasion, he obliged and scheduled the 2-hour bus ride down the western coast of Ghana. As they approached from the highway, they could see an impressive structure sitting on the coast.

It was a stunning structure from afar, and even more majestic as they got closer.

This was Elmina Castle. It was erected by the Portuguese in 1482. Although its stated purpose was to facilitate trade, by the 18th century, it was used for another purpose. Nearly 30,000 human beings a year captured from neighboring regions were held captive in Elmina Castle’s dungeons for months, starved and beaten, and eventually shipped from its port and sold into slavery on foreign lands—that is, if they lived through the journey.

Siaw-Lattey remembered that he followed a knowledgeable tour guide through dungeons that seemed to still hold the stench of torture and depravity. One part of the tour was especially impactful. The tour guide led them to a narrow gap with a metal gate on the exterior wall of one of the dungeons, the door of no return.

Siaw-Lattey explained that after weeks and months of captivity, people held captive in the dungeons were led out of the gate onto ships and sold as slaves in Europe and the Americas. The door of no return was barely wide enough for any human to fit through, he thought. So, he asked how men, likely of his stature, could fit through that door. “Starvation,” the guide answered.

Siaw-Lattey said, “It struck me as I stared through that gate at the waves washing against the rock pier, when I step off the plane in Ghana, my name is no longer Dennis, it is Nana Yaw Siaw-Lattey. So much was lost through those doors—nearly every person dragged through the door of no return had a name like mine and felt the same pride I do. So many lives and so many identities were lost. You see, it is a name that brings me immense pride and strength, as well as a sense of belonging. It dawned on me: “Each of those individuals, if they did not perish on the sea, would arrive on foreign shores, sold into slavery, and their names forever changed—identities forever lost.”

The drive from Elmina back to Accra was somber. As Siaw-Lattey reflected on the tour, he thought, if it is true that history repeats itself, then we as a people—a decent people—have an obligation to ensure this chapter of history never repeats itself.

Siaw-Lattey contemplated how a society like ours can prevent a recurrence of such atrocities. He looked at the constitution of Ghana and the United States as it pertains to slavery. After all, a constitution is how societies all around the world put into place protections for its people. Article 16 of the Constitution of The Republic of Ghana States, in part, that “no person shall be held in slavery or servitude.” Both the society ravaged by slavery and the society that enjoyed its benefits codified protections against slavery in a constitution.

Asked, what is our role in all of this?

How do we as lawyers, judges, and courts play a part in preventing atrocities like this from ever happening again, Siaw-Lattey suggested: “We are the messengers, the foot soldiers, charged with doing the work of the constitution. We are charged with spreading the news of the protections offered by this great document to those who may need it most…armed with the skills and knowledge to interpret the constitution and to bring news of its protections wherever injustice may be found in our communities, in our cities, our state, and our country. If we are to do our part in preventing history from repeating itself, if we are to meet our duty to do the work of the constitution, we must challenge injustices and atrocities on any scale within our communities, within our city, within our state, and within our country with one primary message: that the protections and rights in this constitution are meant not for just some of the people, but for all of the people.” HN

Karen Washington, Attorney at Law, can be reached at karen@ robertswashington.com