The death of George Floyd at the hands of an American Policeman has been the touchstone for protests over the predominantly Western World.
This lit the flame that became BLM or "Black Lives Matter" and this triggered a reaction in the UK focussing on known slave traders from these shores. The reaction in the UK tended to revolve around a statue of Edward Colston in Bristol initially.
Mob mentality took over the protesting crowds and the statue eventually was hauled down and unceremoniously dumped into Bristol harbour.
I do not under any circumstances subscribe to the defence of Colson, or indeed any of the other "Slave Traders" such as Sir Francis Drake, Henry Dundas, Thomas Guy & Robert Peel snr. All of these and many more, made fortunes out of slavery and the misery it wrought on the people enslaved.
However, the point of this small rant is to point out that none of them could have made their mark on this insidious trade without the help and practical assistance of lawyers and a legal system which permitted banking their profits and retaining what in effect was their human property
The most horrific example of this was a shipping case in law in 1784 where a ship "The Zong" sailing from West Africa in 1781, when in order to allegedly protect the crew from depleted supplies whilst in the "Doldrums" in mid Atlantic; the Captain (Collingwood) jettisoned some of the cargo (slaves) by throwing them overboard to drown !!
The commercial law allowed the cargo owners to make an "Insurance" claim against the loss of the slaves.
This lit the flame that became BLM or "Black Lives Matter" and this triggered a reaction in the UK focussing on known slave traders from these shores. The reaction in the UK tended to revolve around a statue of Edward Colston in Bristol initially.
Mob mentality took over the protesting crowds and the statue eventually was hauled down and unceremoniously dumped into Bristol harbour.
I do not under any circumstances subscribe to the defence of Colson, or indeed any of the other "Slave Traders" such as Sir Francis Drake, Henry Dundas, Thomas Guy & Robert Peel snr. All of these and many more, made fortunes out of slavery and the misery it wrought on the people enslaved.
However, the point of this small rant is to point out that none of them could have made their mark on this insidious trade without the help and practical assistance of lawyers and a legal system which permitted banking their profits and retaining what in effect was their human property
The most horrific example of this was a shipping case in law in 1784 where a ship "The Zong" sailing from West Africa in 1781, when in order to allegedly protect the crew from depleted supplies whilst in the "Doldrums" in mid Atlantic; the Captain (Collingwood) jettisoned some of the cargo (slaves) by throwing them overboard to drown !!
The commercial law allowed the cargo owners to make an "Insurance" claim against the loss of the slaves.
WORDS FECKIN' FAIL ME
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