Richard Drax, a British MP from a slave-owning family is set to gain 3 million pounds from the sale of his family’s plantation.
The Guardian reports that he is a subject of criticism for his ancestors’ role in Caribbean slavery. Despite threats to make him pay reparations and seize his family’s plantation, the government is now planning to pay him for 21 hectares of his land for housing.
Many Barbadians have become angry especially those who say the Drax family played a pivotal role in the development of slavery-based sugar production and the Barbados slave trade in the 17th century. The act denied Black Africans human rights, including the right to life.
The planned deal has been criticized as “atrocity” and people are saying this is “”one plantation that the government should not be paying a cent for”.
Another PM and chair of the Barbados National Task Force on Reparations, Trevor Prescod said, “What a bad example this is. Reparations and Drax Hall arenow top on the global agenda. How do we explain this to the world?
“The government should not be entering into any (commercial) relationship with Richard Drax, especially as we are negotiating with him regarding reparations.”
Historian Prof Sir Hilary Beckles has described Drax Hall as a “crime scene” where tens of thousands of Africans died in terrible conditions.
Drax is the MP for South Dorset.
