To think descendants of slave owners should visit former plantations?

[rowernoke]

Particularly if their family still has wealth earned through the atrocities of the slave trade and slavery?

For example, Laura Trevalyan visited former plantations in Grenada and met with local people to understand the role her ancestors played in the slave trade. She was so moved by this that she is now sponsoring education initiatives for those affected.

It feels quite a lot like virtue signalling when an estimated 50 million people are held in slavery now

Japan as a nation and Germany have both done soul searching and acknowledged their pasts

Germany has yes, but Japan certainly has not.

Not more of this crap. The only thing this achieves is racial division. I suppose you think they should pay reparations too?

I am sick to death of a select bunch of people who think that black slavery was the only atrocity ever to happen in human history.

Only if my family can be compensated for:
Losing land in the Highland clearances with all that entailed.
Being forced off their land in Ireland, having to live in a barren area where life was brutal and starvation always on the horizon.
Being pressed into the service of the Navy.
Having land sequestered after the Civil War. Poverty awaited them.
We all have ancestors who either did things that we now know are totally unacceptable.
Or ancestors who did those unacceptable things.
Or both.

Some of our ancestors probably had serfs.
My lot certainly went a viking, and got up to some serious mischief, collecting a few slaves on the way.
Some probably had underpaid over worked staff who were treated abysmally. Little Millie down in the basement at 11 years old working from 5 to midnight.

Seriously, why would I take responsibility for something I did not cause and would never do?

Are you assuming that all these descendants are now mega rich?

Plenty of very ordinary, average people who arent wealthy had ancestors who were involved in horrible things like this- so who do you suggest pays for these visits?

Are you suggesting that those people should prioritise a visit abroad over paying rent/mortgage/bills/food for their own family? because if so, yeah good luck with that.

Someone tell the French to apologise to us for 1066 please.
An apology at the Olympic closing ceremony would be perfect, plus I'm sure we can work it they owe enough to pay off the national debt and a bit more.
I'm sure they'll think that's a great idea.

Then we can move onto Italy and the Roman empire.

I'm pretty sure that one of the richest slave owning families still recently owned plantations and thinks he shouldn't pay reparations because of the 'sins of the father' but still lives a life of excess and lordiness due to riches derived from slave labour.
Richard Drax. Visiting sites wasn't enough to make a multimillionaire part with some blood money.

Well are we going to sort through those whose family were involved in slavery and are rich. But not rich because of slavery? Are we doing a full financial accounting?

What if they were rich, then lost the money in a previous generation and then another generation became wealthy again through other means?

Non of us are responsible for our parents. As op said above many African Americans have slave owner ancestors due to rape. Do they count? Many white people with slave owner ancestors may have been born from rape as well. It was very common place and accepted for men to rape their wives. How are we going to sort out who consented and who didn’t?

I do think rich people who have benefited from inherited wealth should be more mindful about how they have what they do. Generally people got rich generations ago by being shitty and violent. The world over. Black, brown and white. Royal families!

No efforts should be put into stopping modern slavery. Slavery is not a thing in the past, it's happening now, today in many countries.

Precisely.
I don't expect modern Japanese, a couple of generations away from the ones who massacred some of my relations and tortured others, to come grovelling to my doorstep.

It's not their fault. You don't inherit guilt.

This. I used to live in Bristol where I felt you had to apologise for Bristol's past (and being white) every day. Yes the slave trade was bloody awful, are any of us responsible for our ancestors actions? No.

One of my English ancestors was an indentured servant in Guyana, he left Birmingham for there. I can’t work out if he was a victim as he was servant with possibly not much choice or a bad person because he was white and worked on a slave plantation for his plantation owner boss?

I've no idea what my ancestors got up to, but I definitely don't feel responsible for their choices, good or bad.

this arguement gets so tired. Sure. Whatever makes you feel better about the role of your own country

Virtue signalling codswallop.

What nationality are you op? Because if you think your ancestors are free from any atrocities or guilt you've got a shock coming.

If we are all to be guilty and punished for the sins of our ancestors then let's apply it to ALL past atrocities.

Also as an aside, why do people like you never seem to give much of a shit about the actual slavery happening right now, today.

You know, the kind you could actually do something about?

Maybe we should focus on the atrocities happening right now instead of the past. 3 little girls were just murdered at a dance class and this is what you're worrying about?

I went to a former plantation that was the destination of my ancestors in St Kitt's & Nevis. Great views, and they made a wonderful lunch and cocktail. Would recommend.

But it's true?

The slaves in Africa were already slaves, if they weren't bought by Europeans and others, they'd still be slaves.

When the slave trade was ended in the West, Africans still enslaved each other.

You do know that there are slaves in Africa still today right?

Oh come on OP- a lengthy trip to Grenada and starting an education initiative isnt going to be cheap is it? That would involve many, many thousands of pounds.

If she is rich enough and privileged enough to do that then thats great but how is the average person in the UK going to afford to do all that even if they do have dodgy ancestors.

I think it’s just totally impractical. What do we do about those in Africa who captured and exchanged the slaves in the first place? What about those who worked on the slave ships? Plantation owners who bought slaves? Politicians who allowed it to flourish? Mill owners who benefitted?
you then have the issue if the poor orphaned children working in cotton factories in awful conditions bound by an indenture.
The past is full of people doing awful things. I agree with PP - all we can do is reflect on the actions of others and aim to be a much better person.

Wouldn’t it be better to fight modern slavery?

If People are genuinely concerned about making up for the wrongs of slavery then they should turn their attention to fixing the current issues of modern day slavery.

to me that’s the only way you can genuinely apologise

but they won’t. Instead they want to virtue signal and say the right things and apologise to people for something they didn’t do (rendering it meaningless).

Yes I agree. I know people who will happily buy "hauls" of summer clothes from Shein and the like, or giggle about the crap that arrived from Temu. Likely made by slaves today. But this is seen as an acceptable thing to do.