The Devils Backbone Brewery has a beer called ‘Belgian Congo Pale Ale.’

I don’t know if this is a new beer or if it’s been in my grocery stores for years and I just didn’t notice.

But, it’s quite simply offensive.

The Belgian Congo was the scene of some of the worst and most depraved and shameful excesses of western colonialism in Africa. Quite simply, it was a horror show of genocide and slavery.

‘Pale’ northern Europeans came into the Congo and raped the land and its people (in many cases, quite literally raped).

Unless there is some political message I’ve missed (and please let me know if I have missed one), Devils Backbone has needlessly honored a terrible time in history and a crime against humanity.