Beforeword: Each year on March 25 the UN recognizes “International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery & the Transatlantic Slave Trade”. This year’s theme, Justice in Action, calls on the global community to confront this history with honesty and to acknowledge its enduring impact. This is my tribute poem.

On this day we name the past, refuse to turn away
A brutal, shameful history we’re called to face today
Not only grief, but action too must rise from what we see
For echoes of that suffering still shape humanity

Across the seas, in chains they bore what none should have to bear
A system built on stolen lives, on violence and despair
It carved the lines of race we know, still visible and deep
A legacy of injustice the present world must keep

This day is not just memory, not bound to what has been
It lives within our current fight, in systems still unseen
To remember is to challenge all that lingers wrong
To raise our voices, stand aligned, unyielding, firm, and strong

We honor those who suffered, those who dared resist
By working toward a world where equity and equality exist
Let justice be our answer, let truth our guiding light
Remembering the past to confront and racism to fight

Afterword: The transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans was one of the gravest crimes in history. Millions of men, women and children were violently taken from their homes, denied their humanity and forced to endure generations of exploitation. The racist ideologies that justified this crime became embedded in institutions and societies, shaping inequalities that continue today.

Other commemoration poems: 

• Mamma Africa
•  Lest We Forget
• Free At Last
• Education Power

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In creative solidarity, Dee