By PATRICK HUNTER
A couple years ago, a police officer in the United States knelt on the neck of a Black man, George Floyd, killing him in the process. What followed was an “awakening” around the world regarding the treatment of Black people. There were promises of changes and, for a time, there seemed to be a determination to make changes.
That lasted for all of two minutes, it would seem.
Donald Trump was in the White House as President of the United States and his leadership has led to a “re-awakeness” of the racial divide – anti-Black racism – among Americans, some of which have, shall we say, seeped into Canada.
A journalist, Nikole Hannah-Jones, subsequently published, first in the New York Times and then as a book, The 1619 Project, which sought to tell the real story of slavery in the United States. She stepped into an ant hill.
Since then, the attack on her and her publication, as well as on “critical race theory” has become the order of the day.
Forget about the wrongs, the charges and all the bad things that the former president, and current presidential candidate, is accused of, a significantly large group of Americans want him back as president. Trump currently leads his contenders in the polls to seek the Republican nomination for president.
The governor of the state of Florida appears to be on track to “out-nasty” the former president. Ron DeSantis, who is also seeking the Republican nomination for the next presidential election has been on a crusade of implementing laws and policies in the education system that reject the teachings of the realities of anti-Black racism. Among them are the banning of books, including The 1619 Project, because it is “teaching White kids to feel guilty about their past”.
Under his administration, the Florida State Board of Education approved new rules on what should be taught, that “slaves” developed skills that could be used for their benefit; and that in teaching about mob violence against Blacks, they should be taught about violence caused by Blacks.
These actions and the people involved – their pronouncements and their actions – make me wonder how soon before segregation is put back in place.
Then, there is the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that ruled against affirmative action in the consideration of race as part of college and university admissions. Additionally, the courts have also rebuffed the current president’s program to eliminate some of the debts incurred by students pursuing academic careers. This ruling would significantly affect Black families. It also challenges institutions which may be genuinely trying to repair their exclusion of Black people.
A number of colleges and universities have decided that they will proceed with some reparative policies. These have identified that their current existence has relied on their connection with slavery.
This realization is happening, not only in the United States. A number of universities and elite high schools in the United Kingdom have begun to review their connections with slavery with a view to providing some reparative policies.
Recently, the king of the Netherlands formally apologized for his country’s involvement with the slave trade. His apology was preceded late last year by a similar apology by the country’s prime minister. The government also created a fund of 200 million euros “to increase awareness and involvement and follow-up”.
Canada has never apologized for slavery. In fact, it is quite possible that the majority of Canadians do not know that slavery existed in Canada.
“An apology would mean recognition of the fact that we were enslaved in this country,” Elise Harding-Davis, a historian from Essex County recently said in a CBC interview.
I have been somewhat skeptical of the idea of an apology for slavery unless it is accompanied by some gesture that moves in the direction of reparation. An apology for slavery should not stop there but must include an apology for the brutality of colonialism. But I have come to accept that an apology is a good start, although meaningless without an action or actions that reinforce that apology.
Before he became king, Charles told Barbadians that slavery was an “appalling atrocity” that “forever stains our history”. This is not an apology for one of the biggest participants in the slave trade and recipients of wealth from slavery. As king, Charles has asked for research into the royal family’s connection with slavery. What he does with that finding – well we will wait and see.
It is unlikely that under a Conservative government in the United Kingdom we will see anything resembling an apology, let alone reparations. Remember David Cameron who told Jamaicans that they need to put slavery behind them? Instead, he offered to build them a new prison.
Finally, I still bristle when I see writings or reportage that refer to “bringing slaves from Africa”. Our ancestors were not slaves when they were captured and placed in restrictions in the hold of the ships. They were Africans who were enslaved.
Email: pa**************@gm***.com /Twitter: @pghntr
