Black people are demanding reparations. It’s time to listen

Only when the West confronts its legacy of slavery with reparations can Black communities around the world be truly free, writes Richard Sudan [photo credit: Getty Images] The demand for reparations to atone for slavery and tackle the modern legacy of structural racism left in its wake is by no means a new campaign. Following the murder of George Floyd, global Black Lives Matter protests have become more amplified and have energised the calls for justice. But these rallying cries have been met with dismissal and inaction from a political class who are, quite simply, disconnected from reality. “Slavery is not our history – it interrupted our history.  Nor is it a politically partisan issue.  It’s a feature of European development with a continual price paid by black people” Our so-called leaders and countries have no difficulty in sending colossal sums of money to support war, apartheid, and genocide, yet sideline reparations for the descendants of captive Africans. Western nations built by slavery are represented by governments who deliberately seek to delay the issue of reparations for perpetuity. In the United States, for example, the HR40 bill which suggests studying reparations will likely never become law and has been stalled...