Bristol and the Slave Trade

There is a debate raging in Bristol about the slave trade. From 1698 to its abolition in 1807 Bristol was part of the infamous slave triangle between the UK, Africa and the Caribbean. It was a sordid, yet lucrative business and something right-thinking people will abhor. So, Bristol, like Liverpool before it, is considering whether to apologise. The demands have grown more shrill over the past few years. Not everyone, however, agrees:

But demands for an apology from a city perceived as brushing its slavery past under the carpet fall wide of the mark, according to some of its senior figures. John Savage, chairman of Business West, a leading business body in the city, dismissed the request as “balderdash”. He said: “It would be an empty gesture. It would be like asking the Italians to apologise on behalf of the Romans for killing Boudicca.”

Ah, the voice of reason. Bristol is larger than it was in the eighteenth century and its population has grown significantly. To suggest, therefore, that the modern population consists of the descendents of slavers, living off the ill-gotten profits of those long dead merchants, attempts to cast too wide a net. I am a prime example. Not only was I not born when the slave trade was existent, I was not born in Bristol and have no inherited links to the city. How, therefore, can I apologise for the actions of people long dead, that I have no connection with, to people who are also long dead and whom I have not caused injury? It is illogical nonsense. And, let me make it clear; should Bristol choose to apologise, it does not do so in my name.

Interestingly, the “get over it, move on” attitude was prevalent among young black Bristolians interviewed last night by Points West during the lead up to the debate. It did cross my mind that the BBC was being selective with those interviewees being broadcast to make a point – although it was a good point. While it’s possible that some of the descendents of the trade may well have since settled in the city, it is an indirect connection as those slaves traded by the Bristol merchants did not come to Bristol but went directly to the Americas in exchange for cotton, molasses and such.

So, should we apologise? I’ve made my position clear. Who should apologise and who should receive it? Why should a twenty first century population apologise for something that happened two hundred years before they were born and therefore cannot have any responsibility for? There is also rank hypocrisy here that stinks like a slave ship. The Bristol slavers did not act alone. Their slaves were rounded up and sold to them by Africans. Africa is as responsible for this reprehensible trade in human misery as the Europeans who shipped them across the Atlantic. Unlike Europe, though, Africa is still doing it.

I suggest the Empire hating hand wringers who so desperately seek an empty gesture from Bristol set their sights on something practical, such as working to stop the modern slave trade in Africa. Perhaps they should seek an apology from the modern slavers who are busy making a lucrative living from the sale of human flesh. That, of course, would mean dealing with some unpalatable realities; such as acknowledging that slavery is not a straightforward black and white race issue as one interviewee on the BBC tried to suggest yesterday. Oh, no, it’s rather more complex than simple hatred of white Europeans for something carried out two hundred odd years ago; rather more enigmatic than the facile identity politics being indulged in by the professional race hate whingers. Modern slavery is as ugly, cruel and barbaric as that carried out in the eighteenth century, and is being carried out now by black Africans to other black Africans; human flesh for profit irrespective of skin colour. You want to do something about slavery? Do something about that before you whinge about Bristol’s past.

I guess Marcel Berlins sums it up when he says:

The choice is between logic and principle (don’t apologise); and symbolism and hypocrisy (do).

Update: The debate voted in favour of an apology, whereas a BBC poll of over 9,000 people voted against. 91.7% against. One of those talking on the debate talked of “us” that is, white Bristolians, having to accept responsibility for what “we” have done. No, “we” have done nothing. “We” weren’t born. I suggest the gentleman who made the remarks (sorry, didn’t catch the name) removes the unctuous cod supper from his shoulder and inserts it somewhere more suitable. :dry: