Researchers are turning up more and more evidence to support the allegation that the British monarchy was involved in the colonial slave trade more than formerly thought. This new evidence may impact future accountability to the descendants of African slaves in the form of monetary reparations in several parts of the world, including the USA.
King James II (1633-1701)–the King of England and grandson of King James I who commissioned the famous King James Version of the Bible (KJV)–directly oversaw England’s participation in the colonial slave trade. It was thought that British royalty was pretty much untainted for this dastardly, inhuman business to make filthy lucre. That slave trade was about as opposite as you could get from Jesus’ answer to a question he was asked which we read about in the most famous and most printed book ever published–the King James Version of the Bible.
Jews had their Ten Commandments which they gave to the world. Sometimes, Jews were prompted to wonder which was the greatest commandment of them all. Thus, we read that one time a scribe asked Jesus, “Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12.28-31 KJV).
Historian Brook Newman of Virginia Commonwealth University is writing a book about this research entitled The Queen’s Silence. Ms. Newman discovered for scouring British archives a 1689 document that has an insignia depicting the British crown which was branded onto the bodies of Negro slaves from Africa. Her book also shows that the monarchy branded slaves sent to at least Jamaica and Barbados with “RACE” which was the abbreviation for the Royal African Company of England,
Other researchers have discovered documents revealing that the British government contracted with the Spanish government to transport 4,800 African slaves per year to Spanish colonies in the New World. Many of those slaves were branded with the letter “DY” which indicated those slaves were the property of the Duke of York, England, who later became King James II.
The title of Newman’s book indicates that it focuses on a certain queen of England, namely Queen Anne. Newman says her legacy states that she was too “fat and stupid” to have directed such a large enterprise as England’s participation in the colonial slave trade. Newman says that is not so. Apparently, the queen was more cunning in business that previously supposed. And soon after she died, Newman says evidence has been discovered that an insignia was being branded onto slaves that depicted the symbol of the British crown. The financial remuneration to England was conducted by means of the South Sea Company. The queen owned one-fourth of that company.
I believe that reparations to be paid to descendants of the African slave trade will be a slam-dunk decision sometime in the future in some democratic nations such as England and the USA.
[See my previous posts: “Congress Is Now Considering Slavery Reparations and U.S. Catholic Church to Pay Reparations for Slavery.]
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