The supreme irony is that the afro-american descendants of slaves are so much better off living in the USA than their distant cousins suffering in equatorial Africa today. They should be thankful for their slave heritage.

Apologies are apt when wrongs committed and the enslavement of the African-Americans was bad. Just as bad, were the conditions of the conditions of white industrial workers in the North whom could not change between employers without a note a saying "permission to work". Else, the workers became unemployable. Moreover, unlike the elderly slaves of South, there was no quasi-social service commitment to feed and clothe the white industrial workers when they aged.

Moreover, it is rarely recognized the black kings, for example, King Tegbesu and King Alvare, caught the slaves in the first place to be traded and they accumulated great wealth. Tegbesu was paid 250,000 pounds a year in the 1750s.

The US and British North America received 400,000 slaves primarily for the cotton plantations. This is sad situation is dwarfed for the horrific situation of 4,000,000 slaves to Brazil, including white slaves, to work on suguar planations.

My point is, that these were harsh times, and many apologies should be made. Further,as cited, the worst cases of slavery, plus the extreme oppression of industrial workers are not as well to popular history, as the African-American disgrace.

In England too, how many Chimney-Sweeps became stuck and died? Also, the suppression and of the Irish and the massacre of North Scottish Clans.

It was an age of exploitation of the many by the few and suffering African-Americans were not the only victims.

Likewise, we oft hear of the plight of the Jews, but, much less so the Poles. Six nillion Jews were killed by the Germans; ten millio Poles by the Germans & Russians.

On the last point ,one can ask did Britain win WWII against its origin goal, which was not to defeat Germany, but to address/stop the occupation of Poland?

Blairbar "The supreme irony is that the afro-american descendants of slaves are so much better off living in the USA than their distant cousins suffering in equatorial Africa today. They should be thankful for their slave heritage."

Similar thoughts went through my mind, not as an excuse for the privations and abuse inflicted upon those who were enslaved and shipped in chains from Africa to the Americas but when I read the last sentence of the article

"the debate for compensation continues"....

what compensation is due those who are, based on your (with my agreement) take on things?

Compensation would be due when someone suffers as a consequence the acts of another.

As you correctly point out the Afro-Americans of USA are not subjegated but are the beneficiaries of the transport of their forefathers.

Maybe the successors of John Newton should be asking for fair compensation for providing transport services.