An 86-year-old Frenchman has offered a historic apology for his family’s role in transatlantic slavery. Pierre Guillon de Prince is believed to be the first person in France to officially apologize for his ancestors’ connections to slavery. It’s a belated apology. Prince came to his senses near death and apologized for his ancestors’ sins. Let’s ask some questions about this belated apology:
1- How much wealth did Prince accumulate from his ancestors’ involvement in the slavery system? How much wealth did his ancestors acquire through slavery, and did this wealth allow him and his family to live comfortably without hardship?
2- Did he try to find his slave relatives to ease his conscience, or did he curse his ancestors? Did he fear that accusations of his own involvement in slavery would haunt him even after his death?
Even though it’s late, an apology is good, but an apology two hundred years later doesn’t absolve his ancestors of their sins. How much of his wealth came from slaves?