Livingstone broke down in tears as he apologised for his London's role in the transatlantic slave trade
Posted on 08/23/2007 11:32:08 AM PDT by Stoat
Controverial London mayor Ken Livingstone broke down in tears as he apologised for his London's role in the transatlantic slave trade, saying the city is still tainted by it.
The notoriously outspoken Livingstone seldom apologises for anything, but he choked up as he read an account of the brutal tortures suffered by slaves in Britain's Caribbean colonies.
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Livingstone broke down in tears as he apologised for his London's role in the transatlantic slave trade
And the politician once nicknamed 'Red Ken' for his left-leaning views angrily denounced the role of his city's corporations in financing the trade.
"You can look across there to see the institutions that still have the benefit of the wealth they created out of slavery," Livingstone said, pointing through a huge window at the skyscrapers cluttering London's financial district.
"As mayor, I offer an apology on behalf of London and its institutions for their role in the transatlantic slave trade."
US civil rights campaigner the Reverend Jesse Jackson praised the statement, saying Livingstone broke important ground with his remarks.
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Moved to tears: Livingstone's eyes well up before he finally has to wipe them
Jackson said apologies should lead to reparations.
Livingstone did not explicitly mention restitution, but his tearful expression of remorse went further than then-Prime Minister Tony Blair's statement on the 200th anniversary of the law that ended the slave trade in March.
Blair expressed his deep sorrow, but did not make a direct apology.
Livingstone said London would mark the horrors of slavery with an annual memorial day timed to coincide with the UN's International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, held every August 23.
London played a central role in the slave trade, outfitting, financing and insuring many of the ships that ferried living cargo to plantations in the New World. Revenue from the trade helped fund the construction of London's docks.
London is not the first to apologise for the trade. Liverpool, one of the great European slave-trading ports, formally apologised in 1999.
The easy answer is "Okay then, don't ever apologize for slavery" but this sick cycle continues to repeat itself. Having failed to gain traction with the reparations scam here in the USA, it appears that Jackson has discovered fresh territory for his shakedown schemes in Great Britain.
Hopefully our British Friends will be far more wary and less guilt-ridden on these slavery-related issues than so many of my fellow Americans have been.
Anyone needing a quick primer on Jackson and his tactics so as to be ready for his breathtakingly lucrative Guilt Train may be interested in this fine book, among others:
Amazon.com Shakedown Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson Books Kenneth R. Timmerman
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Slavery continues with millions taken every year by
Islam (supporters of Livingstone, too).
Women are reportedly auctioned and SOLD in England.
How about the world stopping it, now? [sound of crickets]
Meanwhile, Portugal laughs its ass off.
What a phoney. Will he ever shed tears for the victims of Communism, Islamism and Baathism? Those are the three cults Livingstone bows to.
Then Jackson is in the wrong country (again) and needs to travel to the Middle East and Africa, where slavery continues to thrive.
Money you don’t ask for
Is money you don’t get
I will apologize for slavery when the Black community apologizes for Rap music.
After we bill them for the seven trillion dollars in we have paid to “make things” right.
Oh brother!
The con man and the drama queen. Anything interesting happens, I’ll be in the shower.
Too bad he didn’t just choke.
Or any tribe that captured people to be sold into Slavery..
Don’t count on them being more wary, they already cave to the muzzies more than we do.
Bloody Hell. Ken, could you be any more of an embarassing twat?
Now when will the Arabs apologize for the millions of European citizens they kidnapped into slavery from the Dark Ages to the 19th Century?
For a moment I thought former-bouncer Craig Livingstone had finally admitted who hired him and directed him in the illegal Clinton WH FBI files operation.
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