History of slavery

• “We can draw a straight line from the centuries of colonial exploitation to the social and economic inequalities of today,” he said.
• This year marks the 240th anniversary of arguably one of the biggest thefts in the history of intellectual property.
• The foundry was forcibly shut down for presenting too much of a threat to Britain’s economic and political domination.

Stolen heritage

• In 2018, Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy’s report on the restitution of cultural heritage pointed out that 90% of sub-Saharan Africa’s material cultural heritage is held outside the continent.
• But as the global reparations movement gains traction it opens a new discourse about the debt owed for that which was stolen.
• It also highlights the need to create a robust educational system aimed at highlighting the realities of slavery and colonialism.

Truth and reparation

• In the search for truth and reparation, truth of brutalities inflicted alone is not enough.
• Part of truth and reconciliation must be this re-centring of black identity as part of a decolonised education system across former colonial and colonising states.
• This is necessary for any process of truth and reconciliation.
• Quantification and monetary reparation, while necessary, are not in themselves enough.