The history nobody wants to learn

UNITED KINGDOM

David Olusoga

The Observer

The University of Cambridge has announced a two-year research inquiry into its historic links to the slave trade, said David Olusoga, and Conservatives are indignant. Right-wing pundits are falling over themselves to “make the case for academic incuriosity.” Some claim that delving into a racist past will trap today’s black Britons “in a culture of victimhood,” others that it would be better simply to hire more black professors. Of course, had the university chosen a project focusing on its famous abolitionist graduates who helped end the slave trade, “there would have been back-slaps all round.” It’s OK to look at the history of slaveryso long as the investigation examines the parts in which Britain looks good. Yet this inquiry is not about “self-flagellation” or wallowing in blame. It will both determine whether the university made money off slavery and also examine how generations of dons may have reinforced and validated racist thinking. The project acknowledges that Britain’s oldest universities did not just benefit financially from slavery and colonialism, but also “played a role in the creation of the racial theories that underwrote both of those grim projects.” Conservatives who accuse students of being snowflakes should be willing “to face uncomfortable facts.”