Amsterdam mayor apologizes for city fathers' role in slavery

The mayor of Amsterdam has apologized for the extensive involvement of the Dutch capital’s former rulers in the global slave trade

AMSTERDAM -- The mayor of Amsterdam apologized Thursday for the extensive involvement of the Dutch capital's former governors in the global slave trade, saying the moment had come for the city to confront its grim history. Debate about the role of Amsterdam’s city fathers in the slave trade has been going on for years, but it has gained more attention amid the global reckoning with racial injustice that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. “It is time to engrave the great injustice of colonial slavery into our city’s identity. With big-hearted and unconditional recognition,” Mayor Femke Halsema said. “Because we want to be a government for those for whom the past is painful and its legacy a burden." While apologizing, she also stressed that “not a single Amsterdammer alive today is to blame for the past.”