I appreciate that you have a difficult argument to make. I just never thought I'd hear it made in that manner. Malcolm X actually says very clearly that self-help is one thing. We need self-help, but we have to understand that we are in a position where we've been wholly disadvantaged. And so in order for us to help ourselves, we need to be given what we are owed. It's simple, isn't it? Once we are paid what we owe, we will go away and do exactly what we need to do. To invoke them is just, I'm sorry, the Black Power Movement, this is where reparations comes from.
For this archive debate from 2019, we invited a panel of top speakers to discuss the motion: The West Should Pay Reparations For Slavery. Should there be a broad programme of reparations – not just financial compensation, but acknowledgement of the crimes committed and the lasting damage caused by slavery? Or would this just worsen social tensions by reopening old wounds? Arguing for the motion were Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University; and Esther Stanford-Xosei, reparations activist and lawyer. Arguing against the motion were Katharine Birbalsingh, headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in London; and Tony Sewell, educational consultant and CEO of the charity Generating Genius. The debate was chaired by social historian, author and academic, Emma Dabiri.
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