A Green Party councillor has resubmitted a motion to council calling on the Government to set up a commission to acknowledge, apologise and instigate reparations for the United Kingdom’s role in the Transatlantic slave trade.
Cleo Lake had previously submitted this same motion a couple of months ago, but as a result of limited time, it was not heard at council.
But, she has submitted it to next week's full council meeting asking for the Mayor or another appropriate council agency to write to the Chancellor “to raise concerns about how taxpayers were until 2015 paying back compensation paid to enslavers.
“A petition gaining 10,000 signatures expresses the disgust at this fact, which many people, not just those of African Caribbean descent, find completely abhorrent.”
She also wants to reiterate all schools in Bristol should implement the One Bristol Curriculum and request independent private schools and academies do so as well.
She described the translantic slave trade and the lack of reparations as a “plague” on society.
Cleo said: “This motion is significant, timely and historic. It represents good democracy in that it combines grass roots activism and movements such as 'Stop The Maangamizi Campaign' with the political system.
“The time has come to right the wrongs that plague society and keep it from being equal and equitable. It has been an inter-generational struggle that landed on the doorstep of Bristol, a city built off the backs of our African ancestors.
“I urge us to answer the call and place ourselves on the right side of history.”
The aim is to lobby the government to set up an All-Party Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for Truth & Reparatory Justice which would discuss reparations for the trafficking and enslavement in African people.
Cleo highlighted the submission of the motion as a “history moment”. She believes it’s not just about “monetary compensation”, but an issue which goes much wider than that.
She said: “It’s a movement that has existed for centuries, ever since the first transgressions of our humanity as African heritage people.
“The first step is an acknowledgement by the British state that what happened was wrong and a formal apology should follow – this is an essential step to repair, as so far our experiences of historic and ongoing wrongs have been denied.
“We also need to see an active commitment from the government to prevent further injustice.”
She is calling for the Mayor of Bristol to “protect and support” black-led cultural institutions which have been in the city for a long period of time.
Grassroots organisations such as the Malcolm X Centre, the Kuumba Centre, the Docklands Settlement and the Rastafari Cultural Centre - which according to Cleo - have been “severely underfunded and under resourced, either through direct council intervention or by brokering relationships with institutions in the city.”
She said: “My motion calls for important symbolic action from the UK Government, as well as practical local demands to tackle inequality here in Bristol, such as committing proper support to black cultural centres, ensuring children in Bristol are taught about our city’s full history, and an audit to make sure housing conditions for black Bristolians is fit for purpose.
“At the national level, an all-party Parliamentary Commission is a key first step in achieving justice and starting the conversations we need to have as a society about our past and present - I think it’s right that reparations is part of that conversation.”
Bristol City Council will not be offering a comment on this prior to the motion being presented and debated.
