‘You may resent me, but truth demands reparations’

Lenny Henry, The Independent

I have to say, if I were personally demanding £18 trillion, I’d be on a tropical island somewhere, sipping coconut water and watching my bits in Wallace and Gromit on repeat. According to some people, that’s exactly what I’ve done. But that’s not what I said. It’s not what the book in which I’m supposed to have written it actually says either. I had a look at some of the headlines and I thought, well... here we go again. I have gone out and personally demanded £18 trillion in reparations.

The thing is that it’s easier to frame reparations as just a number — a scary, impossible number. It’s easier to pitch white people against Black people, to turn a conversation about justice into one about resentment. It’s easier to quote Lenny Henry than to actually engage with the massive body of academic and moral work that’s been done on this issue.

There is a serious point to be made. The Brattle Report, published in 2023, is an economic study commissioned to calculate the scale of the financial debt owed from slavery. It found that Britain’s historical slavery debt could amount to around £18.8 trillion. And when that report came out, the headlines looked very different from when I spoke about the same thing: “UK’s £18tn slavery debt is an underestimation, UN judge says,” BBC Online. “UK cannot ignore calls for slavery reparations, says leading UN judge,” The Guardian. Those were serious, sober, well-informed discussions. But some papers that gave the impression from the headlines that I had plucked the £18.8 trillion out of the air — those same outlets either ignored the Brattle Report entirely when it was published, or buried it deep online where no one would find it.

Because, let’s be honest — who reads past the headline these days? Not in the age of X (Twitter), Instagram and TikTok soundbites. And by then, the damage was done. The story was: Lenny Henry demands £18 trillion. And why? Because it’s easier that way. But we shouldn’t be surprised. This is how calls for justice are often received. And reparations, at its heart, is a call for justice. The real story goes beyond getting a cash refund for slavery. Because what we’re talking about isn’t just money. It’s repair. Moral, social, educational and cultural repair. Now, the UK’s approach to reparations shouldn’t surprise anyone. They simply don’t want to talk about it.

When Commonwealth leaders attempted to raise reparations last year, Sir Keir Starmer — the man meant to lead this country – actively sought to halt the discussion. He tried, and he failed. They did discuss it at the Commonwealth leaders’ summit. Because the rest of the world is talking about it, and it’s Britain that’s becoming the global outlier. If you recognise and respect African countries, Caribbean countries, Asian countries and South American countries – what we now call the Global Majority — then you have to recognise that this conversation is already happening.

I’ve simply had the audacity to respect and amplify the views of those nations — the Caricom nations of the Caribbean, and the African Union, representing 55 African countries — who have both put forward detailed, thoughtful, moral cases for reparations. And here’s the thing: The very first point in Caricom’s 10-point plan for reparations isn’t about money at all. It’s about a formal apology. A recognition of the heinous crime that was committed. A recognition that what happened was wrong, and that its legacy is still with us today. When people rush to talk about the money, it’s a way of avoiding that truth. Because if you focus on the number, you don’t have to face the pain.

And so yes, we can argue about the money. We can argue about the practicalities. You don’t even have to like me. But please — don’t dismiss the call for reparations. Don’t dismiss the voices of Black-majority countries from the Caribbean and Africa out of hand. We’ve seen what happens when Britain tries to ignore this issue on the world stage — it looks like King Canute trying to hold back the tide. Because the tide is coming in. This issue is being discussed. Real academic work is being done. And if Britain wants to tackle racism seriously — if Britain wants to be credible to Black people globally — then we need a sensible, informed, moral conversation about reparations. Not a debate framed as “Lenny Henry wants all your money”. Because the truth is, I don’t want your money. I want your honesty. Your recognition. And a shared commitment to repair what history has broken. Thank you.