Charles Acknowledges Slavery’s Injustices in the Bahamas

King Charles III acknowledged the suffering and injustices of slavery during a youth rally in Nassau, as reparations advocates renewed calls for Britain to apologize and take action. He said it was right to recognize the harms of the past, while describing some of the best of Bahamian culture as having been born out of darkness. The remarks came during the king’s Caribbean tour and did not include an apology or a commitment to reparations. The Bahamas National Reparations Committee said his comments fell short of what justice requires. It called for acknowledgment of the Crown’s role, a formal apology and steps to remedy wrongs committed in its name. The committee also emphasized that Bahamian culture arose from people’s agency and will to survive, rather than simply from suffering. The debate centers in part on the limits of the monarch’s constitutional role. Craig Prescott, an expert in UK constitutional law, said reparations are a matter for the British government, not the king, because payments would come from public funds and require accountability to Parliament. He said government policy is to acknowledge slavery as a stain on British history but not to pay reparations....