To think descendants of slave owners should visit former plantations?

Might need a word with the French about 1066 come to think of it

The Normans weren't French, they were the descendants of Vikings who invaded what is now Normandy. There's a clue in their name Normans = North men.

This again. Bore off OP and do something useful. Plenty of current atrocities for you to do something about. Or is it only self-loathing that matters?

We can all learn from the past but no one should be held responsible for other people’s actions.

I'm not responsible for my ancestors. I do not want forgiveness for something I didn't do. I'm sure if we all dug hard enough, we would find a relative who used and hurt people. It could be a murderer/enslaver/viking soldier etc. I'm not responsible for their sins, nor do I hold others accountable for their ancestors.

OK then

Of course not.
Yes, we should be aware of history and how it can/has potentially impact(ed) people's lives but we are not responsible for it. We are not responsible for the mistakes of the past - our responsibility is to try to prevent similar mistakes happening.

This, there are more people living in slavery today than at any time ever in the past. If you are in a city in the UK you are within 10 miles of trafficked child slaves growing cannabis, for a start.

Yes.
I posted about black slave traders earlier and was told that it wasn't an issue.
So, just white slave owners.

Might need a word with the French about 1066 come to think of it.

Presumably this only applies to the descendants of white slave owners, right?

I'd rather we do something about modern slavery first.

No, I don't think it helps. We are not responsible for our past or our ancestors. What I do think matters is now. If people are in difficulty then surely what matters is making opportunities for a better life for people alive now. Good housing, educational opportunities, whatever is needed.

I'm Welsh, can all the English please come and apologise for their role in invading Wales? While we're at it, we'll send the Spanish to Mexico, the Portuguese to Brazil all with their apologies to the indigenous population 🙄.
The slave trade was appalling, and we should never forget it. But throughout history people have behaved appallingly and this generation have nothing to do with it.
I'd like to see today's racism being tackled.

Yes indeed common to many in the UK.

The OP did not say they should feel guilty, or responsible, or should flog themselves, or apologise. The OP said "understand". And I agree. Understanding ones ancestry is important, particularly if it has a significant impact upon your lifestyle.

I believe in personal responsibility and being a good person. Nobody should have guilt by association blood or otherwise unless they are doing the same thing. It prolongs suffering and resentment. Do better yourself and teach future generations to do better. Look forward not back. I’m black by the way I’m not saying this from some kind of privileged white viewpoint.

I’m a descendant of a slave and their owner. Where does that leave me 🤷‍♀️

This.

The problem with this is how it would be executed over multiple generations of inheritors. Who pays what?

I think those with Greek ancestry should apologise and pay for the atrocities meted out during Alexander the Greats rampage through Europe and India. Have they no fucking shame?

Going back further imagine being a poor child or an orphan? Do we also need to find out ancestors of Workhouse owners? Do they owe anything?

I agree with you and sorry to wander off topic but I don't think Germany and Japan have acknowledged their past in the same way. Some in Japan have actively resisted confronting their actions in WWII and they're not some fringe movement, they're in government. And there are also some influential lobby groups that still believe that Japan's Imperial Army 'liberated' East Asia.

There's been a campaign to censor school textbooks to remove references to war crimes for example. It took 50 years for the Japanese government to acknowledge the use and abuse of sex slaves during WWII but some conservatives/nationalists have since tried to revise the official apology and have managed to get references to them removed from some textbooks.

Many individual politicians made statements of apology but the government didn't pass a resolution expressing remorse for Japan's actions until the 1990s. Yet even though it's now official policy when a former PM visited the Nanjing Massacre memorial in China in 2013 he was called a traitor by politicians at home for doing it.

I'm not having a dig at Japan's people in the slightest and to be fair, polls suggest the Japanese public is much less nationalistic than their politicians. But look at the symbolism of German Chancellor Willy Brandt dropping to his knees at the Warsaw Ghetto memorial more than 40 years earlier. No Japanese leader would have done that.

Laughing at what you don't understand. I specialise in genetics. Everyone in East and West Europe, Everyone in Russia, Everyone in Africa, probably everyone in North America and central America, and most likely South America and Asia too

Here you're mixing up up moral arguments with inheritance laws.