To think descendants of slave owners should visit former plantations?

Oooh how crass of you!

I think slavery needs to be put to bed now in terms of people alive today having to feel guilty about it. Remember it so it doesn't happen again, yes, but stop with all the nonsense like in this op and reparations etc. And I say that as someone whose great grandparents were indentured.

Put your efforts and the spotlight on current day slavery and trafficking. Those people need help more.

This, a thousand times!

Well put.

All, whether descendants of slaves or slave owners, or none of the anbove, ought to be interested in their family history. It can be one of the factors shaping who we are and can help with self understanding. But we can’t force it and money should not be involved unless the person desires.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this proposed action.
The most recent & relevant ancestor was born in 1838, almost 200 years ago.
I work that out as ... 4 generations ago.
He (GWS) was roughly the 20th child of a large plantation owner in Tennessee.
GWS didn't choose to be a slave owner's child, either.
GWS fought in the US civil war, travelled to Indiana after the war to join an older sibling (I think) & never had a lot of money.
Maybe GWS had siblings whose descendents are now wealthy, I dunno.
He had some kind of falling out with his family (letters from his sister) but I don't know nature of that.

I have Puritan ancestors who effected genocide on the N. American indigenous population. I feel a lot sadder about what they did. Presumably my more distant ancestors also effected genocide on the Celts, etc.

Obsession with past wrongs is a bad thing, I'm sure of that.

The irony of this type of suggestion is that it's aim is to create more divide and racial tensions, exactly the kind of thing we should be working towards eliminating. The issue is about wealth, acquired through historical immoral means. Focusing on the US slave trade and ignoring other historical wrongs and modern day slavery illustrates this point. We could be worrying about the eastern European sex slaves or the Irish occupation of old and many other examples PP have made, but wheres the white saviour role in that? It's much more fun for OP and others online to provoke people of colour into feeling victimised and white people into feeling defensive and create racial divisions.

Pointless virtue signalling. I am the descendants of slaves and slaveowners. It's history. You're all descendants of Anglo Saxon and Roman slaves. All descendants of early factory owners. Are the descendants to if Algerian slavers who raided the south coast of England for decades having this debate.

How about we put as much energy into modern slavery and take a stand against Chinese slavery?

We give lots of aid to our formal colonies - do France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium?

Let's not be so down on our country and take a more balanced, longer view.

I think its because this form of slave trade ended with documented compensation to the owners. So records exist and put a financial value on it. We know what happened to some of that money subsequently. The very nature of it makes people think in terms of finance.

Whereas there isn't a documented financial value recorded on various acts of brutality and rape.

People always seem to forget the uncomfortable truth that many of the slaves own ancestors willingly sold their own people to European slave traders for financial gain. It was not only outsiders who became wealthy off the back of the slave trade.

Ah, white saviour syndrome.

Why only the wealthy? Why not the descendants of Brits who happily raped women in India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Kenya etc?

Indeed.

Sadly I agree with this. You'd likely get empathic ordinary people apologising and taking the heat whilst the mega rich would get out of it somehow with legal loopholes and expensive lawyers.

They literally dont give a fuck.

Exactly.

The vast majority of people who bought a share in a plantation in the 1700s, never set foot outside of their own county. It was just an investment to them - and (oddly, horribly, bafflingly - granted) entirely acceptable at the time.

Maybe all Germans should visit Auschwitz?

The sorts of families that still have vast wealth inherited from the slave trade would not be made to do anything. Most of them happily continue with their unethical trading practices today.

Sorry for typos. I don't seem to be able to edit!

I think it's fine as long as it's part of a wider Global Apology Movement.
For example, I'll not be apologising while the people of West Africa descended from the traders who sold slaves to the Europeans and Americans in the first place are let off.
I also think we really need to dig in to the history of all nations and pull all the threads to uncover historical wrongs which needs to be financially put right. If it pulls apart the tapestry of that nation and causes immense poverty and division today, it's fine because surely someone somewhere will be paying out to that nation in turn anyway.
One thing I am unsure of is how far back we should go. History gets murky at different times in different parts of the world. What body of evidence is needed? Will archeological be ok or do we need verified written records? That could probably be problematic/discriminatory....
So many questions....

That's madness & just creates hate & divisions in society

Just by living in this country, regardless of race, background etc everyone is benefitting from wealth from the British empire.

Concentrate on how you & your family behave now in current society & the wider world.

I guess I just don't see it as my history in a way
Not logged into ancestry but my mums GG grandfather (I think that's right!) was a black slave and came from Barbados to Scotland and then married here
His surname (also my mums name) reflects the fact he chose it
I mean yes it's my ancestry but I see it as different because I'm white

That probably doesn't make any sense but it is 8am

How many of you know men who pay for sex off women who are pimped into prostitution?

To be fair, people dont tend to advertise this do they? if I knew of a man who did this I would be utterly repulsed and disgusted and would not be able to even look at him let alone remain on good terms with someone who did this vile shit

I don't do any of these things

Maybe we should start with modern slavery. How many of you use the local Vietnamese nail bar, or the Eastern European car wash? How many of you know men who pay for sex off women who are pimped into prostitution?
Modern slavery is rife but we are all talking about guilt tripping people whose ancestors may have had something to do with a specific type of slavery into some sort of reparation.

I think what winds people up is that so many people just seem to think that American slave trade was the only slave trade. No one is denying the brutality of it, but if anyone actually look at slavery in general then there is hardly a society which hasn't had slaves. How they were acquired, how they were treated, how they were punished, how slavery ended in that society will differ. But it's really a commonplace situation in many histories. I'm sure many are familiar with the Barbara, Ottoman slave trade, but if you aren't it's an interesting read.

The issue is not really with the slave trade it’s with how people are treated now. If people were treated fairly now they would not care so much about their history.

All people should be treated fairly. We have to forget adjectives and treat all people the same. Kids have no concept of differences etc They are taught this and we need to ensure a society that is blind to these differences and looks for the best in people. Instead humans like to set themselves apart and be tribal. By denigrating another race it justified in their heads treating people as less than human.

Imagine a world where people worked together to have the best for all. How much more advanced would we be in terms of food and energy production etc

In reality I suspect more good in the world would be done by people doing what they can in time or money for they issues that they care about. Look to your own charitable acts rather than finger pointing.