A CONSERVATIVE MP could be made to pay reparations for the slave trade by Barbados after first rejecting the calls for him to atone his family’s slave trade past.
Richard Drax, the MP for Dorset South, recently travelled to the Caribbean country for a private meeting with prime minister Mia Mottley, The Observer has reported.
It is understood that the meeting was held to hash out new plans on how Mr Drax could pay back the money stacked up from his family’s role in trading black lives with a report now in cabinet laying out the next steps.
The landmark report is reported to leave Mr Drax at the risk of legal action if an agreement on reparations is not made.
David Comissiong, the Barbados ambassador to Caricom and deputy chairman of the Barbados National Task Force on Reparations, told The Observer that the British royal family is also being considered next in line to pay reparations along with Drax: “It is now a matter that is before the government of Barbados. It is being dealt with at the highest level.
“Drax is fabulously wealthy today. The Drax family is the central family in the whole story of enslavement in Barbados. They are the architects of slavery-based sugar production. They have a deep historical responsibility. The process has only just begun and we trust that we will be able to negotiate. If that doesn’t work, there are other methods, including litigation.
He added: “Other families are involved, though not as prominently as the Draxes. This reparations journey has begun. The matter is now for the cabinet of Barbados. It is in motion. It is being dealt with.”
Mr Drax, 64, is understood to be worth up to £150m following his family’s ownership of the Drax Hall sugar plantation in Barbados spread across 621-acres.
The wealthy family also owned a plantation in Jamaica before they sold it in the 19th century.
The Tory MP, who once described his ancestor’s dealings in the trans-Atlantic slave trade as “deeply, deeply regrettable”, was reported to be living a “Downtown Abbey lifestyle” and has an estate of 22.5 square miles of Dorset and a 17th-century mansion among his lustrous property portfolio.
Caribbean countries have been ramping up efforts for reparations to be paid following the surge of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and in the aftermath of recent visits to the region by the Royal Family.
Barbados, which became a republic in November 2021, is just one of the many islands who are making history by removing the British monarch as their head of state to distance themselves from their colonial legacy with the Empire.
Last year, Mr Drax had previously resisted the growing calls to pay reparations over the slave trade.
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England’s last five Prime Minister readily agreed in 2017 to gift £75m of public money to European Caucasian converts to the ancient Hebrew Religion or Hebrew Semitic Racial identity, to build a museum to honour their German war-time persecution and detention.
If His Majesty’s last five Prime Ministers gifted £75m of taxpayer money for an historical event which His Majesty’s Parliament held no jurisdiction.
His Majesty’s last five Prime Minister ought to gleefully agree to pay compensation to the islands and people of the Caribbean; whose centuries of unpaid labour created the fabulous wealth which caused England to become the first industrialised nation.
The shocking truth is the Bishop of the Anglican Church held the largest number Africans as slaves in the English Caribbean.
From their comfortable seats in the House of Lords, the Anglican Bishops directed all aspect of their African-Caribbean slaves nasty; brutish and short life.
Sir Hiliary Beckle’s, the Vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, book, “Britain Black Debt” reveals the central role the Bishops of the Anglican Church played in making slavery respectable and theologically acceptable.
“Britain Black Debt” ought to be read by all of His Majesty’s African-Caribbean heritage Subjects.
The Anglican Bishop need to obeyed the Holy Bible and Repent; Atone and offer worthy Restitution for abusing the Semitic Hebrew Messiah’s Gospel Message and Crucifixion example, to become rich on their African-slaves centuries of unpaid labour.
Probably worth noting here than the inhabitants of this country dating back to BCE times were slaves. Slaves of tribes coming into the country. Slaves of the Romans, Vikings, Normans. In medieval times ‘slavery’ was legalised as Serfdom and all people were subject to or responsible for ‘slaves’. Nothing to do with colour, creed, religion etc. Black people, by and large, have never been the subject of slavery in the same fashion as Europeans and Asians who enslaved each other from prehistoric times. Black people are beginning to believe they are solely responsible for the world we live in and that their contribution is the only one that matters.
Arab Nations traded in far more African Slaves than white and it continued long after the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was finished. However I did notice people don’t want to know or mention this,
The United Kingdom its people, Government or Royalty will never pay up or acknowledge it in the same as the Holocaust.
People of African or Caribbean origin could take the Country to court across the world. Its useless and waste of energy.