Misblog

Originally Published March 26, 2007; Updated and Republished July 29, 2008 to include the apology by the United States House of Representatives:

Britain’s Tony Blair places the Atlantic Slave Trade among history's most shameful enterprises. He expressed deep sorrow and regret for Britain’s role in the enterprise1. These statements from the enslaving nations are welcome, long overdue, and necessary but they are not sufficient. It is the current and ongoing obligation of every nation that participated in this most shameful of enterprises to demonstrate to itself and the world that it has contributed back to the enslaved population an amount equal to or greater than the amount gained from the enslavement.

WorldCat

It is not enough to say the economic gains from slavery are uncertain or the commingled gains cannot be traced with sufficient certainty or there is no enslaved population to receive payment. The burden of proof is on the enslaving nations, not the enslaved.

It is not the enslaved that must be freed it's their enslavers. Acknowledging the enslavement and returning ALL benefits gained from that enslavement is the beginning of freedom for the enslaver nations.

Those interested in the Atlantic Slave Trade figures may want to look at David Eltis', Economic growth and the ending of the transatlantic slave trade.

Web:

• UPDATED 07/29/2008 UPI, House resolution apologizes for slavery
  The resolution passed today by the United States House of Representatives on voice vote in part reads:

  "Whereas millions of Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States and the 13 American colonies from 1619 through 1865; ...

  Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

  (1) acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow;

  (2) apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow; and

  (3) expresses its commitment to rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the occurrence of human rights violations in the future."

  See HRES 194 IH for the entire text of resolution.

• UPDATED 04/12/2007 Lawmakers in US state North Carolina formally apologize for "brutality of slavery". North Carolina becomes the latest state to issue an apology for it slavery past. Like all other “apologizers”, North Carolina has an ongoing duty to demonstrate to itself and the world that it has contributed back to the enslaved population an amount equal to or greater than the amount gained from their enslavement.

  It is not enough to apologize and say "No individual is responsible for this,...".

• Slave trade shameful, Blair says

-----notes-----

1. Britain was one of the first great powers to use military force to impede the Atlantic Slave Trade.