86-year-old becomes first in France to formally apologize for family’s role in transatlantic slave trade

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An 86-year-old man has become the first person in France to formally apologize for his family’s links to slavery.

Pierre Guillon de Prince’s ancestors were based in Nantes, France’s largest port for transatlantic slavery, and were shipowners who transported ​around 4,500 enslaved Africans while owning plantations in the Caribbean, according to Reuters.

Guillon de Prince offered the apology to a gathering in Nantes ahead of the inauguration of an 18-metre replica ship mast. He called on other families and the government to confront their history and consider reparations.

“Faced with the rise of racism in our ​society, I felt a responsibility not to let this past be erased,” the Frenchman said, adding that he desires to pass the family history on to his grandchildren.

Guillon de Prince was with Dieudonné Boutrin, a descendant of enslaved people from the ​Caribbean island of Martinique, when he delivered the apology.

Guillon de Prince and Boutrin are co-workers at Coque Nomade-Fraternité, a human right association in Nantes that campaigns on slavery and reparations. The two said the mast would serve as a “beacon of humanity”.

Boutrin, 61, said, “Many families of descendants of slave traders don’t ‌dare ⁠speak out for fear of reopening old wounds and anger.”

“Pierre’s apology is a courageous act,” he added.

Guillon de Prince said he hopes his apology would inspire others, including the government, to follow suit.

Besides Guillon de Prince’s apology, some families in other countries, including Britain, have delivered similar formal apologies for slavery, Reuters said.

The Transatlantic slave trade occurred during the 15th through the 19th centuries, causing the displacement of about 12.5 million Africans. France, which trafficked an estimated 1.3 million people, recognized transatlantic slavery as a crime against humanity in 2001. It has, however, yet to apologize for its role in the inhumane practice.

Last month, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans “the gravest crime against humanity” and calling for reparations as “a concrete step towards remedying historical wrongs.”

The resolution urges “the prompt and unhindered restitution” of cultural items such as artworks, monuments, museum pieces, documents and national archives, to their countries of origin without charge, the Associated Press reported.

The resolution passed with 123 member states voting in favour, 3 against, and 53 abstentions. Argentina, Israel and the United States were the three members who voted against the resolution. France abstained from the vote.

For several years, the issue of reparations for slavery has been raised by descendants of slaves in the Americas and the Caribbean. The belief that white Americans owe black Americans a moral debt for compensation for slavery, Jim Crow and long-standing racism has been ongoing since emancipation.

Critics of reparation say that it would be difficult to make fair calculations as to how much victims would take and in what form, considering the years involved.