This seems rather unlikely. I have that estimate saved and ready to be critiqued as part of a larger project. David Olusoga, 49, is a television presenter and historian. Olusoga, who presents the BBC documentary series A House Through Time, told presenter Lauren Laverne that racism was "just the background hum of life" when he was growing up. They are stupid false for America. Different people can argue the toss from different viewpoints and perspectives but in many ways their arguments pass each other like ships in the night, because they havent all got nobodys got an absolute frame of reference to judge things with respect to. But its still awful, even on a historical scale. It began to alter (slightly) the history curriculum at university level: the first undergraduate one-year course on black British history and culture was taught at the University of Warwick in 1984. Shouldnt matter whether some long-dead relative fought long ago for or against (not at all to disparage your ancestors GC, who all sound very sound) in terms of whether somethings your fault. And any reparations should be paid 50% by the African states for the areas which sold the slaves and pocketed the proceeds. 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? Tull played professional football for Northampton but instead of signing up for Glasgow Rangers, he enlisted. Writing in english is cultural appropriation so STFU. 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. Slavery is bad or it isnt. He updates Fryer, citing radioisotope analysis of skeletons and craniometrics, which support written documentation of Aurelian Moors guarding Hadrians Wall and settling in places such as Yorkshire. And I dont think this is what reparations campaigners are calling for either, as I understand it their argument includes systematic legacy issues not just the period of slavery itself, so the harm relates more directly to them not just their ancestors. Heroes of 2020 What Marcus Rashford's campaign for hungry children tells us about . Hes welcome to pursue his line of thought but he should bear in mind that tolerance is, by its nature, in the gift of the powerful. . It's possibly a deeper change than some people realise because I don't think what we're living through is a series of political events; I think we're living through a generational shift," he says. Between that night at the opera and 1807, nearly 800,000 Africans were enslaved. Why are these characterizations needed? This history of the black presence in . As Black British History Month draws to a close, TV historian Prof David Olusoga looks at the impact it's had - and how young people are taking it on. 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. "This generation has the greatest knowledge-giving tool ever created and they have access to knowledge that I just did not have when I was younger. Then a young teenager, he was driven out of his council home, together with his grandmother, mother, two sisters and younger brother, by a sustained campaign of nightly stoning of their windows. His black half can get the half-payment direct from his white half. I suspect that whether records could prove it or not, its overwhelmingly likely to be true, especially since high-status individuals tend to make a bigger contribution to the gene pool. I brought up paedophilia to demonstrate that there are things not worth my time. arguments are pretty weak since relying on a doctrine of virtues of the fathers risks implicitly accepting sins of the fathers.. Wider imperialism reparations that include South Asia, China for the Opium Wars and so on, surely even more prohibitively costly, regardless of how effective the education system gets at making young Brits feel a vague sense of guilt about it all. Pretty sure if you could, implausibly, trace my family tree through various not-very-literate eras youd pass through at least one Anglo-Saxon who owned a bunch of Britons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestmannaeyjar, Slavery in England definitely continued for a couple of generations after the Norman Conquest and Bristol was a major export centre, though there were attempts to ban the export trade in particular (https://www.historytoday.com/archive/normans-and-slavery-breaking-bonds has some interesting quotes from the time). Ironically, one of the sources we can turn to in order to learn more is his own accounts of late 17th-century Jamaica. Probably few other societies had as much chance of buying freedom. 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). The strongest case I can see against reparations is not fundamentally a legal one but perhaps one degree abstracted the law if we can litigate that, we can litigate a heck of a lot of stuff from centuries past, tie our legal systems up in knots with no obvious limits in sight. Olusoga is making an appeal to white guilt. So wherever the wealth came from, it wasnt just slavery (or even mainly), Olusogas an alright presenter but a class A race hustler, Edward Lud August 30, 2020 at 9:12 am We could just cut to the chase, and impose a reparations tax on anyone who is descended from from anyone who did something, er, wrong.. BZZZTT!! You dont have esoteric discussions with paedophiles any more than you would with serial killers. Note, hes a renowned economist. Good point, I wonder how he squares the obviously comfortable living he has writing, opining and broadcasting about slavery with his principles. In the system that made Sloane wealthy, black women sought out herbs, plant species that he carefully identified and categorised, and used them to induce abortions, determined as many were not to bring into the world children who would be born items of property and destined to live short, brutalised lives. It may have made sense for the SS to starve labourers to death. Because it isnt about who you are, its about who your ancestors were. Thats why we get it. When the American Civil War interrupted the supply of cotton, hundreds of thousands of British workers were made destitute, dependent on soup kitchens, and the British economy was dealt a thunderous blow, all because an ocean away the forced labour of four million enslaved black Americans had been disrupted. See, five years ago I wouldnt have written a crass comment like that, but hey, times achanging and as financially independent with some FU-money, I dont have to worry about cancellation culture, LOL. Separated from home and family and landed in the West Indies (countless numbers dying of suffocation during the journey, given that the people traffickers were packing the holds to maximise profits), the Africans had no recourse to the law, much less the conscience of their captors. Tim may be wrong about stuff, but ..that, ultimately, makes up for his beating squirrels to death for a hobby, Tim Worstall a horrid man who is anti-minimum wage among other repugnant things Socialist News. The details of difference are fairly minor. (At least in our society) Get over it. Id say this to Mr Olusoga. That may have caused more violence. While I dont think they persuaded anyone, they did shift perspectives a bit. If Olusoga is looking for apologies or compensation for slavery, I am quite prepared to meet him, accept his apology, togehr with cash, cheque or even a postal order. Just how much should Olusoga receive? Dr Peter Olusoga is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology. @ Boganboy If slavery really mattered theyd be campaigning for reparations from the blacks and arabs/moslems who were doing it long before the white man arrived in Africa and was far more devastating. "The small minority whose history had been airbrushed out of the national story recovered that history with the help of their allies and then broadcast it, spread it into our national conversation and they did that within the space of half a century. He is a Cultural Marxist trying to destroy the West. But those were in those long-lost days when democrats and republicans could talk to each other and agree to disagree while both leaving the conversation a little the wiser.. A covering letter would be a courtesy but probably not a necessity. It wasnt always so & it may not be in the future. For some peculiar reason possibly because theres a section of Western society has become very insecure about its own position its being some credence. Its been banned for two centuries in Britain. It happened. David Olusoga's Family David Olusoga, age 49 was born to a Nigerian father and a British mother. 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. Its an interesting exercise to consider, given we live within such a system, how or whether that contradiction can be settled. Not many remember anything about segregation either. But a group of 12 disciples of Christ set out to change things. Nevertheless, we live in a society that generally regards slavery as an absolute and eternal wrong, and a grave one at that, yet which has historically (at least certain people and places, and including the state itself) benefited from imposing slavery on others.. Thy did not try to grow or raise the next generation. After all, adult males were all but worthless and demand for women might have been enough to drive the trade anyway. Dont know if I would rule it out entirely because the demographics are different but it might need a change in the voting dynamics. Even Bill Clinton had affinity for the USA. My great grandfather fought to end slavery in a war. Presumably there were normal times when food was cheap that you fed your workers and didnt seek to replace them in the way Olusoga means. I assume he is not very bright and Race Hustling is very lucrative. Might, in this case, being 100% of the debating point. They arent going to concede anything. Of course if a rule was instituted that only people with white skins had to pay taxes, it might happen. No. It was far too real to her. They organised a boycott of sugar, produced more petitions and hosted meetings. During the Second World War, thousands of black American soldiers stationed in Britain were befriended by white Britons who opposed efforts by the white military to segregate them. I imagine few do. Fair point. Then dont discuss it. If we look back history is just an unending series of atrocities. "The phenomena of which he is iconic is one that we have written out, edited out of our nation. Theres an argument about judging people by the standard of their times, though even in the 1500s moral and religious objections to the slave trade had been made and the rationale of crimes against humanity is that some things are so abhorrent they could never truly be legal no matter what moral code the perpetrators justified themselves with. Sooner or later, we whites are going to have to take a stand, and say we aint taking this any more. 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. 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. Societies have what morals suit them. Required fields are marked *. Then the second. Video1894 shipwreck confirms tale of treacherous lifeboat, How 10% of Nigerian registered voters delivered victory, Sake brewers toast big rise in global sales, The Indian-American CEO who wants to be US president, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, Exploring the rigging claims in Nigeria's elections, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip. Two men managed to escape and were rescued, but not before my great, great, grandfather was beaten, starved and worked to death, his body thrown into the jungle for the animals and insects to dispose of. BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3, The Meaning of Zong, Spacious open-plan family home in Muswell Hill, Five Cineworlds across south London still at risk of permanent closure, Residents who have 'suffered for years' to be asked if they want blocks knocked down, Dazzling Thamesmead light festival returns with performances, films and flash mob, Charlton murderer claims prison guards broke his arm and sues for 20k, Children and young people with eating disorders face treatment postcode lottery, Angry protests erupt over Greek rail disaster, How fake copyright complaints are muzzling journalists, 1894 shipwreck confirms tale of treacherous lifeboat. We aint paying no goddam reparations & no-ones gonna make us. To me personally, this is the thing. We do not know how great the demand for women was. That involved killing the adult men. However, it applies to at least 80% of Americans. If someone from Portugal or France wants to explain why their country has done a better job of getting the balance right, Im open to hearing it. I do not see what is different between a plantation in Africa and a plantation in Virginia. What has he got to say about that? Oblong, Well the universe has a law of gravity but it doesnt have a law of should there be reparations. So 10.416 were sold by the Africans every month for one hundred years, There will be no peace on this issue until black people acknowledge their own responsibility for the trade. Black and British: A Forgotten History Olusoga, who is half-Nigerian, traces this focus to his mother telling him when he was a child that Nigerian soldiers served in World War II. Just means they werent alone in being in the wrong. But Ill tell you what, slavery and human sacrifice, still awful. "So when black history was missing - the history of empire, the history of slavery - was missing from my history lessons, I didn't have a place to go to discover those missing chapters. He is the undisputed King of the Internet Pedants and Lord of the Unnecessary Snark. Check out the trailer for Peter Pan & Wendy, an upcoming live-action movie directed by David Lowery. Some were sold to other African tribes and the rest kept as slaves. When Olusoga recalled the experience before television cameras last year, he wept. Anybody can do this. And so many hundreds of thousands of British workers were directly dependent on slavery (from sailors to those who built, rigged and repaired ships) that it was easy to turn a blind eye to the inhumanity. Video, 1894 shipwreck confirms tale of treacherous lifeboat, BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3: The Meaning of Zong, BBC Bitesize: The Zong 1781-1783 - The triangular trade, during a debate on Black History and Cultural Diversity in the Curriculum, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Explosive found in check-in luggage at US airport, Fungus case forces Jack Daniels to halt construction, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Fire knocks out half of Argentina's power grid, Havana Syndrome unlikely to have hostile cause - US, Starbucks illegally fired workers over union - judge. And the transatlantic slave trade? Youre right, MBE. Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade is part of the national curriculum, although it is not statutory. Pretty much everybody in the West is against slavery. That someone did something 200 years ago means double ought nothing. "They're not looking to history only to make them feel good and give them comfort, but they're looking to history to tell them things about truths about their society that we have traditionally edited out of British history.". Sloane witnessed and later became part of a system ruled by terror. Ill disparage them. 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. As would Beyonce. Intellectually more convincing anyway for practical and political purposes, demolishing a straw-man often makes a better video or audio clip while simultaneously making your opponents position sound stupid. Olusoga has benefited from and added significantly to the work of Fryer and other historians such as James Walvin. In 1796, a bill was defeated by only four votes: a group of abolitionist MPs went to the opera and missed the vote. Nevertheless, we live in a society that generally regards slavery as an absolute and eternal wrong, and a grave one at that, yet which has historically (at least certain people and places, and including the state itself) benefited from imposing slavery on others. Yet American slave-produced raw cotton continued to feed the 4,500 mills of Lancashire. And the third, fourth, fifth, and so on. Surely the US has already spent much more than that on black Americans. That was when the Democrats were still Americans. Not a big fan of the odd human sacrifice Im afraid, even though I might just be of very partial Scandinavian descent myself. Black and British: A Forgotten History addresses one of the greatest silences in British historiography. I cant see this one surviving people being expected to dig into their pockets for a few trillion. Its a replay of the ecology nutters & the trannies. In the 15th and 16th centuries, thousands of pounds of gold were shipped to Europe. They also ran a slave trade to the Ottoman empire and white slavery in the north without any help from Europeans. Quite possibly slave-raiding Gaels before that. "Equiano is the most important voice that we have from the British experience of slavery and the slave trade," he said. Reckon they found commenters guessing which parts of a hypothetical argument were meant all part of the fun, In many respects youre one of the posters here whose views on morality Im closest to our personal moralities probably being quite far apart, but I recognise mine as very much the product of my upbringing and surrounding society and know enough about other places and times to realise just how contingent that makes them. So this race baiter can try his guilt trip on someone else. Would, say, Huguenot-descended South Africans suing France over the 1572 St. Bartholomews Day massacre, or Cornish people suing HMG for the suppression of the 1497 Rebellion, deserve compensation? The point about slave descendants in Georgia being better off than descendants of slave sellers from West Africa is reasonably strong (though look back in everyones ancestry and youre likely to find, far back enough, a mix of slaves, owners and probably traders too). Had a vault for the more inflammatory pieces. Should black history be taught all year round? But any planter who deliberately starved his slaves to death would quickly go bust. (If the likes of SMFS believe Western society will fall apart without a return to traditional Christian-inspired values, I suggest they either don a pessimists crash-helmet or just cling on and enjoy the ride to Hell in their top-gear handcart. Full text must be online somewhere but theres an extract at https://www.history.co.uk/shows/the-real-vikings/articles/eyewitness-to-the-vikings. Nineteen eighty-four was a transformative year for David Olusoga. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Video, 00:02:30. 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