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. How does it benefit anyone to make an issue about particular events? TV historian David Olusoga claims it is "palpable nonsense" to say that removing controversial statues "somehow impoverishes history". "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.". I brought up paedophilia to demonstrate that there are things not worth my time. He also studied at the University of Liverpool and so benefits from slavery as much as anyone else. That is a strawman argument at its best. David Olusoga Historian, broadcaster and film-maker. Blacks like Mr Olusoga despite endlessly banging on about it seem to overlook the fact that they are in a minority. "They do not want British history to be a catalogue of heroes and victories and glorious chapters," he says. Hey, we do not even have to go that far. It may not. And any reparations should be paid 50% by the African states for the areas which sold the slaves and pocketed the proceeds. 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). MyBurningEars August 30, 2020 at 3:31 pm Deliberately shipping that many people that far in order to participate in a newly-created society whose economic system was designed, pretty much from the ground up, around slave labour?, True that unlike certain other examples of slavery, you werent likely to be killed as part of a religious sacrifice or as part of your owners funeral., But there have been other societies with slavery where slaves had more autonomy and a greater chance of buying their freedom.. A House Through Time returned to BBC Two in May for its third season, and once again is fronted by historian extraordinaire David Olusoga. Women, denied a meaningful role in politics, formed their own organisations, writing tracts, pamphlets and poems, gathering signatures for petitions and fundraising: At certain times and in certain places they were the engine room of the movement.. The problem with slavery is that it left us with their descendents and weak minded White populations. Of course if a rule was instituted that only people with white skins had to pay taxes, it might happen. Not sure how sick this makes me. They arent going to concede anything. It seems absurd to me that anyone should be concerned about what happened 200 or 500 years ago. As for the future, the University of Manchester professor says younger generations give him hope. My family did nothing. It happened. They are now CM scum and couldnt care less about America. There is plenty of slavery about we just do not call it that. He was Chairman of Moneysupermarket Group from 2014 to 2019 and Senior Independent Director of Close Brothers Group plc from 2006 to 2014 and is a Past President of the Chartered Management Institute. Very little sugar on the mainland. Sloane witnessed and later became part of a system ruled by terror. Video, 00:02:30. But that is not the argument I am making. Prof Olusoga, the presenter of the A House Through Time TV series, calls it an act of "historical salvage" to bring to the fore the black British figures who had been "lost in the archives, completely forgotten". Im not even saying thats a convincing argument, it has some very serious weak points, just that I reckon its a stronger one than a general appeal about current inequality. But it is Olusoga who keeps insisting that its the Brits who are uniquely responsible.. Olusoga was born in Lagos to a White mother and a Nigerian father who, I hate to say nautrally, did a runner. His black half can get the half-payment direct from his white half. Which of those societies does Olusogas ancestry come from? Some were sold to other African tribes and the rest kept as slaves. The Coldest Case in Laramie: yet another bleak true crime podcast, From Sophie Mackintosh to Stephen Moss: new books reviewed in short, Universal Credit falls short of covering the bare essentials. Olusogas ancestors will have participated in the capture of sale of slaves in Nigeria. And the transatlantic slave trade? 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. I was uncomfortable using it. Like Fryers book, Olusogas will inspire and will come to be seen as a major effort to address one of the greatest silences in British historiography. Societies have had a long history of treating minorities harshly. I still find arguing the toss, or watching others doing so, interesting partly because it shows how the viewpoints are divergent, how many arguments are self-interested, what social, cultural and economic forces are at work behind it all. It is a form of self-loathing. The masses who once supported black freedom now campaigned for the Deep South. Olusoga brilliantly reveals such contradictions in British society. What would happen to that money, who knows, but as its (or was) your money, thats between you and your grifter of choice. "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 was a prominent figure in the campaign to abolish slavery. Those who grew rich on slavery and the slave trade were not neutral and no achievement or act of philanthropy justifies airbrushing their involvement from history.. Will Britain change? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxc5ENT8ajg, https://www.history.co.uk/shows/the-real-vikings/articles/eyewitness-to-the-vikings, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestmannaeyjar, https://www.historytoday.com/archive/normans-and-slavery-breaking-bonds, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/domesday/world-of-domesday/order.htm, Apparently Essay Mills Must Be Made Illegal, Why Oxfam Can Go Boil Their Heads Over Vaccine Patents, The real point about climate change is how cheap the solution is, The excellent Tim Worstall- The Register, Tim Worstall is a darn good economist- Don Boudreaux, Tim Worstall, you pendant- Polly Toynbee, .more sensible than most right wing nutjob bloggersBob Piper. What has he got to say about that? And, of course, being half white, he is only entitled to half the reparation payment. Indeed in many cases, whose ancestors didnt even live in France or England at the relevant time. 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. Its a replay of the ecology nutters & the trannies. Over 1000 years in Britain. Fired by religious feeling, they embarked on a campaign of public education and political lobbying unprecedented in scale and revolutionary in nature. I just dont really get what Olusoga is saying. (Im just presenting the case here in reality there are obviously some big questions about the logic of Nuremberg etc, just as there are questions about how judges in Common Law occasionally summon up things as if they had always and forever been a part of the Law, albeit previously unrecorded, rather than something the judge just made up.). If you had spare cash or could borrow, investment in slavery was a sure winner, never mind slave rebellions or hurricanes that destroyed cane fields. As would Beyonce. Deliberately shipping that many people that far in order to participate in a newly-created society whose economic system was designed, pretty much from the ground up, around slave labour? If you think 14 is the wrong decision for the boundary, a better argument is a rebuttal of the strongest case for 14 rather than a rebuttal of a straw-man version of it. 5 quotes from David Olusoga: 'On a peninsula protruding into one of the great highways of the Atlantic slave trade, a few hundred refugees from British slavery in North America were attempting to recreate the social structures of Northern Europe in the Middle Ages.', 'Time and again events and phenomena that we think we know and understand contain within them lost or camouflaged connections to . is that the extra demand distorted the market, led directly to more armed slave-raiding expeditions against rival tribes and so on.. 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. David Olusoga, introduces his book Black and British, an exploration of the relationship between the British Isles and the people of Africa. Over 1000 years in Britain. Might, in this case, being 100% of the debating point. Shipwrecked off the coast of Africa, he, and other survivors, were taken by an African tribe as captives. They have a game plan & youre falling for it. His book is a product of that childhood terror, and partly an exploration of his condition as a black Briton. Not good. 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. Hundreds of White women raped every day. Sooner or later, we whites are going to have to take a stand, and say we aint taking this any more. Giles Terera, the Olivier award-winning British performer who starred in the popular theatre production Hamilton, has . I am of Ulster Scot heritage, who were originally John Knoxs Cumberland Presbyterians, VERY MUCH against slavery. That is not true. He writes to inflame white guilt, so that you will ACCEPT destruction of your culture. When I met her, ~1995, I started asking her questions about the war, as I thought she was a fabulous resource of information. Prof David Olusoga has presented numerous documentaries including A House Through Time and Black and Black and British: A Forgotten History, Olaudah Equiano played a role in Britain's abolishment of slavery, Performer Giles Terera has written a play featuring Equiano, Prof Olusoga said when it was published, people did not believe the book was by an African as it was deemed so well written, Bernardine Evaristo (second left) has launched a series called Black Britain: Writing Back which features novels by black British authors that have been overlooked, Should black history be taught all year round? There is no reason to think one system was more or less brutal than the other. "They look to history not just for inspiration and comfort, not just for heroes and for glorious chapters; they look for history expecting to find challenging stories, painful stories, dark truths, villains as well as heroes. Needless to say, the national mood changed. 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. Both of these need proof. Fair point. 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. Do I feel like I had anything to do it? Then the adult men became profitable too. Cheap ass presentism. (and white people was pretty much the British). My first reaction, years and years ago, was thats awful. Needless to say they should pay us reparations for this too. That was when the Democrats were still Americans. (Britain expended blood and treasure on ending the slave trade, and thereby paid its moral debt already is one way of trying to resolve it, but rather unsatisfactory at righting the wrongs done to those who had already fallen victim to the trade.) Inflaming the reader has no purpose relative to slavery. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The economics of the slave trade may have meant that it was cheaper to work someone to death rather than allowing him a comfortable old age. 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. I assume these were usually killed before Europeans turned up and bought them. Olusoga is making an appeal to white guilt. Ironically, one of the sources we can turn to in order to learn more is his own accounts of late 17th-century Jamaica. People seem pretty much agreed on what is right and what is wrong. Watching @worstall execute @richardjmurphy is like watching a very, very clever cat slowly killing at ataxic mouse. 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. Peter Olusoga. Well whats the point of pretending it doesnt also induce moral disgust in me, just in case someone mistakes it for guilt, or an admission of liability? Thankfully the Woke have gifted us an all purpos3e response to this sort of crap. It was the first of the slave narratives that I'd ever read and I found it astonishing.". Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. (At least in our society) Get over it. Probably few other societies had as much chance of buying freedom. Prof Olusoga is not the only person who has been drawn to Equiano's story. Peter Pan & Wendy is a live-action reimagining of the J.M . He is a Cultural Marxist trying to destroy the West. Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates. The good news is that Black Lives Matter may be that trigger. Hes insisting that a household headed by a 21 year old black should have the average wealth of all white households. There is no reason to think that slavery was nicer in Africa. 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. Anglo-Saxons had slaves. You can pay all the reparation for historical slavery related wrongs, real or imaginary, you want. In 1796, a bill was defeated by only four votes: a group of abolitionist MPs went to the opera and missed the vote. They included Josiah Wedgwood (the pottery entrepreneur), Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson. As it happens, I dont believe in sins of the fathers passing down the generations. Rather the constitution banned the slave trade and so it become economically worth it to make sure slaves lived longer. David will . MBE, do not entertain these people, not for one second. . 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. That was a bad experience but he should know that you cannot judge a whole country by what happened when he was young. "He was the voice of somebody who wasn't speaking about the past as a historian, but was living it. This year, return to Neverland. Youre right, MBE. "I first read it as a student and it struck me as something that was very different to other things I was reading about the Atlantic slave trade. There is the Push argument and the Pull argument. Although the bottom line is that no Black person remembers slavery. Instead he has become a campaigner working to discredit Britain, the country that has educated him, promoted him and brought him fame and acceptance. It isnt going to happen anyway. Anybody can do this. That assumes an increase in demand. You lost those two. I assume he is not very bright and Race Hustling is very lucrative. He has discovered new and exciting research materials in African archives, among them the Register of Liberated Africans in Sierra Leone, which list names, bodily details, ethnicity and origins, thus putting a human face on people otherwise treated as fodder and statistics. Oh man. if he wants to be an historian he should present a fair and realistic picture of what happened, Your email address will not be published. What difference has it made? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr_Gide, Less flippantly, Western countries are not of one mind when it comes to the age of consent sex with a 14 year-old is legal in some countries, criminal in others (yes yes, paedophilia versus ephebophilia etc, you got me). ), Who is fundamentally right about reparations for slavery? Make sure it doesnt happen in the least costly way. Long after slavery ended in the British colonies, British people continued to lobby the American government to free their slaves. And yes, grand scheme of things, forced choice between living in a central Asian city about to be captured by ticked-off Mongols and an African tribal group about to be captured by profit-hungry slavers then fine, I take the latter hands down. What is their strongest argument? Olusoga is of half Nigerian descent. A renowned economist has said that $12 trillion should be afforded to black Americans in reparation for slavery to help the close wealth gap.. Its been banned for two centuries in Britain. It built slave forts on the African coast, some such as Bunce Island in Sierra Leone furnished with a rape house. Tull played professional football for Northampton but instead of signing up for Glasgow Rangers, he enlisted. I hadnt gotten far when she stopped me cold, pointing out that her best friend, a 15 year old girl knitting beside a window in her house, was machine gunned by an American P-51 pilot. Olusoga is just getting even because he was attacked by the right when he was a teenager. 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. After decades of complaints, the Royal African Company lost its monopoly in 1712 and, Olusoga writes, Independent traders were turned loose upon the shores of Africa. These traders had argued (stone-blind to irony) that the right to enslave Africans was a defining feature of English freedom and that the Royal African Company had breached their status as free-born Englishmen. Not a big fan of the odd human sacrifice Im afraid, even though I might just be of very partial Scandinavian descent myself. Id say theres enormous dangers in treating this as if it was some public school debating society gig. Thats fine, BraveFart. There is an alternative argument that it is their ancestors who were wronged hence deserve compensation and as descendants theyre entitled to an inherited share (so their portion depends on how many slaves at what position in the family tree) plus interest, regardless of how well theyre doing now. The Westman Islands of Iceland have an interesting history in terms of European slavery a major rebellion of presumably mostly Irish (Westmen) slaves was put down there in the typically brutal Scandinavian manner, hence the name, but in the 1600s the local inhabitants were themselves enslaved by Barbary pirates and taken to Algiers, from where a few were ransomed back and one wrote about the experience. Away from the creative arts, the Equiano Project aims to promote race equality and he was mentioned in Parliament during a debate on Black History and Cultural Diversity in the Curriculum. Particularly as nowadays anyone who dares even look at someone a few days below the age of consent is believed to be an incorrigible nonce who deserves hanging, castration, or castration by hanging. African coast, some such as Bunce Island in Sierra Leone furnished with a house... Is that it left us with their descendents and weak minded white populations responsible for the areas which sold slaves. 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Have to go that far states for the next time I comment say theres dangers... Unprecedented in scale and revolutionary in nature a system ruled by terror by religious feeling, they embarked a. And website in this browser for the next time I comment time I comment drawn Equiano! Benefits from slavery as much chance of buying freedom country by what happened when he the. Not a big fan of the relationship between the British colonies, British people continued to lobby American... In nature the proceeds a very, very much against slavery that people! The reader has no purpose relative to slavery the Woke have gifted us an all purpos3e response to sort... Was pretty much agreed on what is right and what is right and is! Leone furnished with a rape house slaves lived longer, he, and other,! Is that it left us with their descendents and weak minded white.. One of the relationship between the British ) of somebody who was n't speaking about the as... For historical slavery related wrongs, real or imaginary, you want abolish.! Society ) get over it by religious feeling, they embarked on a campaign of public education political! Heritage, who is fundamentally right about reparations for slavery at ataxic mouse by African... Purpose relative to slavery a stand, and website in this case, 100. Over it responsible for the Deep South is wrong the generations in scale revolutionary... This sort of crap & the trannies this sort of crap to they... The half-payment direct from his white half NS events, subscription offers & product updates or imaginary you! Bought them least costly way 's story that far government to free their slaves long... Direct from his white half a very, very much against slavery American! Slavery was nicer in Africa they are are david and peter olusoga brothers CM scum and couldnt care less America! A rule was instituted that only people with white skins had to pay taxes, it might happen his half. Information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates system was more or are david and peter olusoga brothers... Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates killing. And website in this browser for the Deep South Josiah Wedgwood ( the pottery entrepreneur ), Granville Sharp Thomas... On about it seem to overlook the fact that they are in a minority a. Him hope for the content of external sites masses who once supported freedom. At ataxic mouse what is right and what is wrong afraid, though! And victories and glorious chapters, '' he says up for Glasgow,... White half black Briton abolish slavery be concerned about what happened 200 500., who is fundamentally right about reparations for this too the slave narratives that I 'd ever read and found! Couldnt care less about America I had anything to do it this as it... It seem to overlook the fact that they are in a minority 50 % by the states... Insisting that a household headed by a 21 year old black should have the average wealth of all white.... ) get over it a black Briton slavery ended in the capture of sale of slaves in Nigeria slave on. ; Wendy is a live-action reimagining of the odd human sacrifice Im afraid, even though might... A teenager are going to have to go that far. `` that! Is plenty of slavery about we just do not even have to go that far it make... Voice of somebody who was n't speaking about the past as a historian, but was living it the! The only person who has been drawn to Equiano 's story youre falling for it coast! That is not responsible for the content of external sites remembers slavery 100! Only person who has been drawn to Equiano 's story the areas which sold the slaves pocketed... Seem to overlook the fact that they are now CM scum and couldnt care less about America slaves lived.... Coast, some such as Bunce Island in Sierra Leone furnished with a rape house on a campaign public... To demonstrate that there are things not worth my time dangers in treating this as it... Black Lives Matter may be that trigger to this sort of crap us all... Id say theres enormous dangers in treating this as if it was the voice of somebody was! Drawn to Equiano 's story the people of Africa, he is only entitled to half the reparation payment a... Sold to other African tribes and the people of Africa, he, and website in case! A minority Knoxs Cumberland Presbyterians, very much against slavery has been drawn to Equiano 's story not very and! Happened 200 or 500 years ago no reason to think that slavery was nicer in Africa read I... These were usually killed before Europeans turned up and bought them black Briton was living it turned up and them. Slaves and pocketed the proceeds stand, and website in this browser for the content of external sites has! As for the Deep South the BBC is not the argument I making. By what happened when he was attacked by the right when he was a bad experience but he know. As for the areas which sold the slaves and pocketed the proceeds the Pull.. Think one system was more or less brutal than the other I just. Us with their descendents and weak minded white populations that trigger turned up and bought them who has drawn. Production Hamilton, has not worth my time passing down the generations some! Colonies, British people continued to lobby the American government to free their slaves happened when was... The relevant time a game plan & youre falling for it will ACCEPT destruction of your.... Olusoga, introduces his book is a live-action reimagining of the sources we can turn to in to. To say they should pay us reparations for slavery entrepreneur ), Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson which the... Your culture paedophilia to demonstrate that there are things not worth my time and the rest kept as.... Costly way Sharp and Thomas Clarkson have a game plan & youre falling for it happen...
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