Don Lemon Questions Whether the Royal Family Should Pay Reparations for Colonialism

With the passing of 👑Queen Elizabeth II, there have been several stories looking at the Royal Family’s extravagant wealth which has led some to bring up the question of whether they should pay for England’s colonial past.

On Monday night, 📺CNN’s 📺Don Lemon had Hilary Fordwich, a royal commentator, on his show and he brought up the topic of the Royal Family’s wealth.

“This is coming when, you know, there’s all of this wealth, and you hear about it comes as England is facing rising costs of living, a living crisis, austerity budget cuts, and so on,” Lemon said.

He noted, “And then you have those who are asking for reparations for colonialism. And they’re wondering you know, $100 billion, $24 billion here and there, $500 million there. Some people want to be paid back. And members of the public are wondering, why are we suffering when you are, you know, you have all of this vast wealth? Those are legitimate concerns.”

Fordwich responded, “Well, I think you’re right about reparations in terms of if people want it, though, what they need to do is you always need to go back to the beginning of a supply chain.”

“Where was the beginning of the supply chain? That was in Africa, and when it crossed the entire world, when slavery was taking place, which was the first nation in the world that abolished slavery? The first nation in the world to abolish it, it was started by William Wilberforce, was the British. In Great Britain, they abolished slavery,” she continued.

Fordwich went on to suggest that “if reparations need to be paid,” people should look to Africa as she pointed out the history of African kings’ participation in the slave trade.