Following Prime Minister Tony Blair's expression of regret for the slave trade, Gerald Henderson and Lawrence Fearon of Hope in the Cities UK wrote in the letters column of The Observer on Sunday 3 December 2006:
It is crucially important that a wholehearted apology is made on behalf of our nation for this 'shameful' trade, linked with a commitment to work to ensure that we remove the remaining vestiges of injustice that stem from this legacy in terms of racism and the persistent disadvantage that are still with us today.
It is true that the descendants of those who suffered so cruelly are not the only people in our country who carry pain from the past, but that is no excuse to dodge the realities of this gross injustice and the unfinished process of repair still needed in this instance. This reality should not be governed by fear, but rather by a determination to seek how we can make good through ensuring equal opportunities in work, in educational support, fair trade and just development opportunities.
Gerald Henderson, Lawrence Fearon
Hope in the Cities UK, Liverpool
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