CNN’s Don Lemon pushed a British royal commentator Monday night on the issue of whether the royal family needed to pay reparations for slavery, and he appeared to be caught off guard by the answer that he received.
Lemon spoke to global business consultant Hilary Fordwich about how Queen Elizabeth II’s death comes as “England is facing rising costs of living, a living crisis, austerity budget cuts, and so on.”
“And then you have those who are asking for reparations for colonialism, and they’re wondering, you know, $100 billion, $24 billion here and there, $500 million there,” Lemon continued. “Some people want to be paid back and, and members of the public are wondering, ‘Why are we suffering when you are, you know, you have all of this vast wealth?’ Those are legitimate concerns.”
“Well, I think you’re right about reparations in terms of if people want it, though, what they need to do is you always need to go back to the beginning of a supply chain,” Fordwich responded. “Where was the beginning of the supply chain? That was in Africa, and when it crossed the entire world, when slavery was taking place, which was the first nation in the world that abolished slavery? The first nation world to abolish it, it was started by William Wilberforce, was the British. In Great Britain, they abolished slavery.”
“Two thousand naval men died on the high seas trying to stop slavery. Why? Because the African kings were rounding up their own people, they had them on cages waiting in the beaches. No one was running into Africa to get them,” she continued. “And I think you’re totally right. If reparations needs to be paid, we need to go right back to the beginning of that supply chain and say, ‘Who was rounding up their own people and having them handcuffed in cages?’ Absolutely. That’s where they should start. And maybe, I don’t know, the descendants of those families where they died at the, in the high seas trying to stop the slavery, that those families should receive something too, I think, at the same time.”
WATCH:
CNN’s @DonLemon tells royal commentator Hilary Fordwich the royal family should pay reparations — immediately regrets it pic.twitter.com/LotCfBoAym
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 20, 2022
TRANSCRIPT:
DON LEMON, CNN: Well, this is coming when, you know, this, all of this wealth, and you hear about it, comes as England is facing rising costs of living, a living crisis, austerity budget cuts, and so on. And then you have those who are asking for reparations for colonialism, and they’re wondering, you know, $100 billion, $24 billion here and there, $500 million there. Some people want to be paid back and, and members of the public are wondering, why are we suffering when you are, you know, you have all of this vast wealth? Those are legitimate concerns.
HILARY FORDWICH, GLOBAL BUSINESS CONSULTANT: Well, I think you’re right about reparations in terms of if people want it though, what they need to do is you always need to go back to the beginning of a supply chain, where was the beginning of the supply chain? That was in Africa, and when it crossed the entire world, when the slavery was taking place, which was the first nation in the world that abolished slavery? The first nation world to abolish it, it was started by William Wilberforce, was the British. In Great Britain, they abolished slavery. 2,000 Naval men died on the high seas trying to stop slavery. Why? Because the African kings were rounding up their own people, they had them on cages waiting in the beaches, no one was running into Africa to get them. And I think you’re totally right. If reparations needs to be paid, we need to go right back to the beginning of that supply chain and say, ‘who was rounding up their own people and having them handcuffed in cages? Absolutely. That’s where they should start. And maybe, I don’t know, the descendants of those families where they died at the in the high seas trying to stop the slavery, that those families should receive something too I think at the same time.
LEMON: It’s an interesting discussion, Hilary. Thank you, very much. I appreciate it. We’ll continue to discuss in the future.
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