The sins of your ancestors. (Issue #16)

"Justice" is NOT a synonym for "punishment."

Author

Chris Musei-Sequeira
June 06, 2025

This grayscale engraving shows a Black woman in the foreground, kneeling on one knee. Her ankles are bound and connected to a ground anchor by chains. In the midground are a group of four Black people in a line, with someone behind them holding a whip. In the background are a series of small mountains. CREDIT FROM SOURCE: anonymous. DESCRIPTION FROM SOURCE: "Français : Femme enchaînée agenouillée au sol dans une plantation, vers 1825. English: Female in chains kneeling on the ground in a plantation, c. 1825." SOURCE: File:Female in chains kneeling on the ground in a plantation, c. 1825.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Female_in_chains_kneeling_on_the_ground_in_a_plantation,_c._1825.jpg -- This work is in the public domain.

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The other day, I posted a video on my TikTok channel (also YouTube) where I talked about how some people react to the uncomfortable topic of colonialism. It began as follows:

Every time we talk about European colonization and chattel slavery, people wanna come into the comment section and say things like, “well, what about how Africans sold their own people into slavery,” and “you know, what about the Muslim conquest”…

Some wonderful soul came into the comment section of that video with the following:

we have no guilt because we didn’t do it and it didn’t happen to you.

Having spent decades on the internet, I’m well aware that most comments aren’t worth the bits they’re carried on. I’m also handy with a block button, which I yield with a quickness whenever necessary. But, I think the comment above fits within a genre of hyper-individualistic, ahistorical content that’s worth interrogating: “Why are you punishing me for the sins of my ancestors?”

“We have no guilt because we didn't do it and it didn't happen to you.”

Or: “I was not a colonizer and you were not colonized. I was not a slave owner and you were not a slave. So why should I feel guilty?”

These are the words of a person who believes that the word “justice” is a synonym for the word “punishment”—the words of a person who believes that all the world is a courtroom and there are those who are innocent until proven guilty. (Wow, I know so much about this total stranger!) Fear of punishment naturally leads to denial.

But what if there are other forms of justice that are not punitive?

Let's start with some facts:

  • It's a fact that Europeans colonized much of Africa and the so-called “Americas”;

  • It's a fact that Europeans erased Indigenous peoples by the tens of millions even in the first 100 years of colonization alone; and,

  • It's a fact that Europeans established social hierarchies to place themselves at the top in the lands they colonized, according to their own writings.

If you don't accept these facts, I've really got nothing else to say to you. And, if you want to distract from the topic by talking about Muslim conquest (or whatever), I’ve also got nothing else to say to you. Go use your free speech rights to talk to the winds if you want.

But if you acknowledge these basic facts, then we can have an actual discussion. Given the existence of actual reality, what are our collective responsibilities?

Here’s another fact: there are people alive today who benefit from systems of oppression because their ancestors benefited from systems of oppression. Generational wealth is a real thing, to use just one small example. Many (but not all!) of those people who benefit from those systems want to talk about “forgive and forget” and “water under the bridge” when confronted with facts… even though when the 4th of July comes around, they want to celebrate as if they signed the Declaration of Independence themselves. (Ashley Barron talks about selective history way better than I ever could, in a video posted on TikTok and YouTube.) The founders of the United States of America declared “independence” on a land that didn’t belong to them in the first place. So folks who wish to embrace their so-called “American heritage” should consider embracing all of their heritage, not just the nice parts, because we cannot begin to grapple with reality until we grapple with how history resonates into the present day.

Here’s a tangible, yet admittedly imperfect example: Let’s say hypothetically you're a homeowner, and one day you discover that the people who sold you your home actually never owned the home themselves. In other words: it was never their home to sell to you in the first place. How would you respond in that situation?

Would you say, "Finders, keepers… take it from me if you can!” (Be warned: people might actually take you up on your invitation.)

Would you say, "Hey that's the bank's mistake. I shouldn't be punished for it!”

Would you say, "Okay, who's the real owner then? Let me talk to them; maybe we can work something out." That would be an uncomfortable and complex conversation… but you're a grown-up, so you can handle complexity. Right?

Now imagine that kind of conversation at an intercontinental, hundreds-of-years-of-history scale. Really challenging conversation… but we're technically advanced and civilized, aren't we?

This is justice beyond plain old punishment. This is justice that begins with embracing actual reality and then moves to: what do we do together about it?

Well… this whole conversation sounds highly-abstract and very far away, but I'm telling you now: I truly believe there will be a world beyond colonialism. I truly believe there will be accountability and there will be reconciliation—two words that are also not synonyms for the word “punishment.” I intend to do my tiny little part in making a post-colonial world real.

Are you helping to create a post-colonial world, or are you busy upholding the status quo?

Are you civilized, or are you a savage?

Where to find the perspectives you’ve been missing

FIRST: Subscribe to the Morning Tinto podcast, where my friend Heather Luna and I use the lenses of oppression and resistance to talk about events that happen right before recording.

SECOND: Subscribe to our professional offers-and-needs networking events announcement list. Heather and I regularly host FREE online events where professionals can offer help (free or paid) and ask other professionals to meet their needs.

THIRD: Follow these awesome folks on LinkedIn:

FOURTH: Forward this issue to people you know who are doing decolonial and anti-oppression work.

Got something to say to me?

I’m Chris, the Principal of CJSC, LLC, and I’m (un)learning along with all of you — so hit the “reply” button and give me a piece of your mind!

This article was adapted from my video channels on TikTok and YouTube.

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My name is Chris Musei-Sequeira, and I use he/him pronouns. My mother was born in Trinidad and Tobago as a descendant of African slaves brought to the islands during the time of European colonization. She came to the United States of America (USA) at the age of 10. My father is Goan and was born in India, in Mumbai, and raised Catholic and English-speaking. He came to the USA for his graduate studies, where he met my mother.

My sister and I were born in the USA and lived a middle-class life in the suburbs of multiple American cities. I studied aeronautical engineering and technology policy in university, then worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an aviation consultant. I've lived in cities up and down the USA East Coast since the age of 18; I now reside in Queens, New York with my wife.

I thank Heather Luna and Lavinia Muth for showing me the importance of publicly expressing our positions. Because of our positions, all of us are very familiar with some aspects of the world while having no idea of other aspects. Positionality expresses how our individual positions affect our relationships with other people and with the world as a whole.

Introductory image: File:Female in chains kneeling on the ground in a plantation, c. 1825.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Female_in_chains_kneeling_on_the_ground_in_a_plantation,_c._1825.jpg -- This work is in the public domain.