Church compensation is not enough, apparently!

Sparklefizz

nanna8

I think Denmark and Norway should give me compensation for invasion of my country of birth. Damned Vikings, and they had the cheek to intermingle with my ancestors and give me some of their DNA!

Ditto nanna8 I have their DNA too.

Let's not forget the Romans, the Barbary pirates, all slave merchants, horrid phrase, but that is what our islands suffered.

I agree completely with grandMattie.

Two hundred plus years ago, it was a different world then with very different values. Years ago, I learnt from my mother that my great grandfather had 'owned' seven slaves. Not seven particular slaves, just random ones. It was through a bank investment account. Probably the bank owned a plantation (and it's slaves) somewhere and it was a way of raising investment cash. I expect the banks and their share holders were among those getting the compensation we all paid through our taxes.

We should learn from the past, move on and invest in dealing with present day slavery.

not specific slaves, just random ones
I’m not suggesting reparation for slavery is an easy topic to discuss, much less to resolve. These people weren’t random, they were real individuals enslaved and brutally treated. Dismissing them in this way now is abhorrent imo.

I’m sure a lot of plantations ended up indebted to a Bank but that bank had shareholding owners it was they that ultimately benefitted from the compensation. The banks themselves have long gone in most cases, the shareholding families are still with us and still benefitting from the compensation paid.

Over the years many of the large estates built on slavery profits have been broken up by taxation and returned to the state, but there are still a lot that are still on family control.

I totally understand how awful the years of slave trade were. I also acknowledge the U.K.’s part in it.

I personally feel it’s time to draw a line under it and move forward. Governments, Church authorities and organisations should be looking to prevent and rescue the modern day slaves, they are living in terrible circumstances and fearful for their lives…

GG13, i agree it’s probably time to move on. That needs to include teaching our history honestly and encouraging debate that reflects society as it was and is currently
My ancestors worked in the dark satanic mills, including a 6 year old boy. Their lives were hard but they weren’t enslaved

Not that many estates left that are under original family control, and who says that they will contribute to this enormous reparation? Perhaps after all these years they will will balk at being preached to and made to feel guilty by something that was not of their personal making? If the C of E is so wealthy, it could make a start on church repairs, paying clergy properly, reviewing pensions? housing for clergy needing an update, turn its attention to modern day slavery? Archbishop Welby needs to give his head a wobble, then he might begin to realise why church attendance in the Anglican Church is at an all time low and getting worse.

Shouldn't the CofE be asking for contribution to it's slavery programme from the north African countries which hosted Barbary pirates and the Arab and African countries whose elites and traders sold people into slavery?

The church was just part of the “establishment” and benefitted from the philanthropy of the elite a great many churches were built or expanded since the 17th century.
We visited an NT property last year where it was built directly from the profits of enslavement, sure enough there was a lavish chapel alongside where the house where the owners could thank god for their “good fortune”

If you think the descendants of those families are sorry that their wealth originates from slavery, they’re not, they just say it was a long time ago.

Exactly! The slave trade had layers of people involved, not least of all, Africans themselves. No white person would ever have travelled into the inner parts of the African Continent to round up.slaves. African chiefs did that and had them brought down to the coast to sell to Europeans, the Portuguese being one of the main protagonists. Yes missionaries did venture into the dark continent, but often did not return. How about the C of E demanding reparation from those African countries whose participation made the slave trade possible and viable? Perhaps the C of E should turn its attention to modern slavery which is just as awful as it ever was and would be effective, instead of spending a billion pounds on something that, awful as it was, cannot be altered for the poor souls that suffered.

Jaberwok

Exactly! The slave trade had layers of people involved, not least of all, Africans themselves. No white person would ever have travelled into the inner parts of the African Continent to round up.slaves. African chiefs did that and had them brought down to the coast to sell to Europeans, the Portuguese being one of the main protagonists. Yes missionaries did venture into the dark continent, but often did not return. How about the C of E demanding reparation from those African countries whose participation made the slave trade possible and viable? Perhaps the C of E should turn its attention to modern slavery which is just as awful as it ever was and would be effective, instead of spending a billion pounds on something that, awful as it was, cannot be altered for the poor souls that suffered.

The slaves were transported to the coast by Muslim traders, who had bought them from the tribal chiefs, the chiefs sold their own people as well as raiding other tribes. Many hotheads within the tribe disappeared in this way in much the same way that we sent law breakers to Australia.