A rather large bill......

UK

Galaxy

You are right, Britain was one of the first major powers to ban slavery and fought very hard to suppress it, but that doesn't play well into the divisive narratives that are causing so much harm.

In the link I posted yesterday it says that and explains some of the slavery that went on in countries like Ghana-nothing to do with the IK.

You are right, Britain was one of the first major powers to ban slavery and fought very hard to suppress it, but that doesn't play well into the divisive narratives that are causing so much harm.

I think I read somewhere that after Britain banned slavery the Royal Navy used to intercept slave ships bound for America at great risk to themselves as often fighting with the slavers broke out which sometimes ended in fatalities.

I heard Lenny Henry interviewed on radio 4 today, about his book and the history that informs his arguments. He talked about the legacy of slavery we live with in the present day. He was articulate, balanced and imo, very interesting.

I’ve made one visit to America, I felt naive in being made aware of their obvious, visible legacy of slavery. It was ever present in away I’d not experienced in the U.K. I knew people of West Indian heritage and a little of their family history. A friend could only trace his family of origin back to his great gran. They’d no idea which part of Africa their ancestors were taken from and only occasional fragmented memories of ancestors, their lives as slaves.

Ancestor syndrome is imo an interesting psychological theory. We see it in Isreal today. It can’t be impossible surely for the legacy of slavery to be recognised. We don’t teach our history very well. Others have listed the awful experiences their ancestors had. The Irish famine is an obvious one. My ancestors toiled from about age eight in the mills and mines. Their lives were hard, they died young, their children died in infancy, meanwhile the mill owners lived on the fat of the land, not to mention land owners,

As gg13 said earlier, the past is a different country. We can’t change it, we can learn from it. Let’s hope we can do that rather than get into nonsense about who gets compensation, it was wicked to compensate slave owners and leave the freed slaves to starve, we can’t change it, we can acknowledge it

Allsorts

Lenny should stick to acting

Or being a comedian. Lenny Henry's demand is ridiculous. It would bankrupt Britain. The country is already on its knees.

Glenfinnan

No! ….. spend money on the deserving causes of today!

Quite! Spend the money on trying to stop modern day slavery!

Surprise, surprise. LH wants reparations from the British (presumably white) people, yet makes (or has ever made) no public acknowledgement of William Wilberforce, a Brit and key figure in the abolition of slavery, first in Britain, then the empire and finally, globally.
I find LH very divisive and needs to remove the historic chip from his shoulder.

Lenny has been out of the spotlight of late. Once upon a time he used to be funny

Who would end up funding this money if not the ordinary beleagured British Taxpayer who frankly cannot afford their weekly shopping bills, rents or mortgages and /or childcare and mandatory statutory taxes let alone money for something that they did not cause and had nothing to do with.
Someone pointed out that in the 17th and 18th centuries I , as a woman, had no way of influencing political opinion on these practices, because I did not have the vote until the early 20th century.
This is a load of nonsense.
Lenny is a good actor and should stick to acting.

How about some reparation for the fact that some of my Irish ancestors were starved to death during the Potato Famine having been ousted from their homes by the English Absentee Landlords.

SueDonim

Perhaps the common folk of Britain could ask the French for reparations for the Norman invasion in 1066, the effects of which are still apparent today.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/17/high-house-prices-inequality-normans

The harrying of the north…

SueDonim

Perhaps the common folk of Britain could ask the French for reparations for the Norman invasion in 1066, the effects of which are still apparent today.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/17/high-house-prices-inequality-normans

And the people from the highland clearances.

Perhaps the common folk of Britain could ask the French for reparations for the Norman invasion in 1066, the effects of which are still apparent today.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/17/high-house-prices-inequality-normans

Barbadosbelle, l too was thinking that some descendants of slaves might well be thinking that their lives, as a result, are better than that of those living in the country from which their ancestors were taken. Having said that, it doesn’t in any way excuse slavery.

Absolutely not. Let's work on making today's victims are compensated like the sub-postmasters, the HIV scandal for those with Haemophilia, the Waspi women, etc, etc. Also, how do we decide who is eligible? In the same way that one of my family members has inflicted enormous damage on several of the children in our family (including the death of my brother) I don't expect reparations from his mother for giving birth to this monster.
I can see a public apology being made and a celebration of how slaves from yesteryear helped the country but I don't think reparations are necessary or right.

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British seamen never ever had to go inland in Africa to capture people as their own family and friends kidnapped them and brought them to the Ports. They often received nothing more than trinkets in payment. They gave no value to human lives.

My black Barbadian friends and neighbours always say that they feel more allegiance to Britain than Africa. They also, whilst understanding that it must have been horrific for their slave ancestors, are grateful in a way that it happened as, if it hadn't, they would be living in the horror that is Africa and not on the beautiful and wonderful island that is Barbados.
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Nobody can live life backwards. To lump Lenny Henry and David Lammy together as professional victims is quite revealing though.

I like LH's serious acting and in the past he was amusing. DL, I don't know so much about but he speaks well.

Personally I think the people who were paid money for their slaves, by the government taxing working people until 2015, should now return it with interest.

I also believe that the money generated by these payments has enabled the slave owners’ descendants through education, to have the majority rule in the UK in finance and politics.

What about the thousand dead from the Famine in Ireland .. also the Romans who invaded us ? it goes on and on ...

Ps he had 20 children; there could be quite a lot of descendants.
A conundrum as he was both slave and slave owner.

Maria59

"All black people " So this would include black slave owners but not white slave owners that sounds like discrimination

Yes, a local dignitary was the son of a slave and a plantation owner and became a slave owner himself. He was compensated by the British Government for the ownership of 86 slaves.

I wonder how much of his British income he would be willing to part with?
FranP if Sir Lenny Henry can prove he was descended from slaves then he'll be expecting a pay-out, not to pay in!!

"All black people " So this would include black slave owners but not white slave owners that sounds like discrimination

grandMattie

Will the African chiefs and Arab traders, who gleefully provided the slaves, contribute to the reparations? What about the other countries like France and the Netherlands?
And what about the Barbary pirates who went as far as Scandinavia for their white slaves - very many from Cornwall - provide us with money?

Great questions. Could not agree more. The parts the tge Tribal Chiefs and Traders played is often not mentioned on purpose

To sanitixe and trvialise the parts played in this awful natter

Ali what anout the huge fortunes spent on acquring country mansions , propery and ither assets the ruling classes stockplied through slavery.

No one seens to mention thise thing