Apologise for the slave trade - yes or no?

Reading this title it actually got be quite emotive. Why on earth would I want to apologise for the slave trade. I wasn't around at the time these poor souls were transported half way across the world in dire conditions and then sold to rich profiteers, in order to give them a good life and make them a huge profit. If I was around at the time of the slave trade, even if I had lots of money, it is unlikely I would have ever bought a slave. It would have been unhuman, just as it would be today. It isn't in my nature. A comparrison I would like to make would be if Iraq came to our country in 50 years time, and asked for an apology for the thousands of innocent ...  Read the complete review

Entering Third Year in Scottish Secondary Education...picking school subjects...History is top of the priority list. Was it because of the topics we were going to be covering? Not at all, I had no idea what the course covered. It was purely because History is something I have such a passion for, a great love of mine. When I discovered we would be learning about Britain and its connections with the Slave Trade, I didn't know what to expect. I hadn't even heard about the Slave Trade at that point! Am I arrogant? No. It had simply never been brought to my attention. Perhaps this is for a reason - maybe we Brits are ashamed of how our ancestors treated the Africans captured ...  Read the complete review

I feel that firstly an apology wouldn't really cut the mustard here, with what was inflicted on these men, women and children just saying sorry would be insulting. But... even if there were something that could be said or done to make up for what happened... who would say or do it? And who would they say it to? What I'm saying is, how can we apologise for something we didn't do to someone we didn't do it to. English and American people today are not responsible for what our ancestors did. And African people today can't really expect anyone to accept responsibility. I get really annoyed when you see someone on TV of African descent ...  Read the complete review

Slavery existed in Britain. British citizens were subjected to serfdom. Working for local landowner in exchange for leased piece of land and protection. This was not harsh as as what happened in the 18th century. African slaves were brought to mainland UK and taken to various parts of the British Empire. Worse was workers in cotton and sugar fields in places like the Caribbean and Americas. In UK a consensus was reached amongst slave traders legalising slavery. Slaves in England had some sort of life. It was much different for Africans sold as slaves to the British colonies in and around the American continent. Slaves were shipped in inhumane conditions and ...  Read the complete review

If I told you slavery was on the increase then you wouldn’t believe me. I’m not talking about men being chained together and transported across the Atlantic Ocean; but I am talking about modern day slavery, something the West still benefits heavily from. On the news the other day I saw an undercover UN childcare agency operation, infiltrating a Vietnamese brothel that was full of young girls from the ages of 8-18, a stream of foreign men paying for their services. The police didn’t want to know and a tip- off meant the brothel was empty when it was raided. I then read a story about African UN peacekeepers enslaving Sudanese children and adults for sex as the ...  Read the complete review