Aspinator wrote:
This is a perspective from the other side of the pond. I was taught England became a sea power because that was the only way an island nation could survive. They had to ensure the sea lanes were kept open; it was a matter of practicality. I am not qualified to talk about British culture as I have not lived in England nor known anybody from there. I was also taught the American civil rights movement really started in England. When black soldiers in WWII were in England they were treated as equals; they came home to America, they weren't.
Anyone is qualified to talk about
any country, if they have sufficient knowledge and keep to facts, which can be done by accessing official, relevant sources of British culture (your own research is required here). Don't buy into the myth that you cannot talk about someone's identity if you aren't
that identity. It's just not true for Britain in today's political climate, in the north of England, at least.
You don't need to be apologetic if you have done your research. The whole point of open discussion is to win an argument based on owning a debate with verbal reasoning & conversational power struggle (this is what happens in a British context) - saving face isn't even really a thing in a northern British conversation - so if a person views this kind of discussion from a very leftist American, political paradigm, then they will see it as brutally honest. But being an Autistic British person is a very brutally honest experience.
In regards to the content of your post - you are exactly right. British folk basically spear-headed the black rights movement from an early stage, though the United States were very quick to pick up on that momentum.
Slavery was banned in 1833, in the United Kingdom, and Britain was the first nation to free its black slaves, setting an example for the rest of the world. The transatlantic slave trade began in the 15th century, and was essentially a wealth transfer of the labour force and the costly production of black folk labour, to the Western European colonial powers. The Western European powers took the wealth of black folk, made it their own and used that wealth to control their own empire, where they supported black people, but this was with black people in a supporting role, with the power balance strongly in favour of the British Empire. So from a black perspective, this was humiliating, yet the alternative was serving a different empire, and Britain has generally served as the best empire for black folk, historically.
Source: https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/civil-rights-movement/history-of-civil-rights-in-the-uk/The United States of America followed in 1868 with the 14th amendment which gave black people equality protection under law.
On a parallel level, in Britain, key black events began in 1919, with black uprisings in the north of England & which escalated into the 1980's.
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/black-british-social-and-political-history-in-the-20th-century/https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movementThis isn't really my domain, although I am working towards learning more about black history. But everything above I have told you is accurate, according to the sources provied.