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No Reparations UK

  • HISTORYExpand
    • The history they don’t tell you
    • Britain’s role: the full picture
    • The myths busted
  • WHO PAYS?Expand
    • Who pays? The racial levy problem
    • Narrowing the pool
    • The confused liability problem
    • The Windrush dimension
    • Does the money even work?
  • THE LAWExpand
    • The legal case that doesn’t exist
    • The government’s weak position
  • CARICOMExpand
    • CARICOM and the ten-point plan
    • What would actually be fair?
  • SOURCESExpand
    • Sources and further reading
  • Ask Wilberforce
No Reparations UK
Home/The myths busted/Myth: White Britons inherited wealth built on slavery/The one-line rebuttal
In this section
  • The myths busted
  • Myth: White Britons inherited wealth built on slavery
    • The claim stated fairly
    • Why it sounds plausible
    • Why it does not hold up
    • The one-line rebuttal
  • Myth: Enslaved people were never compensated — that debt is still owed
  • Myth: The trauma of slavery is still damaging Caribbean communities today
  • Myth: Britain got rich because of slavery
  • Myth: Caribbean poverty today is a direct result of slavery
  • Myth: Reparations are owed because the labour was stolen
  • Myth: The compound interest calculation proves the scale of the debt
  • Myth: Britain stole Caribbean culture and identity
  • Myth: Other countries have paid reparations so Britain should too
  • Myth: Saying no to reparations means defending slavery
  • Myth: Anyone who opposes reparations has a colonial attitude
  • Myth: CARICOM's repatriation plan is a serious proposal
The myths busted

The one-line rebuttal

Most white British people inherited nothing from slavery. The people who did profit were a specific and identifiable class, and their descendants cannot be reached through a general levy on all white British taxpayers.

PreviousWhy it does not hold up

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No Reparations UK

Evidence-based answers to your questions

Portrait of William Wilberforce by John Russell. Public domain.

I am William Wilberforce

I devoted my life to ending the slave trade and I am glad to help you understand this complex topic. Please ask me any questions you like about this site or about the reparations debate, and I will do my best to answer them honestly.

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noreparations.uk  |  Portrait: John Russell (c.1770). Public domain.
  • HISTORY
    • The history they don’t tell you
    • Britain’s role: the full picture
    • The myths busted
  • WHO PAYS?
    • Who pays? The racial levy problem
    • Narrowing the pool
    • The confused liability problem
    • The Windrush dimension
    • Does the money even work?
  • THE LAW
    • The legal case that doesn’t exist
    • The government’s weak position
  • CARICOM
    • CARICOM and the ten-point plan
    • What would actually be fair?
  • SOURCES
    • Sources and further reading
  • Ask Wilberforce
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