Comedian Terrence K Williams posted this on his Facebook page. The modern US flag is juxtaposed against a flag that doesn’t seem to represent any country. The white and green flag somewhat resembles the flag of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
but again, this doesn’t represent Islam or a country. The first failure in this comparison is that this is a comparison of a country (where Muslims do exist) and a religion, which exists in many countries.
Then there’s the choice of words. Williams choses to use “Islamic slave trade.” The Arab slave trade is also known as the Trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean slave trade. The trade routes began in the seventh century and lasted about 1,300 years. That is 13 centuries and is considered the longest-running slave system in history.
Islam was founded in the 7th Century (610 CE), originating in Mecca in modern-day Saudi Arabia. The Arab slave trade predates Islam. Slavery was a well-established economic institution in the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding regions. Arab slave trade The estimates given are from 8 million to 25 million.
According to a 21 October 2013 article by Erin Rushing for the Smithsonian: How many slaves did the Arab trade account for between the 8th and 20th centuries? Impossible to say, given the absence of records for most of the period. Estimates by scholars range widely from over 8 million to 25 million. For comparison, the Atlantic trade, which flourished between the 16th and 19th centuries, is said to have involved 12.5 million slaves.
Let’s compare four centuries to 13 centuries. If we divide 25 million by 13 centuries we get about 2 million per century (1,923,077). On the other hand 12.5 million divided by four is 3,125,000.
In the US, there is a lot of discussion about Trans-Atlantic slavery in public history books. This is true. In those very same history books, when is the Arab world mentioned? Mostly likely during Mesopotamia which is modern-day Iraq, easter Syria and southeastern Turkey which is West Asia. Then it is likely that history also mentions Egypt which is both North Africa and West Asia. Then there were the crusades, a series of military campaigns between 1095 and 1291. It is less likely that the invasion of oil-rich places in West Asia as part of the World War I strategies is mentioned (Mesopotamian Campaign). Then perhaps when the Moors invade Spain in 711 AD. Or the Allies taking control of Middle Eastern oil during World War II with the Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran (1941) or the Syria-Lebanon Campaign (1941). In modern history perhaps in relation to oil.
I wonder is Williams has read histories of the Arab cultures. It’s not that nobody is talking or writing about it. People have been writing about Arab culture for centuries, but that has only recently come out of the shadow of Orientalism.
The problem would more likely be a comprehensive look at North Africa and West Asia in historical context. Yet Arab history isn’t the only history that is ignored in US public education. Latin American history, something that affects a larger geographical area of the current US, is also ignored. That includes another slave trade that directly impacted the Americas: the Trans-Pacific slave trade. This operated from the late 1500s to the early 1800s and involved the enslavement of people, primarily from South and Southeast Asia who were transported across the Pacific on Spanish galleons to the Spanish colonial territories in the Americas. This trade shaped the demographics and labor forces of early Colonial Latin America, particularly in Mexico and Peru. The slaves were taken from across the Portuguese and Spanish empires, including Portuguese India, the Bengali coast, the Malay Archipelago and Mozambique. They were brought to slave markets in Manila and then taken from Manila to Acapulco, a two to three month journey. Slaves were grouped as chinos, distinguishing them from enslaved Africans who were often labeled as negros.
And that is part of Asian American history, but even Asian American history is neglected and erased so it isn’t surprising that Arab American history is as well. Arab American history is often lost in the shuffle as not being African American history although there are Arabs in North Africa and not being Asian American history because Western Asia is often not considered Asia. Just ask anyone whether Egypt or Israel is in Asia.
