美国国家公共电台 NPR--British aristocrats ask King Charles to join a slavery reparations movement

British aristocrats¹ ask King Charles to join a slavery reparations movement

Transcript²

When Laura Trevelyan, a longtime anchor and correspondent with the BBC, began reckoning with her own family history, she was shocked. "It seems pretty extraordinary that my ancestors enslaved Africans on the Caribbean island of Grenada," she says. She adds that even after slavery was abolished by the British parliament, none of the families of the enslaved received reparations — including the families of more than a thousand Africans who were enslaved by her ancestors across six plantations³ on Grenada.

To try to make amends⁴, Trevelyan has founded a new reparations effort. She linked up with David Lascelles, who is a second cousin of King Charles III and heir to an estate built on earnings⁵ from the slave and sugar trades on the island of Barbados.

They co-founded a group called Heirs of Slavery, which encourages wealthy British families who profited from past enslavement to make formal apologies and seek reparative justice in the former Caribbean colonies.

The British Empire traded an estimated 3.1 million Africans to the Caribbean, North and South America and elsewhere across a period of 150 years. The slave trade was abolished by Britain's parliament in 1807. An act of emancipation⁶ was passed in 1833. But Trevelyan says it wasn't until 2016 when University College London published an online database of compensation that she discovered a startling injustice⁷.

Enslavement, abolition⁸ and compensation

"It wasn't the enslaved who received compensation. It was the slave owners who were paid because that was the only way that abolition could get through Britain's parliament," Trevelyan tells NPR's Michel Martin. "What was already a horrific situation was then made even more unfair."

Trevelyan and Lascelles say they learned their ancestors earned the equivalent of millions of dollars in compensation when slavery was abolished. Trevelyan has donated a portion of her BBC pension to reparations and, in February, she and other family members traveled to Grenada to make a formal apology.

Lascelles, who is a descendant of George V and a family that built Yorkshire's Harewood House, tells Morning Edition he discovered much of his ancestors' history through boxes of archival papers related to businesses in the former British West Indies and stored on his family's estate.

"They were in very, very fragile condition. They were in boxes that [were] shoved behind a boiler⁹ in the basement of the house. But clearly, once it was out in the open, I've made it very clear that it was something we had to address and speak openly about," Lascelles says.

Trevelyan family's letter of apology presented to the prime minister of Grenada.

Laura Trevelyan

Lobbying the royal family

Trevelyan says she and other members of wealthy British families want to set an example through "coalition¹⁰ building." And they're asking King Charles to join them. Although Lascelles says he and the king don't have a personal relationship, he predicts Charles is likely to be open about the royal family's own discoveries.

"They are researching their own history and they are talking openly about that and even given a timescale and when the kind of fruits of that research will happen," Lascelles says.

The group is also calling on the British government to engage with CARICOM, the Caribbean governments reparations commission, which asks the former colonial powers for debt relief and for investment in health and education.

"These are areas where the Caribbean was left with nothing when emancipation happened and slavery ended," Trevelyan says.

Trevelyan points to a "long overdue¹¹ reckoning" with reparations funds established by entities¹² from the Dutch government to the Church of England. Although most people in the U.S. oppose reparations, Trevelyan hopes it will be different in Europe.

"It's ugly and it's difficult," says Trevelyan. "But it's important to talk about how the present is defined by the past. And acknowledgement is hopefully the beginning of healing."

"It's about responsibility in the end, isn't it?" Lascelles says.

1 aristocrats   

n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many aristocrats were killed in the French Revolution. 许多贵族在法国大革命中被处死。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To the Guillotine all aristocrats! 把全部贵族都送上断头台！ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

4 amends   

n. 赔偿

参考例句：

• He made amends for his rudeness by giving her some flowers. 他送给她一些花，为他自己的鲁莽赔罪。
• This country refuses stubbornly to make amends for its past war crimes. 该国顽固地拒绝为其过去的战争罪行赔罪。

5 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

6 emancipation   

n.（从束缚、支配下）解放

参考例句：

• We must arouse them to fight for their own emancipation. 我们必须唤起他们为其自身的解放而斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They rejoiced over their own emancipation. 他们为自己的解放感到欢欣鼓舞。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

8 abolition   

n.废除，取消

参考例句：

• They declared for the abolition of slavery.他们声明赞成废除奴隶制度。
• The abolition of the monarchy was part of their price.废除君主制是他们的其中一部分条件。

9 boiler   

n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等)

参考例句：

• That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
• This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。

10 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

11 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

12 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。