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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

STILL making money from slavery?

121 replies

4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 12:56

AIBU here?

www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/04/british-slave-owners-family-apologise-reparations-trevelyans

It seems so craven

OP posts:
4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 13:01

This journalist wrote a book about her ancestors in 2007 - why not do it then?

Seems a little on point to do it now.

OP posts:
GoldenGorilla · 06/02/2023 13:03

Maybe she didn’t have £100k to spare in 2007? Whatever she was paid for that article I doubt it was the £100k she’s donating. I’m not sure what your issue is here tbh. Would you rather they donated secretly? Maybe by making their reasoning public they’ll encourage others to do the same.

Sazzling · 06/02/2023 13:05

While you lose it over historic slavery, there are terrible things going on round the world right now.

4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 13:13

Sazzling · 06/02/2023 13:05

While you lose it over historic slavery, there are terrible things going on round the world right now.

Oh I know @Sazzling. I find it hard to see why we have so much going on and why we refer to it with different names like sex workers etc.

But - this seems to me a very flashy mea culpa which very conveniently creates space for an high profile documentary, a book, maybe an award or two.

OP posts:
Mynelast · 06/02/2023 13:14

People apologising for something they haven’t done and paying compensation to people for something they haven’t experienced.

The poor souls who did suffer are beyond help, better to work towards helping the estimated 40 million people alive today who are suffering modern day slavery.

4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 13:17

GoldenGorilla · 06/02/2023 13:03

Maybe she didn’t have £100k to spare in 2007? Whatever she was paid for that article I doubt it was the £100k she’s donating. I’m not sure what your issue is here tbh. Would you rather they donated secretly? Maybe by making their reasoning public they’ll encourage others to do the same.

To me it reads as superficial and self serving.

40 members of a very wealthy family sign a letter?

This woman has turned the whole thing into a media event that celebrates her for falling on her sword.

OP posts:
thebellagio · 06/02/2023 13:26

I agree with @Mynelast

There seems to be a huge societal shift towards reparations for something that was abolished in the UK almost 200 years ago but very little emphasis on preventing any form of modern day slavery.

I'd love to see a HUGE boost in funding for those initiaitives tackling MDS and preventing it from happening again rather than focusing on reparations and apologies from people who weren't involved in it/haven't been involved in it.

The only way to TRUELY apologise is to prevent it from happening to anyone else in the future.

JenniferBarkley · 06/02/2023 13:27

The Trevelyans are only just realising that their ancestors weren't the nicest of people? The Trevelyans?!

<all of Ireland keels over in fits of laughter>

4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 13:32

Mynelast · 06/02/2023 13:14

People apologising for something they haven’t done and paying compensation to people for something they haven’t experienced.

The poor souls who did suffer are beyond help, better to work towards helping the estimated 40 million people alive today who are suffering modern day slavery.

Yes.

It seems to jumping on bandwagon where you don't belong.

It is meaningless.

OP posts:
MadeofElephantStone · 06/02/2023 13:32

Mynelast · 06/02/2023 13:14

People apologising for something they haven’t done and paying compensation to people for something they haven’t experienced.

The poor souls who did suffer are beyond help, better to work towards helping the estimated 40 million people alive today who are suffering modern day slavery.

👏👏👏

RosaDeInvierno · 06/02/2023 13:33

Mynelast · 06/02/2023 13:14

People apologising for something they haven’t done and paying compensation to people for something they haven’t experienced.

The poor souls who did suffer are beyond help, better to work towards helping the estimated 40 million people alive today who are suffering modern day slavery.

But the children and grandchildren etc descendants of the slaves are still suffering, and the children and grandchildren etc descendants of the 'owners' are still benefitting from the money they made from slave owenership, and the money they were given. (As of January 9, 2023, Laura Trevelyan’s net worth is $5 Million - not verified anywhere else)

www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/17/most-americans-say-the-legacy-of-slavery-still-affects-black-people-in-the-u-s-today/

www.brookings.edu/articles/an-american-tragedy-the-legacy-of-slavery-lingers-in-our-cities-ghettos/

diversity.berkeley.edu/impact-slavery-today

4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 13:33

thebellagio · 06/02/2023 13:26

I agree with @Mynelast

There seems to be a huge societal shift towards reparations for something that was abolished in the UK almost 200 years ago but very little emphasis on preventing any form of modern day slavery.

I'd love to see a HUGE boost in funding for those initiaitives tackling MDS and preventing it from happening again rather than focusing on reparations and apologies from people who weren't involved in it/haven't been involved in it.

The only way to TRUELY apologise is to prevent it from happening to anyone else in the future.

Agree.

It would be much better to bring all this focus to that.

OP posts:
MichelleScarn · 06/02/2023 13:35

Mynelast · 06/02/2023 13:14

People apologising for something they haven’t done and paying compensation to people for something they haven’t experienced.

The poor souls who did suffer are beyond help, better to work towards helping the estimated 40 million people alive today who are suffering modern day slavery.

Absolutely this, but as per pp it's not as attention seeking, headline grabbing mea culpa, give me praise is it!

4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 13:36

JenniferBarkley · 06/02/2023 13:27

The Trevelyans are only just realising that their ancestors weren't the nicest of people? The Trevelyans?!

<all of Ireland keels over in fits of laughter>

That did cross my mind as I read the article.

The wide eyed innocence from descendants of such a notoriously savage family is pretty remarkable.

OP posts:
MMBaranova · 06/02/2023 13:41

I find this odd. Without a doubt bad things happened in the past, along with others that we now think negatively about but that didn't seem to dent general consciousness at the time, plus many in-betweens. Many things are as they are today due in part to how things used to be. I get that. Targeting aid with the past in mind doesn't feel unreasonable. However, this is a public act of 'atonement' and self-flagellation that sits uneasily. The victims are long dead and the perpetrators too. There's almost a nod to Deuteronomy here.

She could transfer her wealth quietly and without any 'look at me' if she chose. Instead she's taking to a stage with it.

Good Irish allusion @JenniferBarkley the Irish ancestors would be scratching their heads. Perhaps my puzzlement with all this stems from not having any British descent. However, half my ancestry is from lands where the Tatars raided north to carry off slaves sold on to the Ottomans, so perhaps I'm due some reparations from Ergogan. Or not as any family members who were enslaved probably were not direct ancestors and their blood now flows through Turkish veins.

4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 13:41

RosaDeInvierno · 06/02/2023 13:33

But the children and grandchildren etc descendants of the slaves are still suffering, and the children and grandchildren etc descendants of the 'owners' are still benefitting from the money they made from slave owenership, and the money they were given. (As of January 9, 2023, Laura Trevelyan’s net worth is $5 Million - not verified anywhere else)

www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/17/most-americans-say-the-legacy-of-slavery-still-affects-black-people-in-the-u-s-today/

www.brookings.edu/articles/an-american-tragedy-the-legacy-of-slavery-lingers-in-our-cities-ghettos/

diversity.berkeley.edu/impact-slavery-today

EXACTLY my point @RosaDeInvierno

And in doing this project they CONTINUE to gain with the book, the tv documentary etc.

It seems to me so utterly unseemly.

I also feel SO cynical about the whole thing that I expect the 100,000 is tax deductible!

OP posts:
4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 13:43

MichelleScarn · 06/02/2023 13:35

Absolutely this, but as per pp it's not as attention seeking, headline grabbing mea culpa, give me praise is it!

It is too public, and without enough substance to be sincere.

OP posts:
MissFancyDay · 06/02/2023 13:44

Calling it reparation is band wagon jumping. It's a donation, a small gift of money. Surely it goes nowhere near repairing the damage that was done. Just pay the money, ease your guilt and move on. No need for massive publicity.

Then, as people have said, concentrate on helping people that suffer now.

jannier · 06/02/2023 13:47

We can all find ancestors who were enslaved how far back should we go? I'm sure the Romans owe us something better to focus on improving the present there are a lot of people enslaved today. Children making our cheap clothes, those trafficked for sex and work. Be offended by that

4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 13:47

MMBaranova · 06/02/2023 13:41

I find this odd. Without a doubt bad things happened in the past, along with others that we now think negatively about but that didn't seem to dent general consciousness at the time, plus many in-betweens. Many things are as they are today due in part to how things used to be. I get that. Targeting aid with the past in mind doesn't feel unreasonable. However, this is a public act of 'atonement' and self-flagellation that sits uneasily. The victims are long dead and the perpetrators too. There's almost a nod to Deuteronomy here.

She could transfer her wealth quietly and without any 'look at me' if she chose. Instead she's taking to a stage with it.

Good Irish allusion @JenniferBarkley the Irish ancestors would be scratching their heads. Perhaps my puzzlement with all this stems from not having any British descent. However, half my ancestry is from lands where the Tatars raided north to carry off slaves sold on to the Ottomans, so perhaps I'm due some reparations from Ergogan. Or not as any family members who were enslaved probably were not direct ancestors and their blood now flows through Turkish veins.

Yes - it is the public aspect of this and the clear bid for praise in recognizing privilege that does not sit well.

In fact that turns it into a publicity exercise for the book and documentary.

OP posts:
BethDuttonsTwin · 06/02/2023 13:49

Mynelast · 06/02/2023 13:14

People apologising for something they haven’t done and paying compensation to people for something they haven’t experienced.

The poor souls who did suffer are beyond help, better to work towards helping the estimated 40 million people alive today who are suffering modern day slavery.

Couldn’t agree more. Bored to tears with hearing about how guilty I am supposed to feel for something a few horrible rich people did centuries ago. Move on.

4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 13:49

MissFancyDay · 06/02/2023 13:44

Calling it reparation is band wagon jumping. It's a donation, a small gift of money. Surely it goes nowhere near repairing the damage that was done. Just pay the money, ease your guilt and move on. No need for massive publicity.

Then, as people have said, concentrate on helping people that suffer now.

By some estimates the family, back in the day got what would amount to 30 million pounds from the government for getting out of slavery.

OP posts:
unsureatthispoint · 06/02/2023 13:51

Virtue signalling agenda-pushing left wing journalist. Nothing to see here

4plusthehound · 06/02/2023 13:51

BethDuttonsTwin · 06/02/2023 13:49

Couldn’t agree more. Bored to tears with hearing about how guilty I am supposed to feel for something a few horrible rich people did centuries ago. Move on.

@BethDuttonsTwin - by doing this high profile roll out of a book and documentary they are still making money from slavery though which is the point here.

Grim.

OP posts:
ThreeFeetTall · 06/02/2023 13:52

Surely the profits from the book go to charity too?