Lloyd's of London to pay for 'shameful' Atlantic slave trade role
Source: Reuters
The Lloyds of London insurance market has apologised for its shameful role in the 18th and 19th Century Atlantic slave trade and pledged to fund opportunities for black and ethnic minority groups. We are sorry for the role played by the Lloyds market in the 18th and 19th Century slave trade - an appalling and shameful period of English history, as well as our own, Lloyds said in a statement on Thursday.
Recent events have shone a spotlight on the inequality that black people have experienced over many years as a result of systematic and structural racism that has existed in many aspects of society and unleashed difficult conversations that were long overdue, it added.
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Lloyds grew to dominate the shipping insurance market, a key element of Europes global scramble for empire, treasure and slaves, who were usually in the 18th Century included in insurance policies in the general rate for ship cargo. Weapons and gunpowder from Europe were swapped for African slaves who were shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas.
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Lloyds said it would invest in programmes to attract black and minority ethnic talent, review its artefacts to ensure they were not racist and support charities and organisations promoting opportunity for black and minority ethnic people.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protests-lloydsofl/lloyds-of-london-to-pay-for-shameful-atlantic-slave-trade-role-idUSKBN23P0SM
The awakening is spreading. Whether this is strictly a calculated business decision or genuine executive remorse, it will contribute to the long overdue cultural shift.
packman
(16,296 posts)for historical research
maxsolomon
(33,400 posts)Reparations in whatever form are welcome.
Igel
(35,356 posts)When Lenin shipped political prisoners to eastern Siberia to work in the GULags, it was to Lloyd's of London he turned to.
Socialism may have a renewed patina of acceptability, but early on Lenin enslaved people and sent them to labor camps with a 50% or more death rate per year, and expanding the camps to a capacity that the tsars hadn't considered. Moreover, he insisted on having that valuable human capital insured against loss during transport.