For immediate release
By: Lichfield District City of Sanctuary
Payback for slavery is official business says community group
A Staffordshire-based community group, known as Lichfield District City of Sanctuary, is marking the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery by actively calling on the government to take action for reparations. Nigel Gann, the group’s secretary said, “It’s time society faced up to the harm that has been done with slavery, by paying back descendants of the slave trade. Society is still profiting from slavery – both historical and modern day. Nothing can ever right those wrongs, but we do believe that those with ancestors who were enslaved should be recompensed. It’s time to stop ignoring the harm that was done.”
Lichfield, like all cities in Britain, has a history of enslavement. The cathedral city is best known for Samuel Johnson, who was a national celebrity in the 18th century due to his social circle and the famous Dr Johnson dictionary. His Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755 and is often considered the first modern English book of its kind. Johnson was assisted in this work by Quashey (Francis Barber) who was his Jamaican manservant. Barber was born an enslaved person in Jamaica on a sugarcane plantation. Johnson, though a traditional Tory, was fiercely opposed to slavery.
On Saturday December 2nd, a group of around 40 people from the city will be taking part in a “walk of penance” said Chair of the group, Warren Bardsley. “We will be walking from the Market Square to the Cruck House, where a plaque remembers Francis Barber, in silence, stopping at specific points that have resonance with our history of slavery.”
The focus of this day is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
In Lichfield, City of Sanctuary will be walking to:
- Draw attention to the continuing use of slavery and other forms of work exploitation throughout the world and in the UK;
- Make penance for the part that the UK played in historical slavery that remains the basis of our wealth and the poverty of others throughout the world;
- Question the nature of reparation that the wealthy nations of the first world might yet make to those countries and populations still suffering as a result of slavery.
“We want to say publicly that we’re sorry for what happened. Most importantly, we’re urging the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to lead on starting meaningful conversations about reparations. The UK’s role in slavery was a shameful period in its history – our history. It’s time we started to take action to compensate people who are still suffering today because of what our country did. Black and minority ethnic people in the UK today continue to face substantial disadvantages: worse housing, worse health, worse education, greater unemployment.”
The walk starts at 2pm on Saturday December 2nd, outside the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum, with an opening speech by the Mayor of Lichfield, Councillor Ann Hughes. It will end at Cruck House where participants will take part in a facilitated discussion on the topic of slavery and reparations. All of the discussion outcomes will be included in a petition to the Prime Minister and hand delivered to No 10 Downing Street to draw attention to the issues of slavery, past and present.
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