Burnham must be clear: no slavery reparations will be paid

This really stinks.

Since 1837, former slave owners in the British colonies were "compensated with the amount of approximately £20 million for the freeing of slaves. Based on a government census of 1 August 1834, more than 40,000 awards to slave owners were issued. Since some of the payments were converted into 3.5% government annuities, they lasted until 2015."[1]

Likewise, "The Haitian independence debt (French: Dette d'Indépendance Haïtienne) involves an 1825 agreement between Haiti and France that included France demanding an indemnity of 150 million francs in five annual payments of 30 million to be paid by Haiti in claims over property, including Haitian slaves, that was lost through the Haitian Revolution in return for diplomatic recognition. Haiti was forced to take a loan for the first 30 million,[a] and in 1838 France agreed to reduce the remaining debt to 60 million to be paid over 30 years, with the final payment paid in 1883.[1][2][b] However, according to a 2022 The New York Times analysis, because of other loans taken to pay off this loan, the final payment to debtors was actually made in 1947. They approximated that 112 million francs was actually paid in indemnity, which is equivalent to $560 million in 2022 after adjusting for inflation."[2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Compensation_Act_1837

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_independence_debt

I agree that it shouldn't be paid. What connection do people today really have to those things back then? Sure, it could be claimed that it allowed certain groups to get ahead of others but it would be difficult to prove that; there have always been poor white families too.

And what about reparations for the rest of us? Where's my cash for being a gay man whose kind were historically killed, tortured, imprisoned, repressed, denied job and other opportunities? You know, WWII reparations also excluded the pink triangles. Hell we couldn't even get married in Western countries for the longest time and some of the most vocal opposition groups were other minorities.

So I think this whole thing is a load of shit, personally. I wouldn't hold someone born in 1990s accountable for how gays were treated in 1800s, only in modern times.

There is museum in London called the British Museum which has zero artifacts on display from Britain and is entirely filled with stolen goods from other countries No one there finds this strange, bad, or anything that should be adressed

Brits are entirely deranged when it comes to their former empire.

Selective injustice reparations imo cause new injustice.

The mess of distribution of resources in the present is a consequence of thousands of years of injustice and power accumulation.

Ownership of land - which is normalized - is absurd, for starters.

just pay its too little too late anyway

The British have stolen most of the things they own.

Reads like typical right-wing bait from The Telegraph. Hardline posturing, force the PM to make a statement (no he won't agree to pay what's demanded), get the extreme left to be pissed off about the "ongoing racism", and divide the left. Meanwhile any talk of help for the formerly colonized will get the Nazi side (Reform, Restore, who else) foaming in the mouth yet again.

Also it's not relevant to HN, unless we want to discuss the meta idea of how politics is done nowadays.