To understand what was going on during slavery we need to be able to empathise with the perpetrators:

Empathy for forgetting the slave trade

Imagine if you have stole, killed, manipulated or done something wrong to someone, the memories of your crime may haunt you. Without forgiveness or atonement the crime would play on your conscience, rearing its ugly head sporadically to make you feel uncomfortable. The monster of guilt would torment you and constantly disrupt your peace. Walls of believable excuses and lies would be created to barricade that monster. As the walls gets thicker your guilt gets weaker, the monster loses power and life becomes more comfortable. It would create too much distress to break down those walls and release the guilt, if you are still unwilling to say sorry and atone.

Empathy for the slave masters

Imagine being seduced by the lust for money. It’s like a drug which makes you desensitised to the screams of immorality. It was a highly profitable business that needed no great skill or expertise.

Empathy for not saying sorry

To truly say sorry is to submit yourself to the will of the person you have offended. That person would then find a suitable way for you to atone for your crime. Following a lesson in the bible if someone stole $1 they would atone by paying $4. The UK would be financially crippled for over 400 years if they truly wanted to atone for their crime.

Empathy for the slave masters descendants

Imagine being given the opportunity to gain vast amounts of money by getting people to work for you without pay. Imagine being told by your teacher, the church, or your parents, you were doing no wrong. A subconscious half hourly mantra would be needed convince the slave master that he was not in league with the devil. The mantra would resemble, black people were evil, they need to be civilised, we are superior, and holy father, mother of god, help us to do your missionary work. This mantra would is passed down generations through language, pray, subjugation, media, schools, art, literature, science and superior attitudes. This is why racism exists today.

Empathy for the workers of slave produce

Imagine you are cold, hungry, homeless and you are given the opportunity to work for a bank, mmmh say Barclays Bank PLC, this bank had a history of making profits from the suffering of others. Would you watch your child starve or would you ignore your morals and work for them. People had to switch off or tone down their empathy, and compassion to stop them being consumed with guilt.

Empathy for the overseers

Imagine if you were a soldier. You were instructed to kill people to provide mineral wealth to your country. Some jobs are unpleasant, but money can be used to subdue your conscience. The chances are many overseers became drunkards or had mental breakdowns because they could no longer face the true reality of what they had done.

Empathy for the Church

Vast wealth was accumulated though slavery, in the form of investments sand donations. Patrons used their profits to relive their guilt through donations. Can you blame the church for not biting the hand that fed them?

Empathy for not saying sorry

To truly say sorry is to submit yourself to the will of the person you have offended. That person would then find a suitable way for you to atone for your crime. Following a lesson in the bible if someone stole $1 they would atone by paying $4. The UK would be financially crippled for over 400 years if they truly wanted to atone for their crime.

Empathy for the Arab slave traders

Imagine have control over a harem of say 72 women while you are still alive.

Empathy for the colonial powers of Africa

You need some more money, your morality is still a bit perverse and you want to do some missionary work.