MY mother was more likely to be found doing embroidery than rushing to the barricades. There were some issues, however, on which she had clear and unshakeable views.
One of these was that landed gentry, and those with inherited titles and vast family wealth, were guilty until proved innocent of having profited from the slave trade. She could never understand why the heirs of crimes against humanity flaunted their riches and status when they should have cringed with shame.
Doubtless she would have been in sympathy with actress and model Eunice Olumide, who has said that street names in Glasgow that commemorate the tobacco lords’ dirty business ought to be changed.
Actress Eunice Olumide wants street names in Glasgow's Merchant City that commemorate slave-owning tobacco lords to be changed
In the Merchant City, in particular, there are reminders of this loathsome trade at every corner, a record of the fortunes these men made by the sale and labour of African slaves.
To read the rest of this column, head on over to our sister title The Herald here
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