‘Nobody knows how to talk about reparations,” says Lenny Henry, which is why the entertainer teamed up with his regular collaborator, media diversity campaigner Marcus Ryder, to write a book about it: The Big Payback: The Case for Reparations for Slavery and How They Would Work. Triggered by the revelation that the British government only finished paying off its debts from compensating slave owners for abolishing slavery in 2015, Henry and Ryder spoke to economists, politicians and race relations experts about how to tackle this most contentious of topics, maintaining their sense of humour throughout.
When did you start thinking about reparations?
Marcus Ryder: It’s always been part of the Black dialogue, but in terms of me thinking about it with Lenny, it was 2014 right? You might not remember this Lenny – it’s like we’re a married couple …
