HR lawyer says he can win reparations case
(CNS): Human rights lawyer Martyn Day, a partner at the UK law firm Leigh Day, says that despite massive impediments there is a real prospect that the British and other governments of the Western powers will pay-up for their part in the slave trade. In an exclusive interview for the UK’s leading black newspaper, The Voice, Day says the reparations issue is resonating in British society. Following the firm’s victory in the Mau Mau case, the lawyer said that while the reparations case will be tough, it is one worth fighting. The case is being pursued by CARICOM countries that say it is now time for the UK and other European governments to make financial amends for the horrors of the slave trade.
“The fact that it is a case involving issues that are two to four hundred years old is a massive impediment to a victory. But we feel the morality of the whole thing is very strong,” he told the London-based weekly.
“The morality of the case is massive and I think it will be very well recognised. William Hague is the foreign secretary who wrote the definitive book on [British abolitionist] William Wilberforce, so we have a foreign secretary who is absolutely knowledgeable about the issue. I hope we get a very sympathetic ear from the British government and have some chance of resolving it,” he said.
Day said that the primary question is, what is the impact of the slave era on the Caribbean today? And while reparations will not come in the shape of payments made directly to all the descendants of slaves, forgiving debt may be one of the ways for the UK to make reparations in the Caribbean. Explaining that there are a number of cultural sides to it, the lawyer said the firm would look at many issues to present to the British authorities.
Day is hopeful of persuading the UK to pay up without a court room fight
See full interview here.
Category: World News
I was a slave last weekend.
Best party I have been to in a long time.
You better check for splinters!
Money solves everything in the land of make believe and entitlement.
In the book named "Lawless Caymanas" it says when the Proclamation of Emancipation was declared , that slaves were not registered. England refused to pay compensation to the Cayman Islands. Landowners were upset and half of the population took their slaves and went to live in Honduras . Dr. Thompson along with magistrates,(several Watlers and several Boddens) signed a petition to the king for the remaining population. They tried to get compensation. The king was told it was central for their ships to stop over to get turtles and water. Plus because of its small population and no charts there were many shipwrecks on all three islands. It was not profitable to even collect taxes . So they in turn made us tax free.
When slaves were set free the slave owners gave land to plant and own their own houses. If you check the book you will see exslaves living in old cayman style wattle and daub houses like the slave owners of the time. People didn't build modern wood houses because they didn't have the skill. That didn't happen until much later on.
Slaves were proud people and were not treated as bad as in Jamaica. In fact that is why so many married white people who they knew all their lives . Not saying there were not incidents but nothing like other countries in the caribbean.
This is just Hilarious!
Financial Compensation will not solve any past or present issues.
Certain things have passed and should help as lessons of humanity…
It definitely does not make sense to me why people would expect to get money for things they have not suffered for, if anything Modern African-Americans should be thankful to their predecessors for fighting those fights and getting them to be where they are now.
I would say it has merit…even thought you say injured party are all dead I bet many of you on here have collected inheritance along the way from generation to generation either land or money or even jewels….well if they stole labour a chancr was never given to pass all this along.
The Jews are entitled but black people are not? I do recall most of the nazis victims.were gassed and the living were paid their share.
Time.to right.some.wrongs and just move on imo should have been done long ago
But the land was not stolen from the slaves.
The labour was stolen from the slaves. Their identity and culture were stolen. And the impact is generational not limited to those who were actually slaves.
What inheritance would you have had in Africa? I can give you a couple of goats..
Still looking for a handout.
Is it true that the descendants of slaves owe their immortal soul to the whites who christianized them? How much is a soul worth?
40 acres and a mule please? That's all I ask! Lol dumb ass people. It's my money and I want it noooow!!!!
Hey.. remember that when emancipation came, that the Caymanslaveowners told their slaves:
"You are free to go, but you were never 'real' slaves, more like family, so then we wont be giving you any land or other benefits… but you can come back on Monday to work for us again…"
But they didn't show up for work, and it's an ongoing problem apparently.
Very ignorant & Prejudiced opinion! who do you think built the economy you obviously came here to benefit from; words come to mind like sponge & leech come to mind.
How much you wanna bet that if you left tomorrow, we'd carry on just fine.. and the only reason you'd consider leaving, is after you can secure (steal) enough of the Cayman business clients to take with you; and how about "practicing Cayman law overseas"?
Yes, we have losers (just like your country) but the percentage of innovative, ambitious people here surpassses anywhere i've seen in other places. bet that isnt even considered, never mind the great quality of life here (yes – in spite of our lowlives)
Lets see..Cayman clients…ok, your island, the tourists, hotels, right..how many Caymanians actually want to work in tourism? Err, not so many. The offshore sector? Reality test needed, apart from one or two very notable exceptions, its all foreign investment or so called "paper caymanians". CIG funding…oh that right, licences, work permits, import taxes (which Caymanians pay too I agree), so the picture is not that great is it? I also agree wholeheartedly that each country has its own issues and "low lives",however you need to take off the rose tinted glasses. And the worst of it, its not the people, I have wonderful and highly intelligent Caymanian colleages and love them very much, the worst is in government and the CS..it is a cesspit covered by the thinest veneer of respectability and it is draining that which Caymanians should have. I would love to , but cannot cure that one Bobo, thats down to you.
You speak like one of our 'Adminstering Power' representatives.
Sad
Let me think, oh yes, prior to the early 1960's this tiny speck of rock was populated by how many?
Well, by your own accounts, approximately 8,500, and we can be relatively certain that many of those people were of British and Jamaican origin. It is also true that there wasn't any recognisable productivity that managed to grow a credible economy.
It wasn't until the advent of offshore financial services and tourism that Caymans population grew with anything like the numbers needed to service these industries. With a population in 1970 of a little over 10,000 covering the entire Cayman Islands, who do you think was responsible for creating the wealth that you have enjoyed for the past 40 years?
That's right, the foreigners you despise and envy so much, the people who established the tourism and service sectors, banks, law firms and financial services that grew Caymans economy to one of the richest in the Caribbean. It was outsiders who gave you the opportunity to grow and make unimaginable wealth, but it was you who brought this country to the edge of bankruptcy .
Most of those who call themselves Caymanians are not from generational families at all, they are expats who came here when the good times started to roll, back in the 70's. Also, we can be certain that few are actually the direct ancestors of Cayman slaves, as the population on Cayman at the time of abolition was barely 1000, with at least 50% beingnon slave residents. We also know from public records that slaves were freed immediately and probably given moderate compensation to start over again as free men and women. They certainly didn't suffer the continuing degradation suffered by slaves in the US, nor are their any credible records of mistreatment here on Cayman during the relatively brief period of settlement before abolition.
Jamaica was undoubtedly the wealthiest Caribbean nation prior to its independence from Britain, and what did it do with it? It's incompetence is there for all to see and it's internal violence unabated since the 60's. That is not the fault of anyone else, no slave traders, imperial influences or external forces are keeping Jamaicans poor or killing their youth on the streets. It is their own people, just as it is in Africa, nothing has been learnt.
No, you are not entitled to free handouts, you have had ample opportunity to ensure that all peoples of the Cayman Islands and the wider Caribbean have made the most of 200 years of freedom. If you and your leaders have squandered those years, then that is your responsibility. Other countries, including the vast majority of the British population, struggled to build social equality and industrial wealth during the 19th and 20th centuries despite being downtrodden by the rich and powerful. Poverty, disease, social deprivation and two world wars took millions of lives, but nobody said freedom was cheap, and it certainly doesn't have a monetary value.
My friend, if the expat community went home tomorrow, this country would close down over night. Because without them the financial services and tourism sectors would simply collapse. Innovative people are all well and good, but without a source of cheap labour, their ideas would be useless, so prompting them to relocate elsewhere. Cayman produces nothing that the world needs are desires, (and it's offshore status is now severely regulated) you would do well to remember that when making such nonsensical claims. Easy come, easy go.
Although I don't disagree with many of your points, you have "whitewashed" more than 100yrs. of slavery before emancipation.
There are credible records of mistreatment: William Foster's logging slaves were branded like cattle. A Thomas Eden slave, Long Celia, was sentenced "to receive fifty lashes on your bare body", and so on…
The slaves were not freed immediately or voluntarily . Starting with Governor Sligo and the West India Regiment in 1834, and the end of the apprenticeships in 1835, the owners were forced to free their slaves. And, no, freed slaves were not given compensation, with a few exceptions.
Recognizing early Cayman as a Slave Society is essential to understanding the subtleties of present-day attitudes to class and race.
Fifty lashes was a common punishment of the day, it certainly wasn't reserved just for slaves. After all, you could be hanged in London for relatively minor offences, transported to the penal colonies for petty theft, or press ganged into the Royal Navy to be never heard of again. So please don't overdo the brutality card, it was a brutal world for everybody, unless you were rich.
Slavery in Cayman was in no way comparable to other Caribbean Islands or the US. Most slaves enjoyed comparative freedom and were given compensatory land or housing on release. Most slaves were considered part of the family, of course there may have been a few exceptions, but most were house servants who lived with their masters. Bearing in mind the tiny numbers involved, the lack of credible industry and the inter relationships that were obviously prevalent, Cayman cannot be considered a 'slave society' in the truest sense of the term.
But jump on the bandwagon just in case there's some free money going around, why work for it when you can live in the past and whinge.
YEah Right! This black person knows that 'there aint no such ting as free money".
It's good though that all this discourse is showing the putrid underbelly of prejudice that still glides across our lands here.
See 12/02/14, 07:03. I think it counters your spurious argument.
Excellent response thanks for telling it like it is.
Predictable response! Doofus-we (like the wreckers of old) took a fairy tale about a rescued prince, created tax-free laws based on that, and set up the laws that you now enjoy-and want to now export/practice internationally. Yes, we’ve been now wrongly reduced to hand-out jobs, token scholarships + dependency on immigration fees. AND we did that in a time of mosquitoes, poverty, but peace, no crime, and no YOU.
PS- I hadno gripe against expats, I don’t know you, but anyone with an attitude like yours can swim home.
Nite dude
I think it has more to do with the Lyndon Pydling era and the Bahamas opting for Independence that brought the financial jurasdictions to the next stable, British overseas territory.
Wealth moves, with that it brings employment. People move with it.
When it leaves are you going to follow?
No..but im sure you and yours will!
Isnt that how you came here in the first place?
No, I came here to retire.
To state the below is more than brash ignorance on your part, it’s also an insult to my forebearers. Obviously you have never hunted shark+turtle in a six-foot catboat, raised a good family in abject poverty, twisted thatch strand, created world-class postage stamps, or fought a War to preserve the peace of this region+and the world!
Yes-we did this and more-with little more than God’s Grace
Thanks to good men ( Dr Horter/Dr Giglioli etc) who workfed for the humanity of it vs the corporate profits!
“…There wasn’t any recognisable productivity that managed to grow a credible economy.”
You're obviously referring to a third world economy with your stories of thatching and turtle hunting. Such 'industry' isn't high on the GDP scale and would probably referred to as a subsistence economy.
For your information, I have been to war, as have members of my family through the generations. Most grew up in abject poverty, little or no education, no healthcare or access to private housing. Many worked down mines in heavy industry and at sea, many were killed or seriously injured whilst doing so, many contracted serious industrial diseases. They didn't have the luxury of warm weather or clean seas, they lived amongst open sewers, pollution, rats, cholera, influenza. They lived in social housing buildings that were insanitary and falling apart, so close together that disease was rampant. Malaria was still present in the 19th and Early 20th centuries, as was smallpox, dysentery and many childhood illnesses that killed infants before the age of two. Try reading British social history before rushing to judgement, the ordinary man was no more free that the former slaves who worked alongside him.
It wasn't until after the the 2nd world war that life improved for the ordinary person in Britain. But they deserved it after fighting for their King and country and ensuring that freedom prevailed, freedom you and those like you are guaranteed today by people like me. I wonder if those who claim to be descended from slaves actually realise what would have happened to them if Germany had prevailed. The truth is that they probably wouldn't have lived long enough to be enslaved, as blacks were considered less than human,( like Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and the mentally ill) and sent to the gas chambers or shot.
So don't lecture me on hardship, poverty and war, I come from a place that was totally flattened by German bombers and rockets, my family had nothing, save the shredded clothes they stood up in. They have worked and paid a heavy price for our freedom. Perhaps the money grabbing cowards who have never seen real conflict or hard work will think of those who gave so much, so that they can stand there with an ever open hand and prejudicial heart.
Ohh – I suspected you were that certain popular 'Vocal British local'..
I juist wanted to draw it out of you.
Thanks Chief
'Third World' is YOUR Label! Very Typical.
Ask an older Caymanian if they'd prefer to live in the old Cayman, or the modern times.
My old aunt Kay would beg to differ, bo-bo. If you see Kay you would understand why…
"Foreigners you despise and envy.." Hmm- no one said that, and I dont feel that way.
There IS though, an attitude of 'us'&them that 'you have created, and latched firmly onto…
Plus, being called 'Caymanian' only at your convenience – as if inbreeding, crime and scandal are unique to us brown people that you love to hate.
I'm sure you ahev status and enjoy all the benefits of a retired Caymanian – yet your separtist, faux-elitist attitude pervades your live still.
I know England dude, and you cant even speak there the way you do here with your snooty tones – unless you wanna make some new 'friends' quickly
……not to mention the unfettered rape your politicians would inflict on what would be left….it worked just great in your beloved violent and corrupt Jamaca didn't it…?
'if you left tomorrow, we'd carry on just fine …'
I say lets give it a go. If you carry on fine then everything is great and you dont need us any more.
I really do think we should experiment with this, even if it is just for one month.
Preferably, December or August next year would be good.
Why are you here may I ask if this is the kind of negative behavour you are showing. There is a queue lining up outside waiting to take your place. Get over yourself. Darn shame Immigration is not asking you to leave now. You won't be missed put it that way. Travel to Jamaica and live there and see if they would put up with your outspoken nagative attitude. Folks like you need to be around real Caribbean people then you will learn to keep your little self quiet and just get on with the work you were requested to do. It will be interested to see if you are so brave to open your big mouth in public in a country that has opens it doors to you. Let's hear you then. Ungrateful
I will go when I am ready. That may be before or after I even get to Roll over.
Why wait?.. flights leave daily
Looks to me like the black people in Africa are worse off and there are a lot more of them. The Caribbean is going to have to wait in line..
It is one thing to be thought a fool. It is quite another to open one's mouth and confirm it. When you have no idea of your history, you are doomed to repeat the failures of the past. When slavery was abolished in the Caribbean the slaveowners were paid by the UK and other countries for the loss of their chattels. Do you even know what those chattels were? They were slaves. Yes, slaveholders got money for my descendants to alleviate the losses they incurred because they could no longer get free labour. In addition, those countries from which slavery was abolished had to also pay the UK and other slave owning countries at the time.
The Jews received millions in compension as a result of losses suffered by the Germans during World War II. Why is it that they get reparations and compensations and the descendants of black people are not entitled to the same thing. Even if it is something as small as debt forgiveness it will go a far way in alleviating the cycle of poverty that now permeates the Caribbean.
The poverty is due to corruption and theiving from politicians elected by the various countries..nothing to do with slavery. What you are effectively saying is that the UK should pay off those debts and let the thieves go? About time you guys cleaned your own yard…
or at least brought some permit holders in to do it for them.
The compensations paid to slave owners in Cayman is quite interesting. This site, http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/search/ , for example, shows that in 1835 Mary Bodden, of Bodden Town received awards totalling 956 Pounds for 51 slaves, William Watler 406 Pounds for 18 slaves, James Parsons 660 Pounds for 35 slaves, William Eden 411 Pounds for 35 slaves, and so on…
From those names, it certainly sounds like the proper target for compensation would be wealthy Caymanian families, not those in the UK. I am sure that the Boddens, Watlers, Edens etc can club together to come up with a decent package.
But the descendants of the slaves prospered as well because the descendants of the owners married them.
Or simply assisted them in procuring and planting some premium-grade mahogany and iron-wood.
They were english,only there decendents are now Caymanian.
No, at the time of abolition these families were established Caymanians. You know, like the Hondurans, Cubans, Jamaicans and the many other nationalities that have made this their home since the 60's.
A Caymanian is a nationality, not an ethnicity, get over it.
Exactly!
I guess the question here then is whether the descendants of the Watlers, Boddens etc feel they should share the wealth they got with those who are the descendants of the people they had enslaved, not whether governments should pay reparations. And then you'd better just check that none of those descendants of slaves have benefitted in any way (by marriage etc) from the wealth that these people gained. How exactly do they hope to make this make sense? The Jewish situation in Germany was a disgrace, but was perpetrated by the government of the day and is, therefore, quite different from individuals making vast wealth. Why should ordinary people, who also did not benefit, pay reparations to those they never wronged? Just seeking to understand the thought process.
Then you need to figure in the wholesale cost in Africa.
Mmmm…in Cayman most of us are both: the descendants of slave owners and the descendants of slaves. Elsewhere, e.g. Bermuda, not so much. The wealth generated to slave owners have enabled their descendants to live privileged lives.
Good – cause Cayman was full of house slaves and that has created a crab in the bucket mentality that we still suffering from.
How can people who were not there 200 years ago get money for something that did not happen to them? Sounds like this guy is just trying to talk up his chances of a big pay day and stirring up the hopes and ambitions of the entitlement brigade.
Can I make claims against the Scandinavians (Vikings), Italians (Romans), Germans and French for the sins of their ancestors in raiding the UK and enslaving the people? How far back is too long with this situation? This is stirring pure and simple.
Go right ahead dude… but weat a helmet
Exactly! What did the Romans ever do for us?
It still is stupid, paying a Jamaican 'help' 3 or 5 dollars an hour isn't humanity at its best. For that money and the workload you place on them makes her a modern 'house slave' but your bigotry doesn't allow you to see that. Don't lecture the country that enforced freedom for slaves, especially when this country happily retains the ancestors of slaves as cheap and subservient labour.
Those families who retained slaves on Cayman are responsible for reperations to the ancestors of those who now claim compensation. As it was they who were paid by the British to release their slaves after abolition, it is for them to sort out settlement, not modern UK citizens who cannot be held responsible for the misdeeds of Caymanian slave owners.
These families are well known in Cayman and have amassed huge wealth, it's about time they paid the taxes that would supportthe poorest of their own society, many of which are direct descendants of the slaves they once held.
Forgiving debt is not what they want. They want money in their hands – especially the leaders of these countries.
No one credible would support this view. The Mau Mau case was at the very limits and had claimants who were the direct victims of the alleged wrongdoings. Are there any living slaves able to bring a case? No? End of story. Moral obligations are not legal obligations. And in any event, there is not even a moral obligation. This silly bit of posturing is harming CARICOM's already limited credibility.
I guess Obama could sue on behalf of his daddy.
It’s about time black people get payback! (African Slave in Cayman)
You got enough payback with emancipation, liberty and independence. You have also taken billions in free handouts and 'aid'. The truth is that it is your own people who have stolen it from you and continue to slaughter you in tribal, religious and gang warfare around the world.
If you can't sort your lives out in 200 years then that says more about you than us.
I pray to God you don't live on island. You need to go back from whence you come from with that kind of attitude. If slavery was still on today you would be the first to enslave people of colour. I also pray to God you are not white South African either. Because I am sure with that mentality justice would never prevail. The Jews received compensation and nothing is said but when it comes to people of colour all hell is let loose. History is a terrible thing. Slavery happened and people were treated in a non-humane fashion, families disrupted men loss their dignity and women raped as well as children. This unfortunate situation has created an unbalance in the ethnic community to this day. Plus there are still people with the mentality of UNCLE TOMS running around the place and for sure don't even know that they are a person of colour. Awful situation. Yes tribes where selling off the weaker ones but given the situation and human nature I am sure we too would think YOU OR ME as it was going to happen anyway. Slavery did not just start with the Europeans but if history serves me well the Arabs where the first slave traders. Another theory we need to look into especially for people of colour who are quick to join i.e. Muslim movements or the Nation of Islam. Every one of us needs to check our past, learn from it, understand why it happened and try to not allow ignorance to slip in. I say cancel the debts in Africa, the Caribbean, Asian continents and let them try to build on what they have. These countries are rich in minerals, jewels, soil, food etc. and should be able to start gaining some proud in what they have. Let's face it all the rest of the world, i.e. Europe, Canada, and the States for example are rushing to get there to get some vitamins from the sun to name but a free. People of colour try to be proud of yourself and hold on to dignity. We were Scientist, Mathematicians, Inventors, Kings, Queens, dressed in fine fibres (silk, chiffon, etc.). Look at some of the good old history and why now all of a sudden the world is waking up to the true fact that everything started in AFRICA. Now isn't that something
True, it all started in Africa. But what have you done since, except kill, rape, persecute and steal from your own people? You have the wealth, you just don't have the leaders or the balls to go forwards, just the look back and 'hand out' mentality which will handicap you forever.
Wake up, it is your own lack of motivation, sense of society and greed that holds you back. Slavery was abolished in the Caribbean 200 years ago, if you are so weak that you cannot fight for your own freedom, (that means doing something instead of just listening to Bob Marleys persecution songs) and need to rely on handouts from the UK and others to get by, then you have learnt nothing. Start paying your own way in the world, stop putting idiots in places of political power and most of all, learn that freedom comes at a personal price, not a financial one.
You are not suppoed to say black in this day and age you are called African Americans!!!!!!!!
Why African Americans, surely they are Americans, why do they feel the need to identify with a land that they've never seen. Why make division, why not accept your nationality and live as one people?
It would appear that racial division is maintained by those who are looking for a past that doesn't exist and a future that is incompatible with social stability. If black and white are to be truly accepting of each other, then stupid labels that were consigned to history two centuries ago need to dropped.
Today's ancestors are so far removed from Africa that it is impossible to define an accurate ancestral homeland. Sure, a region or country may be loosely identifiable by DNA, but some of these countries are massive and home to hundreds of different tribes and social groupings, many of which probably don't exist in modern day Africa. With 200 years of inter racial, inter tribal and even international relationships, (Africa is a continent, not a country) to be considered, how can anyone possibly know where their roots are unless every single ancestor came from exactly the same village. Just because someone's skin is black or brown, doesn't automatically mean that they are of the same ethnic or national background as their peers. They could, and almost certainly are as diverse as the rest of modern society.
Do British citizens need to call themselves Roman British, Viking British, Saxon British, Norman British or any of the other thousand different nationalities that have settled in the UK. Only those who crave an identity that denotes division give themselves a label, all the rest are British.
But then that's what happens in a mature and confident society at ease with its history.
I bet you've content to call yourself 'British' .. yet, you get into the 'Caymanian' line at the airport.
It's all about the personal convenience – to some anyways.
What a shamefully bombastic statement!:
"Only those who crave an identity that denotes division give themselves a label, all the rest are British. "
Praise the Lord, finally, justice is being aired. So many wealthy countries' economies (not to mention"grand" houses in the U.K., and elsewhere) built on the return of investments in the slave "trade" in centuries past. Immorality must be addressed, no question.
The refusal of persons from countries that grew rich off of human misery to face up to things never fails to appal me, including the U.S., most assuredly. That's right, run away and pretend it never happened, or be really cute and come out with stupidness like "Well that was then and all those people are dead now" as if what these dead people left behind was somehow all buried along side them. There exists such a thing as accountability and (like it or not) it transcends the passage of time and the demise of those responsible for what was done. A civilized society will have an awareness of this and understand the need to teach its young that wrongs must, eventually, be righted, thereby teaching responsibility and a more responsible society as a result that will hopefully strive to prevent history from repeating itself. Other societies will react very aggressively to the notion that eventually there must be a day of reckoning and want to "move on", usually coupled with a robust sense of denial. Modern day examples of differences in approaches exist. Consider the behaviour of the Axis countries post WW2 towards their victims. The Korean "comfort women" are still awaiting a proper apology!
Ok, so what you're saying is the youngsters in the UK, USA and other countries who were party to the slave trade have it taught in their history lessons, but no money changes hands. That's fine, I can live with that.
History, knowledge, appreciation and education are all very important to today's citizens. But paying for the mistakes of ancestors is plain stupid and will only lead to resentment and further division.
Those on Cayman and other Caribbean Islands who were paid handsomely by the British authorities to release their slaves are responsible for reperations. Well known families on this island were recipients of compensation, they went on to amasse huge fortunes, and still do. Go to them and demand payment, or legislate and seize slavery reperations by law.
When the Boddens, (national heroes) were paid huge sums to release their slaves, did that money support generations of future Boddens, (some of whom were possibly relatives of former slaves). How are you going to sort that one out?
Go ask the owner of Harbour House, Red Sail and Rum Point for a hand out and let us know how you get on.
Not to mention extremely lucrative for the lawyers too! They are the real winners here. The headline is misleading too. No where in the text does it say he can win. He uses the usual lawyer speak too. Oh, and he is speaking to a leading 'black' newspaper. Is that not racist? I'm sure it would be if it was called a white newspaper. Anyway, must sign off now, going to watch a little BET.
This is ridiculous. The "injured parties" and the proposed "lawbreakers" are all dead, andthe descendants had absolutely nothing to do with it. Looks like a bunch of greedy lawyers in action!
Actually, those who are direct descendants of slave traders are still in benifit of the wealth acquired. Unles all of the wealth was taken away when slaverywas apolished.
The difference between the thumbs up for this post and that for the post above speaks volumes about the capacity for so many to value justice and face up to reality, which is probably why this has taken so long to come to the fore. But I guess for some blood money is still money when all said and done. Where did it originate? Hey, who gives a damn!
Depends on your view of justice, theirs is of course on the side of greed and opportunism. Mine is on the side of, 'you've had 200 hundred years to get your s##t together and failed'.
Well known Caymanian family ancestors were paid to release slaves by the British, go to them and ask for the money, they've done pretty well out of it.
My family estate was funded by such trading. The gardens are lovely. And you are not getting in. Life sucks. Get over it.
Most people are descended from both. I don't feel that I'm intitled to any money. Why? In the famous words of Rhett Butler "Frankly dear, I don't give a d—." And before you all get your pants in knots, it's been 200 years and I don't like living in the past. It's time to look to the future.
Get lost, earn your money for a change.
Let's hope your lineage are not direct slave owners or families find themselves in a similar situation. Be careful of the tongue
That's complete bull s##t, slavery reperations are not resonating within UK society. Most sensible Brits, (and that does not include left wing human rights lawyers on the slavery gravy train) think that relatives of former slaves have had enough time to sort their own lives out without getting a free handout at taxpayers expense.
Slavery was abolished by the Brits 200 years ago, if you want reperations, go back to the African tribes who sold your ancestors to the traders in the first place.
Bigotry statement made. Fortunately there are sensible people out there who are aware of the atrocious that were committed and compensation is being sort one way or another even if it means cutting the debts of these countries whose land was destroyed by invasion. It's beat me why you are living in an ethnic country with that supremacy mentality. If I was anti-Muslim for example you know something I would not go on holiday to an Islamic country – Why because I don't believe in some of its beliefs. If your mentality is so narrow and not seeing the wider picture of the unfortunate situation then you need to return to your home and pay the taxes that your country chooses to place on you.
I am sure nobody moves to anywhere with that mentality, so you have to ask yourself why does it evolve here?
I have not seen it occur in any other country that I have lived in.