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.
Livingstone? Where is Craig? Has anyone heard anything about his whereabouts/doings in the last 8 years?
I vaguely remember something about Livingstone being out of office soon. Is that so?
Too right. The UK had those snipers gunning people down, who turned out to be muslims. And then there's that no-go-zone run by muslims. Islamaberg, isn't it? And then there's that crazy Farrakhan guy and the Your Black Muslim terror group. And they covered up that missile shooting down TWA 800. And ...
No offence meant (really!) but I'm sad to say we're reasonably even on this stuff.
Yep, they commit terror here, but we seem to have more leeway to go after them, too. Plus we’re not integrating muslim law and culture into ours as much. There is more than one way to undermine a society.
I agree, and I think Jesse should hold Mr. Livingstone personally responsible for the slave trade and demand he pay restitution to all the worlds black people. If he doesn’t have enough money he can work if off as Jesse Jacksons’ personal sex slave. ;^)
Thanks for posting this.
The Dail Mail comments page hasn’t got any posts yet - FR can get in on the ground floor!
BBC News photogrpah from 1985. 1985: Ken Livingstone and Jesse Jackson, on the plinth of Nelson's Column, during an anti-apartheid rally in London.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/travel/features/trafalgar_square/slideshow/4.html
I wonder if this guy is a pot head like the crying judge in Florida that presided over the Anna Nicole Tramp’s baby custody case.
Then Jackson is in the wrong country (again) and needs to travel to the Middle East and Africa, where slavery continues to thrive.
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Haiti, too. Particulary child slaves.
I’d say that the 600,000 dead from 1861 thru 1865 was more than enough in reparations.
A greater man and politician than “Ken” almost singlehandedly rid England of the slave-trade...William Wilberforce. He did more than shed tears...he got something done.
The Dail Mail comments page hasn’t got any posts yet - FR can get in on the ground floor!
You're quite welcome....I couldn't resist....Jackson and Red Ken in all their idiocy and criminal glory, all in the same article. It was an article that was just SCREAMING "post me at Free Republic!"
Re the Daily Mail comments, I confess that I don't have very high hopes of seeing an honest cross-section of opinion there. On several occasions I have attempted to leave thoughtful comments after DM articles that touched on 'controversial' issues and have noticed that reader comments supporting a Leftist perspective were quickly posted but none of an opposing viewpoint were allowed. I've come to believe that censorship is alive and well at the Mail (as it is also at so many other papers around the world), so we can all once again be thankful for forums such as Free Republic which allow opinions to be expressed that perhaps go against the fashionable Leftist dogma.
Synopsis
Directed by Michael Apted (Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey, Enigma, Enough) and original screenplay written by Academy Award® nominee Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things), Amazing Grace tells the story of a young British politician who over two decades fought against the English government to abolish slave trade.
William Wilberforce, played by Ioan Gruffudd (King Arthur, Fantastic Four, Black Hawk Down) was elected to the House of Commons at the young age of 21. Inspired by his close friend and mentor John Newton, played by Albert Finney (Erin Brockovich, Traffic, A Good Year) to campaign for the rights of freedom for all people; Wilberforce was unable to deter the fact that thousands of slaves were being inhumanly treated for the benefit of the English colony. Aided by his friend William Pitt played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who at the age of 24 became England's youngest ever Prime Minister. Pitt supports Wilberforce in his campaign against the British parliament to abolish the slave trade law.
With the help of a former slave turned businessman Olaudah Equiano, played by newcomer Youssou N'Dour, Wilberforce is able to document how brutal and callous slaves are being treated on British ships. Romola Garai plays Barbara Spooner, Wilberforce's future wife, who is equally as determined for alteration under the slave trade act and continued to support Wilberforce long into their marriage.
Amazing Grace also stars Michael Gambon (Sleepy Hollow), Rufus Sewell (Tristan + Isolde) and Ciaran Hinds (The Nativity Story, Miami Vice).
Feature Running Time: Approx 1:50:00
PG - Mild Themes
It seems that the unholy alliance of Red Ken and Spittin' Jesse is nothing new....they probably have weekly conference calls to fine-tune Socialist shakedown strategies.
It's a further, terrible insult to Great Britain that they soiled the memory of Admiral Lord Nelson by holding their meeting in Trafalgar Square.
“When the black community apologizes for rap music”
And the white rural community apologizes for country and western
And the dumb teenager community apologizes for Brittany Spears and Christine Aguillera
“Actually I believe reparations are appropriate. We should pass a law that requires every living person who has owned a slave at any point in their life, pay reparations to the slaves that they have owned.”
Excellent idea.
He’s got a very popular opponent for the next mayoral elections: Boris Johnson. Johnson is a real eccentric ( his persona is like a dishevelled mad professor from a movie) and he has insulted most of the world by accident at one point or another (recently calling joking about Papua New Guineans as cannibals. He’s apologised in all cases). He’s also said that his political hero is the mayor from Jaws who ‘refused to give in to hysteria, despite the fact that his constituents are being eaten by a giant fish!’Johnson is very popular in the UK and a true threat to Livingstone in the next elections. I hope that Londoners realise that even being led by a loon will be better than Red Ken :-) Have a look at this video of a Mr. Johnson tackle on a German player in a charity soccer match (England V. Germany) last year and you’ll see why we love him (crazy as he is!). http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iWIUp19bBoA
absolute cringefest...let’s hope Boris Johnson gets voted in
But a nary a tear for the daily bombing victims of Al Queda, the starving oppressed people of NOrth Korea, those confined in Castro’s psychiatric prisons, etc.
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