I want to know who my ancestors were who were robbed of their freedom and humanity – but I am not paying for the privilege.

Last week it was announced that a genealogy company plans to put colonial records relating to the chattel enslavement of some three million Africans online. Eventually the archive will hold records for the Caribbean, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

In order to access records one has to take out a monthly subscription or use the pay-per-view facility, in much the same way that digital satellite services are offered. The company concerned is obviously looking to cash-in on the increased interest during the Bicentenary Year. But I feel strongly, that as the descendant of enslaved Africans whose names may appear in those records, I should not have to subscribe to such a service.

But my contention is not with the genealogy company, but with the British government. This merely highlights the obligation that it still has to repair some of the damage caused by its forbears. African descendants in the UK – and elsewhere in the Diaspora, have been robbed of our history, robbed of our heritage and robbed of our ancestral ties as a consequence of European chattel enslavement.

As a recent survey revealed, the overwhelming majority of African and African Caribbean people questioned believe that the British government should make reparations for its role in the Maangamizi (African Holocaust). As the word Maangamizi denotes – the mass destruction of African humanity was intentional and has had devastating consequences on the social, cultural, psychological, economic and political development of Africa and its people.

It is quite apparent that having thrown a few crumbs in the form of funding for so-called projects to commemorate the Bicentenary, that having mumbled a few insincere words of ‘regret’ about slavery, that having held a sham service to commemorate a year that is of little significance to people of African descent, that Blair and his government are swiftly trying to move the agenda on, to sweep it all under the carpet and get back to business as usual.

It won’t work. The complete and utter lack of respect that has been shown to people of African descent thus far, provides strong motivation to pursue the justice that our ancestors fought for with their bare hands, both on the plantations and on the continent. I want to know who my ancestors were who were robbed of their freedom and humanity – but I am not paying for the privilege; neither should any other African descendant be expected to.

Records should be brought out of their hiding places and made public, interrogated and inspected so that the full history – not the doctored, carefully worded and sanitised version – can finally be known. The issue of reparations will never go away- the voices will only multiply and become louder until they are deafening. So the sooner the British government meets its obligations the sooner it will get peace. It can start by helping us to trace our ancestors – free of charge.


SIGN THE DOWNING STREET PETITION

Following publication of this editorial, a petition has been lodged at 10 Downing Street. To add your name to it and demand free access visit the following link: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/freeaccess/