Apology for
Slave Trade
by Jeff Fountain
To a crowd of 25,000 Africans attending the
International Roots Festival in The Gambia last month,
Hawkins took
part in a procession of 27 whites chained together, kneeling to offer
their apology in French, English and German
A dramatic apology by a young Briton for deeds committed by his
Elizabethan ancestor - as reported by the British media, including the
BBC, The Times and the Daily Mail.
Andrew Hawkins, 37, from Cornwall, direct descendent of a decorated sea
captain, is travelling through western Africa with YWAMer David Pott.
They are part of the Lifeline Expedition, an initiative Pott started to
promote awareness of the inhumanity and injustice of the slave trade,
and to ask forgiveness from the nations where slaves were captured.
Healing
the Past, Transforming the Future
Sir John Hawkins, cousin of Sir
Francis Drake, was
knighted for his part in defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588. But he
was also the first Englishman to kidnap Africans to sell them into
slavery. In 1562, he captured men and women from Sierra Leone and sold
them to Spanish settlers in the Caribbean.
The BBC reported Andrew as saying that it had been a standing joke in
the family that they had a pirate in the family. “When I was a child I
was quite pleased to learn of this family link. In Plymouth John
Hawkins is a bit of a local hero." But his attitude changed in 2000
after learning from Pott that his forefather had been the first English
slave trader.
“It was a bit of a shock and it really challenged me, particularly
because Hawkins gave his ships names like Jesus of Lubeck and the Grace
of God. That really offended me, particularly the latter name. God's
grace has nothing to do with being chained up in the hold of a ship,
lying in your own excrement for several months. So often things are
done in the name of God that are horrific for mankind. I think God
would consider what Sir John Hawkins did to be an abomination. It's
quite shocking that he could think it was justifiable." (See www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5105328.stm)
This realization led to Andrew’s participation in the
recent Lifeline Expedition, which has visited The Gambia, Senegal and
Sierra Leone. Before a crowd of 25,000 Africans attending the
International Roots Festival in The Gambia last month, Hawkins took
part in a procession of 27 whites chained together, kneeling to offer
their apology in French, English and German.
“There was a long pause and we didn’t know what to expect,” The Times
reported Hawkins as saying. “It was very nerve-wracking.” But then the
country’s vice-president, Isatou Njie Saidy, stepped forward, accepted
the apology and unlocked the chains. “That was entirely impromptu and
very moving,” said Hawkins. (See www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2236871.html)
Saying sorry was a very small simple act, he acknowledged, but it was a
handful of people who had started the slave trade and the ripples of
their actions had caused evil throughout Africa. Hopefully a handful of
people could now be the beginning of something good, he added.
Expedition leader David Pott believes there has been no really sincere
apology from Europeans to Africa. Between 1450 and 1850 an estimated 12
million Africans were sold; at least four million died from the
appalling conditions. Not enough is taught about the slave trade and
its effect on Africa, he argues.
Next year, the bicentenary of Britain’s abolition of the slave trade in
1807, Pott and his colleagues plan to walk from London to Liverpool,
Bristol and Plymouth, all major slaving ports. (See www.lifelineexpedition.co.uk).
No doubt we’ll hear more then from the BBC, The Times and the Daily
Mail.
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