Agitation, discussion, reparation

In typical ornate Baroque script is the entry of 8 January 1689 in the account book by which Edward Colston made the transfer of £1,000 of the share capital of the Royal African Company (RAC) to King William III. noted. A historian recently found the note in the archive.

The RAC then held the English monopoly on the lucrative transatlantic trade in African slaves, and Colston – whose statue was tossed into Bristol docks by angry Black Lives Matter protesters three years ago – wanted to win the new monarch over to the deal. William of Orange became not only a shareholder but also chairman of the Royal African Company.

Calls for reparations are getting louder

Several British monarchs have long been associated with the slave trade. What is new is that the pressure on the royal family to pay reparations is increasing. The newspaper The Guardians recently published the document from the RAC archive. Before the coronation of Charles III. try to fuel a campaign. Charles, as heir to the throne, has repeatedly confessed to his shame and has described the slave trade as a “blot on world history”.

But now the calls for an official apology and money payments are getting louder. BBC reporter Laura Trevelyan, whose aristocratic family used to own plantations and slaves in Grenada, has quit her job, donated money to black projects in the Caribbean and is now a full-time campaigner for a national reparations initiative.

The English traded slaves on a large scale

Great Britain’s history is quite ambivalent. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the British were heavily involved in the slave trade. After an ever-increasing campaign by the “Abolitionists” with unprecedented mass petitions, Parliament banned slavery throughout the Empire in 1807, and from 1833 warships of the Royal Navy actively pursued and fought trans-Atlantic slave trade transports. Black historian David Olusoga, meanwhile, finds in the Guardiansthe emphasis on the merits in the abolition of slavery was only “a trick” to distract from the previous role.

The left-liberal newspaper, the home of Britain’s do-gooders, which has been so vocal in the debate and has been fond of blaming other institutions and corporations for historical slavery entanglements, allegedly found only recently that its own founder himself benefited from the slave-products trade. John Edward Taylor, who den Manchester Guardians 1821, after the Peterloo massacre, in which 15 demonstrators against excessive grain import duties were killed by cavalrymen two years earlier, was a successful textile entrepreneur. The cotton that he processed in the factories of the industrial metropolis of Manchester (nicknamed “Cottonopolis”) came largely from American and Caribbean plantations with black slave labor.

You could have known that for a long time. Now it looked pretty fake, like them Guardianseditor-in-chief suddenly threw herself in sackcloth and ashes and was shocked. The Scott Trust, which den Guardians is now set to pay out £10m as “restorative justice” over the next few years. This is intended to finance development projects, but also the training of black journalists.

Anglican Church promises millions

Earlier this year, the Church of England announced a similar, much larger fund for historical sins. Their connection to slavery is even more questionable. In 1704 Queen Anne (William III’s successor) had set up a fund for poorer ministers. The so-called Queen Anne’s Bounty (donation) also invested money in the South Sea Company and thus their slave trade (and a lot of money was lost when the South Sea bubble crashed).

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has now pledged £100m for black projects to bring redress. It also provoked an astonished reaction, as many shrinking English parishes, struggling to scrape together a few pounds to fix broken roofs or crumbling buildings – there is no church tax in England – wondered where such millions of rain were suddenly coming from.

Charles’ coronation could become woke’s feast

Charles III will be crowned at Westminster Abbey this weekend. It has already leaked out that the king wants to set an example, to have the service as “inclusive” and the guests as “diverse” as possible. Loud Daily Mail the celebrations are meant to reflect Charles’ desire to be the “king of the people.” The aim is to address as wide an audience as possible.

Instead of old dukes, who traditionally fell to their knees at previous coronation ceremonies, the abbey will now seat front rows with members and descendants of the ‘Windrush generation’, black immigrants from the Caribbean who sailed on ships like the Windrush from 1948 to 1973 came to the kingdom.

Buckingham Palace wants representatives of refugees and the LGBT community to sing in the choir for the coronation service, which is made up of various singing groups. No doubt: With Charles III. will the monarchy become “woker” than under his mother. Maybe it’s just a matter of time before he joins the reparations chorus.

JF 19/23