There are some folks out there who suggest that to make amends for Britain’s role in slavery we white folks here in Britain should ALL have to pay reparations to ALL people of colour on the basis that their ancestors were slaves. Heck, I know we did not enslave the Indians but I am sure we must have committed multiple Imperial sins in India, becuase in the new narrative of 2021 Empire is always bad, so surely my Mrs gets a look in as well? No. Okay well let’s talk about Alex Scott, the former footballer and TV presenter who is a person of colour and about me.
One of the advantages of having the odd herald in the family is that our familial records are pretty good and so I can happily say that I have no ancestors who are tainted by slavery. On the other hand, I do share DNA with William Wilberforce whose heroic work ensured that Britain not only abolished slavery but spent vast sums and saw many of her sons die in combat, trying to eradicate this pernicious “trade.”
The rather thoughtful and charming Ms Scott, recently featured a TV show on her ancestry which threw up the rather shocking fact that she is descended from a fellow who owned 26 slaves. So Ms Scott is, sadly, tainted with this association of the evil of Imperial slavery. So where does this particular case leave the reparationists? Do I, with my Wilberforce DNA, still have to pay reparations to Ms Scott who is already far wealthier than am I and who has slave owning DNA?
This being 2021 logic has left the building and the answer from the rabble rousers to that question is, apparently, yes.