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21st Sep 2022

Royal commentator says African kings should pay slavery reparations instead of British royal family

Tobi Akingbade

Don’t think she understands how reparations work …

A royal commentator has claimed African kings – bearing in mind nearly all of the continent lost their official monarchy during colonisation and the trans-atlantic slave trade – should cough up money for slavery reparations, and not the British Royal Family,

CNN host Don Lemon discussed the topic with Hilary Fordwich, who left viewers stunned with her choice of words.

Lemon touched on the Royal Family’s “vast wealth”, before suggesting the Royal Family should be made to pay reparations for the slave trade.

Clearly a fan on King Charles and his family, Hilary Fordwich said: “What they need to do is you always need to go back to the beginning of a supply chain, where was the beginning of the supply chain?

“That was in Africa, and when it crossed the entire world, when slavery was taking place. Which was the first nation in the world that abolished slavery? The first nation in the world to abolish it, it was started by William Wilberforce, was the British.”

Now would be a good time to point out that the UK taxpayers, up until 2015, have had their taxes contribute to “paying off” the debt which the British government incurred in order to compensate British slave owners in 1835 because of the abolition of slavery, according to the Treasury.

Not a penny was paid to those who were enslaved and brutalised.

In case you missed it in your history class, Haiti was the first nation to abolish slavery in 1804, with Britain following suit in 1833 with the Abolition of Slavery Act. Historians have also noted that Britain’s involvement in the Abolition was of economic and political benefit to the Empire.

But the royal commentator seemed to twist the truth to convey her point.

Fordwich continued: “In Great Britain, they abolished slavery. Two thousand Naval men died on the high seas trying to stop slavery. Why? Because the African kings were rounding up their own people, they had them in cages waiting on the beaches, no one was running into Africa to get them.”

She didn’t stop there and continued her rant to Lemon, adding: “I think you’re totally right. If reparations needs to be paid, we need to go right back to the beginning of that supply chain and say, ‘who was rounding up their own people and having them handcuffed in cages?’ That’s where they should start.”

Lemon probably not able to take it anymore, cut the interview there, telling her it was an ‘interesting discussion’ before moving swiftly on.

Twitter users quickly felt outraged following the TV moment, with some agreeing with the points made:

https://twitter.com/Connie_2017/status/1572280541050966024

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