Today I met with Professor Martin Daunton, Emeritus Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge, having attended his lecture on ‘Should We Retain and Explain Monuments to Slavery?’.
Being of African descent myself, I found this topic to be particularly engaging. My ancestors were once enslaved, having suffered under the brutality and inhumanity of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Whilst I hold no resentment towards the legacies of the perpetrators of the slave trade, I was horrified to see how existing monuments to slavery are cherished in our modern times (in some cases, allowed to remain as they are without need for explanation). In particular, monuments dedicated to the lives lost in the Belgian conquest of the Congo are revered (on the side of the invaders), and those responsible for the destruction and deaths of millions of lives are held in the light, in all their glory.
Today, an innumerable number of people suffer from the ramifications of slavery. It is a perhaps a moral blight on humanity’s soul that we celebrate the forefathers of slavery today, giving no regard whatsoever to those afflicted, in the past and today. Whilst the West has condemned slavery with words, their actions (or perhaps, inaction) tell a different story. And that is a dark story, a tale that should not be placed in the light. Slavery exists in many forms today, and as a species we must do better. We can do better. We will do better.
Curriculum Developer at Powershaus
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