King Charles and Keir Starmer brace for reparations debate at Commonwealth summit

London CNN  —  Britain’s government and King Charles III are bracing for a heated conversation about reparations for the transatlantic slave trade, as the issue looks set to overshadow a summit of Commonwealth leaders in Samoa. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters on his journey to the Pacific island nation: “I think we should be facing forward. “I’ve talked to a lot of our Commonwealth colleagues in the Commonwealth family and they’re facing real challenges on things like climate in the here and now.” But the BBC reported on Thursday that diplomats are preparing text for the summit’s official communique that would commit to a “meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation” on the issue. Britain enslaved 3.1 million Africans between 1640 and 1807, transporting them to colonies around the world, according to Historic England, a government-funded organization. Many of these people were taken to the Caribbean to work on sugar plantations, which made their owners wealthy through the export of sugar, molasses and rum, according to the National Archives. Successive British governments have resisted calls to formally apologize for the slave trade, or to entertain the prospect of reparations. A 2023 report by the Brattle Group, conducted for the University...