› Richard Dawkins' family shown to have owned slaves
this is why i have an issue associating myself with other atheists. Richard says “oh, my money wasn’t obtained that way”, “my fortune is completely self-made”….
His sister does not live on an estate in Jamaica. She lives on the family estate in England. And as the article clearly states it is small and unprofitable. Richard Dawkins did not receive millions from his great great great great great grandfather. The money that allowed him to be eductated came from his father’s job as a civil servant. Henry Dawkins probably has thousands of descendents alive. Why should Richard Dawkins have to pay back millions when he has received so little from his distant ancestors. Richard Dawkins already gives generously to charity so why would you single him out to pay reparations?
from the link “Richard Dawkins’ sister Sarah Kettlewell, 67, is thought still to live on the estate, which has a farm shop and pedigree cattle.” it isn’t clear as to what estate they mean, but either way, they were both acquired using the fortune they got from slavery.
i never said he received millions from his slave owning grandfathers. however, he has benefited from it. as i said in another response, his father inherited his estate in England, where he and his family moved back to after they were done being civil servants (colonizers) in Kenya. just because one has acquired money in their lifetime, on their own, does not mean that they did not inherit something, be that an estate or monetary funds. he owes his comfortable upbringing and his chance to go to the schools he went to, to his forefathers-the slave owners.
who ever said he should pay back millions? i’m saying that he should at least acknowledge his past and what he has benefited from in some way. that can be through educating himself and speaking about it, he could open up a dialogue that is long overdue with white people admitting that their families owned slaved, etc. or he could go the monetary route and donate books, supplies or money to HBCU’s and/or Black organizations/non-profit businesses. but he isn’t doing any of that.
i just find it interesting, and angering that western societies all want to live in and believe this fallacious idea that this is a post-racial society. some white people love talking about slavery, and even Africa (albeit fetishism largely…), but they never want to speak about white people; about their slave owning, raping, lynching ancestors. the only mention i hear of my ancestors in most settings in he US is in reference to slavery. white people are the only people that can choose not to talk about the grotesque and sick part of their history. and this is the biggest issue i have with Dawkins. it isn’t that his family owned slaves, it’s that he wants to remove himself from the inheritance of this issue, and even joke about it. i’m not talking about “charity”, i’m talking about Black people.
