An interesting story has today appeared in the media. It begins:
“To the pub owners who have renamed their hostelry in his honour, Sir John Hawkins is a hero. But to the Racial Equality Council, which has its offices just a few doors from the pub, he is a symbol of cruelty to his fellow man for his role in the slave trade. The christening of the Hawkins Meeting House close to Sir John’s birthplace in Plymouth has left the neighbouring parties at loggerheads, with the landlord forced to deny allegations that racism inspired his choice. The race group’s outrage is focused on the fact that Hawkins was the first Englishman to trade slaves, capturing and selling more than 1,200 African men. They say the use of his name for a pub is “offensive”.
“It’s very unfortunate that the pub has chosen to celebrate someone who had a history of being very involved with the transatlantic slave trade,” said a spokesman. “It will cause offence to anyone who understands the horrors of slavery. It’s an entirely inappropriate tribute. He is not someone Plymouth should be proud of.”
But landlord Leroy Lander, who took over the lease of the pub only three weeks ago, takes a different view on the 16th century figure, who was knighted for his exploits against the Spanish Armada and set up a charity for sick and elderly mariners.
“I did consider the implications of naming my pub after a famous slaver, but Sir John Hawkins is actually a very historical and important figure. He’s a real British hero with a dark past, but slavery is just a part of human history which every nation was responsible for. We have to ignore that and look at the good things about people. “
The rest of the article may be read here .
Now according to this news report, Plymouth’s Racial Equality Council’s (REC) problem with this proposal is that they object to the preservation of John Hawkin’s memory on account of his involvement in the embryonic British slave trade and that promoting his name demeans 21st century Plymouth.
However don’t we have a problem here?
From the fifteenth century, right up into the eighteenth, is it not a historical fact that West Country coasts and coastal waters were plagued by Muslim Barbary corsairs? In fact, doesn’t history record the loss of hundreds of vessels, from fishing smacks – right up to large merchant vessels, to these North African pirates? And wasn’t it common practice that having seized a ship, that its cargo, crew and any passengers be taken to North African ports to be sold off to the highest bidder in the slave and goods markets? Apparently white females were particularly highly prized, as they brought good prices!
Furthermore, does history not also record that Muslim slaving parties were landed on West Country coasts to raid isolated hamlets and farms for the purposes of capturing men, women and children to be sold as slaves?
The number of such unfortunates, taken from around the West Country and Welsh coasts over those centuries, is known to run into many thousands. This, of course, being a mere drop in the ocean when compared to the estimated 1.5 million Christian men, women and children kidnapped for slavery from the coasts of southern Europe, in particular those of Italy, Sicily and heroic little Malta, during the same period.
So you see our problem.
Whereas we can perhaps understand Plymouth’s REC being vocal over the proposal to name the premises in question after a former merchant/slaver/hero – we cannot understand why they have not demonstrated their commitment to “equality” by calling on the city’s Muslim leaders to apologise for their co-religionists part in the slaving of West Country folk – including no few former Plymouth residents. Indeed there must be families still resident in Plymouth who have lost ancestors to “The Trade” as practiced by Mohammedans!
Perhaps one of the West Country newspapers would like to take this issue up with the Plymouth REC? After all, it wouldn’t do for the Racial “Equality” Council to be seen acting unequally – would it?