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.
“He’s apologised in all cases”
He shouldn’t have.
As for reparations, this is all a scam for money. Who will get the money? How will it be distributed? How do you determine who is "Black enough"? Who will set the standards? I have no patience for this and I pray Jackson continues to fail. Sorry to say... He was a good man in the beginning, but he has become corrupted by power.
Dumb white people were never slaves. How could we apologize to them for slavery?
Yep.
But dumb white people ARE slaves in one sense of the word.
Slaves to their DUMBNESS!
Agreed. Red Ken has been a stain upon the great City of London for far too long.
Sadly, it appears that we here in the USA will be unable to offer anything more than moral support, enthusiastic words and a firm handshake:
"In order to donate to a political campaign, you need to be a registered voter in the United Kingdom."
Or not.
Why would we want an idiot like him as mayor of our largest city?
The man has pretty similar moral values to red ken.
What exactly is famous for? Cheating on his wife and making an ass out of himself.
We don’t need that.
It is OK for a man to cry ONLY under the following circumstances:
(a) When a heroic dog dies to save its master.
(b) The moment Scarlett Johannsen starts unbuttoning her blouse.
(c) After wrecking your boss’s car.
(d) One hour, 12 minutes, 37 seconds into “The Crying Game”.
(e) When she is using her teeth.
‘almost singlehandedly rid England of the slave-trade...William Wilberforce.’
At the risk of sounding pedantic, Wilberforce did not rid England of Slavery as slavery has never been legal in England, only in Englands semi-autonomus colonies.
Slavery in England has always been illegal under English common law, but was first written into statute as illegal by the council of westminster in 1102. This was then reiterated in the Magna Carta of 1215 and again by Lord Chief Justice Mansfield in 1772. Wilberforce just stopped the colonials trading in slaves, great man though he undoubtedly was.
Capitalism and Western Culture have far more money and a much kinder heart, so it is a far more fertile ground for extracting White Guilt monies from, even when the 'victims' need to be entirely manufactured to suit a given Leftist agenda...
“Why would we want an idiot like him as mayor of our largest city?”
You prefer Red Ken then?
Where did I say that?
They are both as bad as each other.
I despise Red Ken - but hell, at least in some areas he has imrproved london .
My point was - it is shocking that so many cretins jump on this back boris bollocks.
Do your research on the man - he isn’t a ‘George Bush’ gaffe prone likeable man.
Bush is a loyal and decent man.
Boris is a lying, cheating, self centered bastard.
London deserves better than both of them.
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