NAAR supports the Mayor of London’s apology for slavery for London, marking the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, and joins him in calling for a national memorial day on 23rd August.
The transatlantic slave trade was one of the worst crimes against humanity in history. Acknowledging Britain’s role in driving the barbaric trade through an apology and initiating an annual educational memorial day is crucial to advancing the understanding of its continuing legacy of racism and inequality and effectively challenging that.
At the first annual London Memorial Day on 23rd August, Ken Livingstone formally apologised for the role of London and its institutions in the transatlantic slave trade. He was joined at the ceremony by Mme Francoise Riviere, Assistant Director UNESCO; the Rev Jesse Jackson, US civil rights leader; Ben Okri, Linton Kwesi Johnson, MPs Diane Abbott and Dawn Butler; Jannette Arnold AM; Gloria Mills CBE; singer Beverly Knight and the London Community Gospel Choir; poets, writers and hundreds of black community and church figures.
The Mayor wept as he spoke of the barbarity inflicted on the millions transported from Africa and the legacy of racism today. Mr Livingston said London continued to benefit massively from the fortunes made by slavers
Apologies have been made by the city of Liverpool and the Church of England synod but before leaving office Tony Blair only expressed "regret" for Britain's involvement in the slave trade and a commitment by John Prescott for a national memorial day has not born fruition. Livingstone called on national leaders to accelerate their plans to have a nation wide event each year and to mark the date August 23rd, the anniversary of the beginning of the great slave rebellion in Haiti, and the world date for commemoration supported by Unesco.
Francoise Riviere, assistant director general for culture at Unesco, praised the Mayor. "You have distinguished yourself as the first high-visibility elected official to take such a historic stand, thereby setting an example."
The new ‘International Slavery Museum’ in Liverpool also opened on August 23rd. It will include a state of the art learning facility about the legacy of racial intolerance left behind by the transatlantic slave trade, dedicated to Liverpool teenager Anthony Walker who was murdered in a racist attack in 2005.
In November, the Museum in Docklands will open a permanent gallery ‘London, Sugar and Slavery’ to examine how London’s involvement in slaving has shaped the capital since the 17th century and shed light on the vital role that enslaved Africans’ resistance played in forcing abolition.
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/
http://www.museumindocklands.org.uk