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24 August 2007
In an important move forward, London’s Mayor Ken Livingston apologised for the capital’s role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade and declared 23 August the city’s annual slavery memorial day.
Marking International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition on 23 August, the mayor declared “I offer an apology on behalf of London and its institutions for their role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade … It was racial murder of not just those who were transported but generations of enslaved African men, women and children …. We live with the consequences today.”
This will help increase pressure for a formal apology from the Government and a national annual slavery memorial day.
All institutions that profited from the trade have a moral duty to acknowledge the implications of their involvement and address the lasting legacies. This could include developing programmes to tackle racism and discrimination.
