Descendants of Jamaican enslavers apologise

 

Formal apologies have been issued by a number of descendants of those who played a role in the transatlantic slave trade in Jamaica.

 

Five families, who are descendants of plantation owners from across the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as the Guardian Newspaper, apologised on video on behalf of their ancestors.

 

Meanwhile, descendants of John Malcolm from Scotland, who owned the Argyle estate in St. Thomas at the time of the war in the 1824, expressed regret in person at the Seville Emancipation Jubilee on Wednesday evening.

 

Adi Malcolm alongside her sister Kate have pledged to work with the New Zealand government, where their ancestor had migrated, to acknowledge its role in chattel slavery in the Caribbean. 

 

"We will be asking the New Zealand government to acknowledge these historical links to injustices that took place in the wider Caribbean and to note CARICOM's 10-point plan for reparatory justice. We plan to encourage the New Zealand government to reopen its physical high commission in the Caribbean to strengthen intergovernmental ties," said Ms. Malcolm.

 

"We stand here also as a descendant of Mary Johnson, our fourth great-grandmother who was of African descent and a housekeeper in the Malcolm family. We make a personal commitment tonight to work with the National Council on Reparations in Jamaica to find constructive ways to move from apology to concrete actions of repairing injustice, including in the communities in which the Malcolms had plantations," she added. 

 

Their ancestors also owned nine other properties, including Blenheim in Hanover.

 

The apologies were accepted by Culture Minister Olivia Grange and Mayor of St. Ann Michael Belnavis.