THE DUKE of Cambridge has expressed “profound sorrow” for slavery – but failed to apologise for Britain’s role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
During his speech in Kingston Jamaica, Prince William said slavery was “abhorrent” and that “it should have never happened” but stopped short of apologising.
Sis Esther Stanford-Xosei is coordinator general of the ‘Stop the Maangamizi Campaign‘, which aims to highlight the atrocities faced by African people and people of African descent globally.
Speaking to The Voice, she said the Duke’s comments are nothing more than “fancy words” that mean nothing.
She said: “There was no show of remorse in actuality. It is once again an attempt to distort history and absolve themselves of contemporary responsibility.”
Ms Stanford-Xosei is a key reparations activist and is the official spokesperson for the Afrikan Emancipation Day March Committee, who have been organising an annual reparations march in London since 2014.
She said: “A big part of reparations is about the recognition of harm and actually stopping the harm.”
Ms Stanford-Xosei said conversations about slavery reparations should be spearheaded by those who are the descendants of the enslaved and not those who have “benefitted” from it.
She said: “He cannot apologise for an institution of enslavement that has continued on throughout the generations and for which he is still benefitting.
“For there to be a genuine apology, it has to be one of substance that is linked to material and structural changes and more importantly systemic change throughout society.”
“It is time for the monarchy to relinquish ill-gotten gains derived from the trafficking of enslaved African people.
“Paying us some trinkets when they maintain the lion’s share of the wealth and the global power to keep hold of their power for generations to come, is not good enough and we need more than that,’ she added.
Prince William made the speech at a black-tie dinner hosted by Patrick Allen, governor general of Jamaica, at King’s House in Kingston last night.
He said: “I strongly agree with my father, The Prince of Wales, who said in Barbados last year that the appalling atrocity of slavery forever stains our history.
“I want to express my profound sorrow. Slavery was abhorrent, And it should never have happened.
“While the pain runs deep, Jamaica continues to forge its future with determination, courage and fortitude.
“The strength and shared sense of purpose of the Jamaican people, represented in your flag and motto, celebrate an invincible spirit.”
Britain has a long record of dancing around the word ‘sorry’ for being the world’s biggest enslaver and profiteer of kidnapped Africans.
In 2001, the then Prime Minister Tony Blair sent a minister to a United Nations conference on slavery to argue that it was “legal at the time.”
Six years later, during the bicentenary of abolition, Mr Blair admitted to a mainly-black invited audience in Downing Street that he had been advised by government lawyers not to apologise for fear of opening the door to legal action for reparations.
Mr Blair told the reception: “If you can’t apologise for slavery what can you apologise for?” He issued a “statement of regret” which angered activists for stopping short of a full apology.
Mr Blair wrote: “It is hard to believe what would now be a crime against humanity was legal at the time.”
Ms Stanford-Xosei welcomed the idea of Jamaica removing the Queen as the head of state and said it is time to “let go of all the relics of Empire and finish the unfinished task of liberation and decolonisation, which is still to happen in Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean.”
In an interview with The Voice, last year, Ms Stanford-Xosei said CARICOM had been making steps towards reparations since 2013 and had no luck with their requests over the last nine years.
She claims Prof. Hilary Beckles, Chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC) said the European countries which had been approached were “not listening”.
The discussions on reparations have been prevalent amongst groups, like Pan-Africanists, the Rastafarian community and the Nation of Islam in the Caribbean and the UK for decades.
Ms Stanford-Xosei welcomed the highly-publicised protests in Belize and Jamaica and said they reflect the “mood of ordinary people.”
She urged African and Caribbean communities to seek “proper education” about the history of the slave trade “to support the growing calls for reparations”.
She said: “We need to have a broader sense of what was lost, what was taken, so we know what we are entitled to and how we can seek to obtain it.
“There are initiatives such as the Maangamizi Educational Trust that are doing that kind of work and supporting the recently established All-Party Parliamentary Group for African Reparations.”
The monarch also acknowledged the contributions of the Windrush generation “who came to the United Kingdom to help rebuild after the Second World War.”
He added: “We are forever grateful for the immense contribution that this generation and their descendants have made to British life, which continues to enrich and improve society.
“I’m delighted that a national monument acknowledging and celebrating the Windrush generation by Jamaican artist, Basil Watson, will be unveiled later this year in Waterloo Station in London.”
The couple are scheduled to fly to The Bahamas today to conclude their Royal Caribbean Tour.
However, ahead of their arrival, the Bahamas National Reparations Committee has also demanded reparations ahead of their arrival today.
In a statement published on Tuesday said: “We are not beholden to the British monarchy in any way and we do not owe them a debt of gratitude for anything – not for our culture, religion, or system of government.
“Instead, the monarchy has looted and pillaged our land and our people for centuries, leaving us struggling with under-development, let to pick up the pieces.”
The statement added: “We are tired of paying literally with our lives for the maintenance of a paradigm in which we are exploited so others could be exalted. It is time now for reparatory justice. The time is now for reparations.”
The statement also questioned whether the visit would have any benefit to local Bahamians.
The statement asked: “However, once William and Kate have passed over the newly paved roads, driven by the freshly painted walls, and waved to the schoolchildren who have been pulled out of their classes to stand and watch them go by, what will Bahamian people be left with?”
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As a child of school age, I was made to fry in the blazing sun for hours while waiting for some royal of impeachable reputation to go by, complete with plastic smile; only to come to Britain and be treated like a pariah, with those same royals behaving as if it’s got ‘f’ all to do with them. The people of Jamaica should have demanded that William take back with him all those whom his mother’s government deported after devoting their entire life to rebuilding Britain.
A plague on all their bloody houses…!
Professor Gus John
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This visit was all about continuing the monarchy and simply a jolly for the the royals. Who did the financial burden fall to? What is the legacy of this visit ? Was a hospital built? Was an orphanage built and funded? Was a kate and William educational trust fund established? Did they meet with captains of industry to hear about economic hardship and open doors for a trade deal? When they return to the UK, will they publicly stand with the Windrush generation and denounce the racist hostile environment against Jamaican and African people? Until then …
Sir Hilary Beckles, the Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, introducing his wonderful book “Britain Black Debt” at Oxford University in 2015, expressed great anger against Sir Tony Blair’s agent Dame Valerie Amos.
Dame Valerie Amos was sent to the South African conference by British Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair, to specifically oppose the 2001 UN General Assembly World Conference Against Racism, Discrimination demand for British reparation to its African and Caribbean subjects.
When British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the Caribbean in 2012, he had the temerity to tell the people of Jamaica to “get over” slavery and stop demanding reparation.
In 2017, the last five British Prime Minister provided £75m of Treasury money to honour Jewish German interwar oppression; of which the British Parliament held no jurisdiction.
The English Parliament and Bishops of the Anglican Church controlled all aspects of English slavery in the Caribbean.
What a slap in the face for all of Her Majesty’s African and Caribbean-heritage subjects. The Caribbean nations continue to be treated badly by the English state and with great financial disparity. A royal Caribbean visit cannot repair the financial disparity.
In England, Her Majesty’s African-Caribbean heritage Subjects have been treated exceptionally badly by the English Parliament and institutions.
I can now foresee a time when the Home Office will actively cancel the status of African Caribbean-heritage Subjects.
For these reasons and with a heavily heart, Her Majesty’s African-heritage people must recognise the time has come to remove Her Majesty as the Head of State in the Caribbean nations and even leave the “commonwealth.”
It is unlikely the British Royal Family will survive Her Majesty the Queen’s passing.
Every group has been apologized to for historical atrocities. But Black people are supposed to get over it whilst these people walk around in jewels expecting us to still bow to them in the 21st century.
Even if we never see a dime they all need to know that yesterday is gone. You are not our “ betters” due to an accident of birth. White supremacy we see you. You are not fooling us anymore. At least donate money to the poor in the UK and leave us alone. These people are so obsessed with the colonial era. William in the Rover made me ill .