The arguments do you want to get shaken down for several trillion? . Roman writers such as Pliny who chronicled or rather fabricated African life shaped perceptions of a continent populated by anthropophagi and other fantastic creatures, half-human, half-animal. First launched in London in 1987, it aims to highlight and celebrate what black people have achieved in Britain throughout history. Cheap ass presentism. It can be withdrawn. And they will go looking for parts of the past that aren't on the curriculum, and they evidently do. This is nothing to do with slavery or as with black lives matter, blacks being shot, and everything to do with a shakedown of the white man. But morals are very transient things. I assume he is not very bright and Race Hustling is very lucrative. He has discovered new and exciting research materials in African archives, among them the Register of Liberated Africans in Sierra Leone, which list names, bodily details, ethnicity and origins, thus putting a human face on people otherwise treated as fodder and statistics. Whether they are too stupid to think of that remains to be seen. . The Royal African Company, established by Charles II in 1672, eventually enslaved and transported more Africans than any other company in British history. Ironically, one of the sources we can turn to in order to learn more is his own accounts of late 17th-century Jamaica. Africans had a demand for female slaves. Thats fine, BraveFart. arguments are pretty weak since relying on a doctrine of virtues of the fathers risks implicitly accepting sins of the fathers.. Slavery didnt last much longer for various reasons, fizzled out in a century or so, but we have the records to show it was still part of the system after twenty years of Norman rule: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/domesday/world-of-domesday/order.htm. But any planter who deliberately starved his slaves to death would quickly go bust. The Benin Dialogue Group announced it had brokered an agreement that will see "some of the most iconic" of the bronzes returned to Benin City, Nigeria, where they will be housed in the soon-to-be-built Benin Royal Museum. Theres no point pretending Europeans who profited from either the transatlantic slave trade or the use of slave labour in the Americas were somehow doing a favour to the slaves involved, even if, as it happens but their owners could not have predicted, their surviving descendants ended up financially better off on average than the counterfactual of remaining in Africa. It could have ended earlier, but the planter interests in parliament defeated William Wilberforces attempts. Such sources give his writing freshness, originality and compassion. The reason why Equiano is not a national name is because slavery is not a part of the history that we teach when it should be because I don't think you can understand the 18th century in particular but also the 19th century without reference to slavery.". Needless to say they should pay us reparations for this too. Theres probably more mileage in my country, or at least its historical incarnation, fought against it because unlike the actual people involved, the state is still around. He presented the recent series of A House Through Time on BBC 2, and Black and British: A Forgotten History. But that is not the argument I am making. Black and British: A Forgotten History It died out with the Romans leaving, and its non-legality repeatedly reaffirmed from the reign of the early Normans onwards.. His exposure to Nigerian culture seems quite limited. The Westman Islands of Iceland have an interesting history in terms of European slavery a major rebellion of presumably mostly Irish (Westmen) slaves was put down there in the typically brutal Scandinavian manner, hence the name, but in the 1600s the local inhabitants were themselves enslaved by Barbary pirates and taken to Algiers, from where a few were ransomed back and one wrote about the experience. They may not be happy about Dresden or Hiroshima but their lives are much better. My great, great, grandfather was one. He previously worked at JP Morgan for 18 years in a number of senior roles and was . BurningEars August 30, 2020 at 3:07 pm Theres a flaw in arguments of the form frankly you should be glad I murdered your sister. (At least in our society) Get over it. The agreement is being touted as a . Ive always agreed that the Africans should pay reparations to the rest of us for dumping all those people they wanted to get rid of on us. "Incorporating the stories of people like Equiano is merely part of a process of looking at all of British history; not just being selective, not only going to the chapters that make us feel good about ourselves or proud.". Pretty much everybody in the West is against slavery. His book is a product of that childhood terror, and partly an exploration of his condition as a black Briton. 7 years was the average working lifespan so it is said. For almost 60 years, there was impasse. Not a big fan of the odd human sacrifice Im afraid, even though I might just be of very partial Scandinavian descent myself. MyBurningEars August 30, 2020 at 3:31 pm Deliberately shipping that many people that far in order to participate in a newly-created society whose economic system was designed, pretty much from the ground up, around slave labour?, True that unlike certain other examples of slavery, you werent likely to be killed as part of a religious sacrifice or as part of your owners funeral., But there have been other societies with slavery where slaves had more autonomy and a greater chance of buying their freedom.. But oddly enough, people like Olusoga havent given me the cash yet. That someone did something 200 years ago means double ought nothing. Note, hes a renowned economist. One of the reasons why the American and Caribbean experiences were very different. Rapidly promoted to sergeant, then second lieutenant, he led white British troops into action and died in 1918, having been mentioned in despatches and recommended for the Military Cross. Giles Terera, the Olivier award-winning British performer who starred in the popular theatre production Hamilton, has recently staged a play called the Meaning of Zong about the massacre of 132 enslaved Africans aboard the slave ship Zong in 1781 and the impact it had on Equiano. Kyle Rittenhouse, unlike the rest of their sorry asses, did something. Fought to STOP southern independence. So there were times when food was expensive, we can call those shortages or famines. A renowned economist has said that $12 trillion should be afforded to black Americans in reparation for slavery to help the close wealth gap.. The arguments do you want to get shaken down for several trillion?. However, it applies to at least 80% of Americans. But its still awful, even on a historical scale.. We do not know enough to be sure. David Olusoga They also ran a slave trade to the Ottoman empire and white slavery in the north without any help from Europeans. The vast majority of Americans are not guilty. Anybody can do this. My great grandfather fought to end slavery in a war. (Britain expended blood and treasure on ending the slave trade, and thereby paid its moral debt already is one way of trying to resolve it, but rather unsatisfactory at righting the wrongs done to those who had already fallen victim to the trade.) If their ancestors had remained in Africa would they be better off than they are now? You can pay all the reparation for historical slavery related wrongs, real or imaginary, you want. Giles Terera, the Olivier award-winning British performer who starred in the popular theatre production Hamilton, has . @ Boganboy But that ignores how the demand of outsiders led inevitably to far more supply being provided, so I dont think the traders can be given a pass on this front either. Reasonable estimates have some 50% of the inhabitants of the Sokoto Caliphate as late as the late 19th cent being slaves. many African tribes kept slaves. What do you think their stongest argument is? Sugar plantations were bad. And the fact youre moved to tears by discovering for the first time a great-great-great-grandmother of yours was a prostitute single-mum with seven kids or a great-x5-uncle you had never heard of was imprisoned for murder, well, your utter lack of knowledge simply reveals how little youve been influenced by them, so youre hardly discovering a new facet of yourself at all. And the Domesday Book even counts slaves as a separate category below the unfree peasants (villans, bordars and cottars) those owed service to a Lord who could order them to move about and could say yes or no to their proposed marriages, but unlike slaves he didnt own them, couldnt sell them, and they had property rights to at least a smallholding. The system he witnessed and wrote about was one in which human beings were worked to death. His rhetoric is to inflame the reader. Quite possibly slave-raiding Gaels before that. That hes able to write this article is because hes living in what is, by historical standards, a remarkably tolerant society. If there were African states with legal continuity to those political entities which established and encouraged the African slave markets, they would be on the hook too, but theres a discontinuity due to colonialism and besides, everyone knows to sue the rich guy not the poor guy. You lost those two. Olusogas ancestors will have participated in the capture of sale of slaves in Nigeria. Writing in english is cultural appropriation so STFU. Then the second. Even did something positive. It happened. it was cheaper, at times, to starve people and then replace them But that ignores how the demand of outsiders led inevitably to far more supply being provided. Should almost go without saying except of course that it doesnt, since clearly not every culture has the same moral gut reaction to it that I do. All in all your typical West African is far more likely to have ancestral connections to the slave trade than your typical Brit. It may have made sense for the SS to starve labourers to death. Fryers book was monumental, inspiring conferences, publications, the setting up of local history groups, the establishment of Black History Month, and radio and television programmes. Their cities, as well as their comfort, will rapidly decay. The German survivors of Stalingrad were sent to camps and most of them worked to death. So he calls himself a Geordie. If you want to pay more tax, just write a cheque to HMRC and send it off. But it is also likely that disease played a role. Obama had none. Those who grew rich on slavery and the slave trade were not neutral and no achievement or act of philanthropy justifies airbrushing their involvement from history.. "They were barely known even to historians. Used to be on a long-dead and much missed forum where the topics of debate ranged far wider than they do here (as did the viewpoints I think it would be useful if us right-wing brexity mob didnt chase off the sensible non-right-wing non-brexity types so much). Olusoga has benefited from and added significantly to the work of Fryer and other historians such as James Walvin. Supported by African authors of slave narratives such as Olaudah Equiano and Ottabah Cugoano, they held meetings all over the country, attracting huge crowds. More than a million copies were sold in Britain cheap pirated versions reached a mass readership. Latin America for instance. Watching @worstall execute @richardjmurphy is like watching a very, very clever cat slowly killing at ataxic mouse. How could Britain, a civilised and Christian nation, indulge in rape, torture, killing and the forced labour of Africans over two centuries? That is not true. No other race / culture was willing and able to do that. I have a peeve about the BBC genealogical show Who do you think you are? which I dont know whether has been inflected upon the Left Pond. "I don't know why this generation has a different relationship with the past, goes to the past, expecting and looking for different things to earlier generations, but that's really is my observation about them," he says adding the internet has played a huge part. H istorian and broadcaster David Olusoga has been the face of a decolonial turn in British broadcasting that, in recent years, with series including the Bafta-winning Britain's Forgotten Slave. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Peter Pan & Wendy is a live-action reimagining of the J.M . at scales that were unusual in the long and varied history of slavery, and levels of brutality that stood out too.. It is a political campaign, not a contribution to academic history. Various among the societies that were agglomerated into Nigeria were more or less involved in that slave trade from the supply end. Even discussing it gives your opponents arguments merit. Olusoga poses as an objective historian and says he is not there to bring comfort to people. There are probably a thousand organisations, charities and assorted grifters who would happily cash your cheque. Its an interesting exercise to consider, given we live within such a system, how or whether that contradiction can be settled. Britain was happy to force the Bevan Boys down coal mines. Davids all done. Welsh slave-raids into England continued until early Norman times. David will . Oblong, This is because forgetting slavery means forgetting its victims. "The phenomena of which he is iconic is one that we have written out, edited out of our nation. The Russians do not have these problems because they are not ashamed. Duke University professor, William Darity Jr, and writer, Kirsten Mullen, jointly published a report for The Roosevelt Institute, an American liberal think tank, laying out a case for slavery reparations. But there have been other societies with slavery where slaves had more autonomy and a greater chance of buying their freedom. If you had spare cash or could borrow, investment in slavery was a sure winner, never mind slave rebellions or hurricanes that destroyed cane fields. While I dont think they persuaded anyone, they did shift perspectives a bit. Cotton was a completely different slave economy. Your email address will not be published. They did not pay for them and were going to kill a lot of them anyway. Fair point. Some other buyer would have taken them if they werent shipped out, and Western (or Arab) traders were just changing the ownership and location, the sins of the slave-raiders being theirs alone to bear. They may have been turning people they would have killed into a profitable commodity. Like I need to hand my cash to the next lass of Rus descent I see, lest she remind me of some unlucky slave-girl that may or may not have perished at the hands of my maybe-ancestors? After decades of complaints, the Royal African Company lost its monopoly in 1712 and, Olusoga writes, Independent traders were turned loose upon the shores of Africa. These traders had argued (stone-blind to irony) that the right to enslave Africans was a defining feature of English freedom and that the Royal African Company had breached their status as free-born Englishmen. Good point, I wonder how he squares the obviously comfortable living he has writing, opining and broadcasting about slavery with his principles. The people in Portland, Seattle and Kenosha are too decadent to fight back. Get back to me in seven years, when youre ready to order. You know, entirely ignoring lifetime effects? Back in the heyday of blogging, perhaps ten years ago or so, there was a blogger calling him/herself The Heresiarch who enjoyed running against received opinions. It doesnt end with the parties saying Well that was pleasantly intellectually stimulating, now lets have a nice game of cricket Youre opponents are not playing by the same rules as you are. No one has said we should not consider someone elses viewpoint. Just means they werent alone in being in the wrong. This ignorant fellow should study historical facts, rather than believing and repeating lies and half-truths. By a Senegalese author: The veiled genocide = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxc5ENT8ajg, MyBurningEars August 30, 2020 at 11:52 am Slavery within West African societies being different again I dont think the places with very high rates of local slavery were anything like the sugar plantations. To consider, given we live within such a system, how or whether that can... 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