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  THE URBAN INTELLECTUAL

blog

reparations: Is it even possible? Or is INVESTMENT into black lives more important?

6/21/2020

3 Comments

 
Picture
Britain’s hands are soaking in the blood of black slaves.

As much as past Prime Ministers and cabinet politicians have apologised for the U.K.'s role in slavery, to wash its hands of this blood, it will never be enough. The blood of black slaves dripping from the U.K.'s fingers is as thick and permanent as ink. No apology can simply cleanse Britain’s hands.

The recent death of George Floyd in America has also shaken the British establishment, unearthing the role Britain has played in the facilitation and expansion of the black slave trade. The British establishment loves to proclaim how it abolished the slave trade in 1807. However, what they like to conveniently remain silent about is how many of Britain's most prominent establishments were built on the backs of black slave ownership.

According to the University College London’s project into the legacy of black slave ownership, around 20% of Britain’s wealthy families have had a role in the slave trade. Shockingly, the British government was still subsiding some of these families with repayments due to the loss of earnings they would have endured when the black slave trade was abolished. The government only finished their repayments in 2015.

Nearly all the biggest banks in the U.K. had eaten a piece of the black slave trade pie. Many of the banks the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) acquired to become as huge as it is today had given considerable loans to plantation owners. Its past predecessors had owned slaves. Barclays (a bank I've been with all my life) has had directors in its past who acquired slaves and later received slave compensation. Both Lloyds and HSBC also have a legacy that is tied closely to the slave trade.

As you can see, the British cannot try to pretend its only role in the slave trade was abolishing it. They also helped expand it. Now the bill is due for their sins. As Jay Z once rapped in ‘Izzo’“We can talk, but money talks, so talk mo’ bulks.”

So enough with the apologies. It’s time Britain paid for using many unpaid black bodies to build its empire. This brings us to the topic of reparations.

Could reparations actually work?

Reparations is not a new concept. Those who support reparations believe that descendants of slaves should be given compensation in the form of monetary payments. Essentially, countries like the U.K. and U.S. would be paying the wages these slaves would have received to their descendants instead. Think of it as a sort of 'payment in lieu' but on a grand scale.

On paper and in principle, I am in favour of reparations. However, the more I think about it from a logical and logistical perspective, I don’t quite see how it would work.

Those black slaves who are owed payments for the free labour they carried out for their white masters are now dead. This complicates things because now it is difficult to determine which black person, in the present day, should receive reparations. Not every black person is a descendant of slaves because the entire population of Africa was not forced into slavery. From the research I've carried out into my own heritage, I am sure none of my ancestors were enslaved (Yoruba people are too stubborn). Therefore, I wouldn't qualify. It would be a complicated and time-consuming process trying to determine if every black person who applies for reparations is linked to a black slave.

Another problem is calculating how much should be paid and for how long. Let us say, for argument's sake, that I am in fact a descendant from a slave, how much sum would I receive and based on what? What my slave ancestor earned in the 1800s would not be the same for the same type of work today. Would we need to take inflation into consideration? These are critical economic questions, and it would take years to draft legislation that would adequately address them.

Investment into black lives in Britain is what we need

Unfortunately, it is too late for reparations to be a viable option, in my opinion. As amazing as reparations sound, it should have been paid to slaves as soon as slavery was officially abolished. Of course, it was not because even though black people were made free, they were not about to be given equal treatment to white people. That was never on the table and, 200 years later, it is still not on the table.

Instead of reparations, I want both the U.K. and U.S. governments to contribute a yearly sum of money into black communities. U.K. Organisations committed to improving the lives of black boys and girls should be funded by the British government. Companies should be given grants so they can employ black staff. Businesses should be incentivised to have more black men and black women in director-level positions. For example, these businesses are given bonus payments from the government as a reward for achieving a set target of having black directors.

If the U.K. is sincerely apologetic for its terrible history of exploiting black slaves, then it will consider some of these suggestions. As they say, talk is cheap, and apologies are empty. It is only actions that matter. If Britain really wants to redeem itself of its sin, it needs to pay the price to its black communities. With black men twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than white people in the U.K., the U.K. is not paying up.

Better start opening that purse, Boris.


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3 Comments
Lindale Thomson
6/21/2020 11:43:32 am

I think reparations should be done, my are from Jamaica we are also descendants of the maroons paying black organisations may not reach everyone

Reply
Leke (Author)
6/22/2020 12:27:58 am

Hi Lindale,

I totally agree. In your case you would qualify. But then how much would you get and for how long? And would it be every singe person in your family? It’s complicated to figure out but not impossible maybe.

And yeah the money the government give black organisations may not reach everyone. We could change this by having a some kind of body which makes sure the money is going to the right people.

Reply
Herman
6/22/2020 12:20:05 am

You’re right in saying that it would be an operational, logistical nightmare to determine who is and who isn’t eligible for reparations at this stage - I for one would not be. However, there should be a process to determine this. My view is that reparations should be given through a tax break, in the same way we were paying through our taxes up until 2015. I have no way to determine this, but I am certain that the tax calculator for black people is not the same for whites... simply because of the “compensation” given out at the time of abolishing slavery (this is my inclination and opinion - its not based on any facts)... we can’t give today’s generation the value of the wages our ancestors were due, but we can give back the value we have paid through our taxes. Simple!
I also disagree with positive forms of discrimination, so i am not for grants to be given to companies just for hiring black directors etc... they need to be held accountable for not having robust diversity policies, that allow black employees to naturally progress within their companies, at the same rate as white employees. If the Government is to help, they should do it by upholding accountability and not promoting more forms of discrimination, be it positive or not! We have earned the right to be here... lets not spoil it by wondering whether we are in a position of higher statute because we have earned it or because of a quota to qualify for a grant.
With all that said, i like your thinking and pragmatic approach to this.

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  • Home
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