I DO not condone racism or British involvement in slavery. There are some often overlooked points.

The current outcry and demands for white people to feel guilt over circumstances that happened over two centuries ago for the slave trade, I make no apology for this. The majority of the population would have no knowledge or understanding of the slave trade at this time. Many in this country were working to abolish slavery, which was banned in Britain around 1807. The Royal Navy repatriated more than 150,000 freed slaves to places like Sierra Leone and Seychelles.

What is never mentioned is the involvement of African tribes such as the Ashanti of Ghana and the Yoruba of Nigeria along with others in actively supplying the slave trade. Calls for present-day tribal leaders to apologise for their ancestor’s actions in these countries are declined.

Barbary Corsaires were taking slaves from South West England, Wales and Western Ireland to be sold in Africa and the Ottoman Empire. Blond-haired, blue-eyed Christian children were particularly valuable.

In Scotland, Crofters were turned out of their homes, their property burned to prevent return by their own Clan Chiefs.

Indentured labourers and agricultural workers were forced to work without pay other than food and accommodation, a form of slavery.

At the time of the American Civil War, mill workers refused to work with imported Confederate Cotton in support of anti-slavery.

At this time in history, life was not entirely a bed of roses for the majority and the crimes of slavery were another part of this.

Yobs involved in tearing down flags and wanting statues destroyed are rent a mob anarchists, turning up to hijack any peaceable protest to further their own agenda and who benefit from education often provided through historic contribution financed by the legacies of those they despise.

David Race, Darlington.