PRESS RELEASE: FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BARAC UK launch new
petition challenging racist name of new restaurant The Plantation.
“We the
undersigned call on The Breakfast Group to change the name of its new
restaurant The Plantation at 31 Duke Street London W1 due to open on the 1st
September 2016.
We find
the name deeply offensive to the millions of Africans who died during the
Maangamizi (transatlantic slave trade) and the millions more who enslaved on
plantations whose average life span was eight years, usually less.
Africans
were literally worked to death working sugar cane to make sugar and rum for
their slave masters and colonial rulers.
To therefore
name a restaurant selling rum, The Planation is grossly insensitive and constitutes
grave offence to the African descent communities in London and elsewhere.
Plantation's we're places where people suffered and died, where Africans
suffered unimaginable violence and terror at the hands of their slave
masters.
Imagine
if you can how African people would feel having to work at this venue much less
eat at it?
We have
no doubt that you would not name one of your venues Concentration Camp or one
of your cocktails Zyklon B.
We
therefore call on you to urgently reconsider your decision in the light of this
complaint and rename your venue forth with.”
Lee Jasper,
Co-founder and National Co-Chair BARAC UK said:
“London is one of
the most multicultural cities in the world. That any business man can
imagine that he could call a newly opened restaurant the plantation defies
belief and constitutes a grievous insult to London’s diverse communities.
Plantations
were the equivalent of concentration camps and the period of African
enslavement was one the greatest crimes in human history. They should change
the name now. “
Zita Holbourne, Co-founder and National Co-Chair
BARAC UK said;
“The decision to call this venue a plantation
beggars belief. The enslavement of African people forced to work under threat
& punishment was a crime against humanity, not something to be celebrated.
This is degrading and an insult to the memory of our ancestors and to those
whose fore parents were enslaved and made to work on plantations whilst abused,
beaten & murdered who still live with the legacy of racism it created
today.
To associate with
that horrific era in history by calling the venue this name speaks volumes
about the mindset of those who own it & is another example of the state of
racism in the UK as documented this week in the detailed report released by the
Equality & Human Rights Commission. It has echoes of Brett Bailey's human
zoo. I hope the owners see sense & demonstrate some decency and respect by
doing the right thing.”
Ends
Contact:
Zita Holbourne & Lee Jasper
Co-founders/ National Co-Chairs
Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC UK)
Email: barac.info@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/BARACUK
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