OK, slavery was one of the worst atrocities of the shameful past of the British Empire but the bullshit being spouted about it’s effects are becoming annoying.

Now it’s being used as an excuse for the problems that Black youth in Britain are suffering.

This is the worst kind of “victim” mentality around and does absolutely nothing to bolster the self-esteem of these youngsters.

Perpetuating the idea that someone else is responsible for their misfortune is not helping them to take control of their lives and be useful and positive members of the society we live in.

There are calls for the Prime Minister to apologise for slavery and pay reparations.

For God’s sake who would we be apologising to and who would receive the reparations? They’re all long dead!

Does this mean that Scotland should have an apology? And Ireland?

And does this mean that the Africans who sold their brothers into slavery will also be apologising and paying?

It’s madness.

Lee Jasper, equality advisor to London mayor Ken Livingstone says,

“I think the legacy of slavery impacts negatively upon black communities”

What a load of utter ballocks! It’s the “Equality and Diversity” brigade that are causing most of the race problems in our society, not something that happened over 200 years ago.

I wonder how many of the youths he’s talking about actually know anything about the history of slavery - not many I’ll bet. Instead of encouraging this victim mentality why is he not encouraging them to get a decent education - or at least to make the best of the education available to them?

If these do-gooding twats spent more of their time trying to sort out the gang culture in their communities they’d be doing something of value for these youngsters.

How about encouraging Black fathers to get involved in the upbringing of their sons for a start. And no I’m not saying every Black father is an absentee one or a bad one - what I am saying is that this is a real problem for urban Black communities, and often because the father is not made welcome in a family situation rather than not wanting to be involved.

BBC NEWS | UK | Born black in ‘post-slavery’ society