When treated purely as historical fact, the slave trade can be dismissed as an evil of the past – the reality is very different says English teacher and writer Lola Okolosie
www.theguardian.com
This seems a bit of a muddled piece but I think she gets there in the end.
The destruction of the Colston statue enraged conservatives but it was a powerful moment in the UK.
In my day we were not taught about slavery. It was seen as an American thing. There was no collective folk memory in the UK because all of the plantations were over in the Caribean. Out of sight out of mind.
But now we see the extent of how slavery shaped the UK. It infected everyone of our institutions and is more relevant today than it ever was..
One of the biggest sugar plantations was in Barbados, the Drax plantation. Richard Drax sits in our parliament today. Rich as croesus on the backs of his black property.
Its not just the ghastly Drax. We see how our universities,schools,stately homes,the church,the monarchy were all enriched by slavery.
When the UK abolished slavery they paid billions in reparations to the slave owners for the loss of their property. The last payment was only paid just recently. .That decision did so much to entrench the inequality that we see today.
So slavery is not a parr of history. It still shapes the society we live in. Maybe its time it was taught properly..
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