Initiatives of Change - Hope in the Cities: Newsroom

Taking part in these events, as guests of the city, was a delegation of five from Richmond, Virginia, led by the Vice President of Richmond City Council, Councilwoman Delores McQuinn, an African American, who is Chair of the Richmond Slave Trail Commission. The group is part of a Reconciliation Triangle initiative between Liverpool, the Republic of Benin and Richmond. It seeks to heal the legacy of the Slave Trade, in which Liverpool played a significant part, financing 40% of the ships that plied the trade and bringing great wealth to the city.

In March of this year, Richmond received a delegation of 15 from Liverpool, which brought a copy of an apology made by Liverpool City Council as its final act of the millennium. It was presented at the unveiling of the Reconciliation sculpture, created by Stephen Broadbent, at a ceremony attended by 5000 near the former slave market in downtown Richmond. A similar unveiling took place in the Republic of Benin two years ago under the auspices of President Kerekou, attended by representatives from both cities.

While in Liverpool the Richmonders were taken on a walk to sites in Liverpool related to the slave trade, by Eric Lynch (Nii Saka), an honorary Ghanaian Chief who is a citizen of Liverpool, and whose ancestors were slaves. He was one of the delegates to Richmond, where he walked the historic Slave Trail which commemorates the Africans who were led in chains from slave ships to holding pens and auction blocks.

At a special libation ceremony on the River Mersey, attended by Liverpool's Lord Mayor, Paul Clark, the Richmond delegation and other Liverpool citizens, soil from Richmond's Slave Trail and Benin was poured on the water to lay to rest, in the African tradition, the souls of the slaves who had perished.

The Richmond delegates were guests at a Gala Civic Dinner to mark the opening of the International Slavery Museum. Speakers included Harry Belafonte, and Dr. David Fleming, the Director the Liverpool Museums, who underlined the importance of acknowledging the legacy that is still with us today in terms of racism and exclusion. He ended by saying, that through the Museum, ‘we will remember, we will learn and we will respect. Through education we will counter racism..we will promote racial harmony.. we will encourage young people to fight for freedom and equality, not for the few, but for all.’

The Reconciliation Triangle is a part of a process of learning, acknowledgement, healing and change. The visit of the Richmond delegation included open and honest sharing of experience on issues of employment and education with regard to race in particular, acknowledging that there is still a need to address and help to heal that legacy. Related ideas were developed how to continue the dialogue across the Triangle through educational links and exchange visits. Hope in the Cities has been an integral part of the process throughout.