The Empire Pays Back

Writer: Tony Snow

Introduction | Slave-owner compensation | Legacy of slavery | Apologies | Profit and loss

Profit and loss

But world leaders have consistently proved more reticent on apologising for the Transatlantic slave trade. Clearly, any claim would be on an unprecedented scale. The African World Reparations and Repatriation Truth Commission has put the bill at £400 thousand billion, which, it insists, should be met by 'all those nations of Western Europe and the Americas and institutions, who participated and benefited from the slave trade and colonialism'. It also calls for all international debt owed by Africa to be unconditionally cancelled.

But it is not just nations which profited. Many commercial entities were able to gain an economic foothold through the slave trade, which, it should be noted could not have been established without the involvement of some Africans. In addition a clear distinction needs to be made between the gains made by some Africans, and the long-term wealth accrued by the nations of Europe. Acquisitions, mergers and dissolution of companies make following the paper trail a messy business.

In addition to individual companies benefit, entire cities such as Liverpool and Bristol enjoyed a period of economic prosperity thanks to the triangular trade of manufactured goods going to Africa, slaves going from Africa to the colonies, and sugar coming back from the colonies to Britain.

In the US, the reparations debate is far more advanced. Investigations by historians and lawyers have even exposed some British firms – operating in the tobacco and rubber industries – to the prospect of litigation. Earlier this year, America's second biggest bank, JP Morgan Chase, made a rare apology for its subsidiaries' involvement in the slave trade with the admission that it accepted slaves as loan collateral and ended up owning several hundred. It sent a letter to employees expressing contrition for its involvement in a 'brutal and unjust institution' and established an initial $5m college scholarship programme for black students.

While it is unlikely a time will ever come when the British government will find it politically expedient to financially compensate the descendents of slaves for crimes of the past, it does nonetheless have a duty to redress the disparity it helped create between Africa and the rest of the world through the slave trade. The continent was stripped of its wealth over a period of centuries. And in reality, no amount of money can repair the damage done.

400 years of slavery, followed by 200 years of inertia would undoubtedly take an equal amount of time to fully remedy. But until the wounds begins to heal, slavery continues to serve as a reminder that those with blood on their hands have a debt to the people of Africa. Cancelling the debt of African nations is surely the first step on the road to reparation, although the journey is so long that there will be no end in sight for centuries to come.

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