Across the bridge from the Île de Nantes a new memorial is being built. Along an esplanade on the bank of the river the Mémorial à l’Abolition de l’Esclavage is taking shape. Nantes was one of the points of the triangular trade as the French euphamistically refer to their shameful history of trafficking in human beings. Over the years the city sent thousands of boats carrying Africans to the Carribean and brought back the riches of the Americas. Nantes’ prosperity is built on the value in misery of those cargoes. It’s way past the time when French people should acknowledge that with a memorial.
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