Britain Celebrates 200-Year Anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade

LONDON, England, March 26, 2007 — -- As the bicentennial anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade is celebrated worldwide, many British citizens, particularly the country's black community, expected Tony Blair to formulate an apology on behalf of the British government for its participation in slavery.

In the very country where the 1807 Anti-Slave Trade Act was signed, putting an end to 400 years of transatlantic trade, the apology would have had a particular resonance. Instead, Blair simply expressed his "sorrow and regret" for his country's role in the "unbearable suffering, individually and collectively, it caused."

It was a disappointment to many of his countrymen.

But it was not the first time the British government has evaded the topic of contrition. At the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in South Africa, Britain was among the countries that blocked an initiative to make any official apology, along with the United States.

"This [the United States] government has been resistant to make an apology because it would open the door for the whole issue of reparation," said James Sidanius, professor of psychology and African-American studies at Harvard University, of the goverment's aversion to the idea of making amends to slave descendants through monetary payment or other means.

An estimated 12.3 percent of the U.S. population are descendants of men and women brought to the country on slave ships, and the total African-American population is now over 34 million.

Less than a day after Blair's expression of "sorrow and regret," the archbishop of Canterbury, one of the main figures in the Church of England, expressed his intention to work on a way of providing reparation -- an initiative that, if taken, could inevitably steer debates in the British government. The form reparations might take is yet to be determined.

Some argue that simple contrition would already be a form of reparation. Sidanius believes an apology from the government can have a positive, healing effect.

"The black community is very suspicious of the larger society's intention to end discrimination," he said.