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.

Why?

They are not responsible for what their ancestors did.

Do you expect everyone to look into their family tree and apologise for something that was done by someone else centuries ago?

Because most of us will probably have some dodgy ancestors who did something wrong at some point in history...

So a complete waste of time.

There are so many current issues (xenophobia, racism, violence against women and girls) to challenge that there is no point in virtue signalling about the past.

Agree. How far back do we go. The slaves were captured by fellow Africans and sold. The Arab run slave trade from the East coast of Africa was far bigger, and covered a broader spread. why does no-one mention that? A laser focus on a single area does not address the wider point.

Don't be ridiculous OP. That's a ticket to civil war and unrest. Funny how you didn't think of Catholics in NI, you went straight to slavery, much more virtue signalling there.

I admit I know little of history, but isn't that the same Trevelyan notorious in Ireland where a million died during the famine and saying it was God's way of punishing them? Maybe the descendants could visit the west coast where abandoned villages are still visible today. For anyone that doesnt know there was no 'famine', the country was rich in food but it was exported. So British people ate it and wealthy English people profited more. That was only 170 years ago, long after the slave trade was abolished. So let's make everyone who is wealthy in the UK do a tour and hand out money to the Irish, generous upper class Brits helping the poor unfortunate Irish. See how ridiculous that would be? And racist too?

Why? You cannot be held responsible for another's actions. What happened was awful but you cannot punish or blame people who have nothing to do with it. You also cannot easily untangle money from it as it's too far gone. Its a meaningless gesture all round. Education and a commitment to end all slavery is what now needs to continue

I think in nowadays world they might need to do different stuff in their life.

Aren't there more slaves today than there ever was in the trans Atlantic slave trade?

Gosh, maybe we should all focus on that instead of empty meaningless fretting and fawning over a past no one alive is responsible for or suffered from today?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/25/modern-slavery-trafficking-persons-one-in-200

i think that all the Normans should give the lands back to the Saxons who in turn should give the land back to the Celts! Also all Normans should pay reparation for the indenture of the Saxons.

Also I think that all descendants of the Russian royal family and aristocracy should make reparations to all the nationalities and Jews forcibly removed from their homes.They should also pay reparations to descendants of the serfs etc.

I think that all Americans should give back the land to the original inhabitants of America.

I would like all descendants of British landowners in Ireland to make reparation to the Irish for the death shops and potato famine.

Just from the top of my head!

In reality we are where we are and have to be fair form now on in with the situation we have.

So basically what you are saying OP is you want me to give money to people because of something somebody I never knew did hundreds of years ago. That would be a hard never gonna happen from me.

Richard Drax is a case in point, as he lives a life of privilege today and is likely to profit still further from the plantation land.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/20/tory-mp-from-slave-owning-family-set-to-gain-3m-from-sale-of-former-plantation

Anyone who has driven to Dorset and seen ‘the wall’ will be under no illusions as to the wealth of the family.

Quite. And perhaps they could chip in for reparations as well? Or just give themselves a tenner and call it quits. 🤷

Kamala Harris is descended from a slave owner. How do you possibly think that might have happened? So it is indeed possible that those conceived in rape can become millionaires.

Well I don't know about just slave owner descendents but everyone should educate themselves on the horrors of slavery. I found visiting plantations very moving, but just as much as spending a long time staring at a collar in the Wilberforce Museum in Hull.

No

I actually have a little sympathy for the idea of people who inherit big wealth, looking to see if it's really thiers to inherit. It's not about being guilty and being punished. But if someone was about to give me a stately home and a trust fund to match that was traceable back to slavery and the documented compensation that was recieved, I'd probably wonder if it was OK to keep it all.

I mean, I'm only human so would probably justify keeping it somehow in reality.

The other thing I wonder is the national trust preserves a lot of these houses for the nation. I always find it odd that us commoners can go look at the houses rich people live ld in anyway, but I do wonder if they know the house was built from slave compensation, if part of the entry fee should go to wherever the slaves were.

Why stop there?

All royals and nobility only have all the lands and wealth they do because their ancestors were better at stabbing our ancestors.

They didn't get that land or those estates by asking nicely and purchasing them from the original owners. They earned wealth by using our ancestors as serfs. So if we are doing this then we may as go all the way.

I'll just pop on down to London and ask the King to start totting up the bill.

Then we will have to work out which poor bastards our ancestors robbed the land from.

And so on.

I hope you didn't scream 🙄

OP was of course referring to the white people who inherited the wealth of the plantation. That wealth is often still in the families - think privileged Eton/Harrow types.
It'd be nice to think of these people making voluntary reparations (financial, social or both) to acknowledge their own massive headstart and the continuing injustices facing slave descendants. Unfortunately I think there's still a huge air of entitlement within this group so it's unlikely.

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.

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

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.

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 don't do any of these things

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 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

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.