University of Cambridge dean says Great Britain owes reparations to Caribbean Nations

Michael Banner, the dean of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, says Great Britain owes reparations to Caribbean Nations. He says it’s time to make things right — and that the country needs to face its history and address its historical wrongs. Banner, who wrote the book “Britain’s Slavery Debt: Reparations Now!” says Britain was the leading slave-trading nation in the 18th century. He argues that Britain’s wealth was built off the backs of the people who were enslaved. On Thursday’s edition of “Closer Look,” Banner talks with Rose Scott about his book and Britain’s imperial past, which is directly entangled with the transatlantic slave trade. He also talked about how the government and other entities such as institutions of higher education and churches can correct the ills of the past and advocate for reparations. Banner’s conversation with Scott comes just days ahead of his upcoming lecture in partnership with Emory’s Candler School of Theology called “Britain’s Slavery Debt, Reparations and the Responsibility of Christian Churches.” The event is scheduled for Dec. 10 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Pitts Lecture Hall.