THE WRONGS OF THE PAST - WHERE DOES IT END ?
The unlawful killing of a black American man has rightly created an outrage across the World. I am one of them. For me and millions of British people, Black lives have always mattered. I decry Racialism in any form.
However, I am not sure of the sense of the demands to rewrite history and correct the wrongs of the Past or to make the people of a today to pay for the wrongs of their Ancestors. Why do I have reservations ?
The demand to make current innocent generations pay for the wrongs that occurred towards black people mainly in the 18th and 19th Centuries - particularly the eras of Colonisations and Slavery is full of of blinkered prejudice. Th demands from some people to erase the facts of History particularly in relation to the Black Slavery period is a very dangerous cry.
It concentrates on one period of time. If Society today is going to put right the wrongs of thePast, where do you start and where does it end ?
Consider some of these wrongs of the Past....
The Normans from France under the leadership of William Duke of Normandy invaded England in 1066. As a result, he stole the lands of the Anglo-Saxons.
These lands were divided amongst his Knights. Today, there are families in 2020 living on these lands in grand houses. They are the ancestors of the Norman invasion. Earlier ,the Normans had Serfs who had to pay 10% of their farm produce to the Head of the Manor.
Question - Should Society today right these wrongs ? Should these Manorial lands be returned to the State today ? Should we right these wrongs.
Rewriting History had many problems. Perhaps it is Racialism to only concentrate on the Black slaves of the 19th Century.”
What about the Roman invasion ? They killed indigenous Britons, stole their lands and stole their treasures. Should we ask Italy to pay Britain reparations?
Now, there are many more examples of the problems of rewriting History.
King Henry VIII killed many innocent people. He destroyed the Monestries.
Should the Crown today pay reparations to descendants of these Monestries ?
I could go on an on. The problem I am illustrating is that the Past is the Past.
Innocent British citizens today should not be castigated for the injustices of the Past.
More recently, I have had contact with a number of German people. As we know,i n World War 2 the Nazis murdered 6,000,000 Jews. The Germans of today are wonderful people althought there is still a small minority who remain prejudised and racialist. The past wrongs of Germany are now History.
Should modern day Germany be allowed to erase these episodes from the History books ?
Of course not.
We learn from History, good or bad so that we can remain alert and prevent theses wrongs in the future reoccurring. Is this not sensible ?
The guiding light must be Learn from History. Do not pretend events did not occur or erase facts because you do not like them..Today.
The Rule of Law must prevail. if not, we have anarchy and perhaps Civil War,
People cannot take matters into their own hands.
So, be careful when you hear cries to rewrite History, delete parts you may not like and a section of Society misleads you into thinking that Britain is a RacialistCountry. It is not. A small section might be but it covers a small section of Society.
We cannot ignore the fact that a small section of Society is plain Evil !
Do not brand the rest of us as Evil.
Beware the call to rewrite History and destroy the evidence of wrongdoings.
If we do not resist the clamour to pull down statues, erase the memories of Colonialists and the facts we are in danger of removing the very foundations of our Past, the good and the bad. This is History.
Henry Ford once said “ History is all bunk.”
Like millions of people today, I believe he was wrong.
History is a guiding light to our future. We learn from mistakes.
