Sankofa Day is an annual memorial held in London’s Trafalgar Square to mark UNESCO’s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. The event provides a space where all Londoners can come together to collectively remember and honour the victims of this heinous piece of British history. It is also a safe space where, in line with our ethos, we strive to educate, celebrate and inspire. 

How can you learn from history if you choose to forget it?

We know that confronting and remembering this horrific and painful piece of our collective history is challenging for all and one which many would rather forget and ‘move on’ from, but how can you learn from history if you choose to forget it? Particularly a piece of history that lasted 400 years, is acknowledged by UNESCO as a crime against humanity and with a legacy still so visible today.

Racism and prejudice today - London united

In this current climate Sankofa Day not only stands to acknowledge and remember this chapter of human history, but also to shine a spotlight on the dangers of racism and prejudice today and to say London is united, united in condemning racism in all its forms and guises, and united in remembering and honouring those who had their lives so brutally torn from them to build the 'great' Britain we see and benefit from today.

No memorial

Today (11/02/20) we were told that we cannot have the memorial in Trafalgar Square as we have for the last 4 years, unless it is a much larger event. Such an event is estimated by the Trafalgar Square team to cost a minimum of £100k.

Sankofa Day is produced by Slavery Remembrance, a small, not-for-profit, grassroots organisation. Unfortunately, because this is such a sensitive issue, as an organisation we get little to no support. The event is entirely self-funded and receives no governmental support, financial or otherwise.Therefore, we can not do this event without the support of London Mayor, Sadiq Khan and City Hall who manage Trafalgar Square. We have been requesting support for the last 4 years but have been unsuccessful.  This year, although they have not had the common courtesy to respond to our request, we have been informed by other sources that City Hall will once again not be supporting Sankofa Day as the event does not meet their criteria.

The general criteria for an event to be supported by the London Mayor is that it must benefit the entire London community not just a section of it. The Transatlantic Slave Trade is part of British history, the event has and always will welcome all Londoner’s irrespective of colour, age, gender etc - to come together to collectively remember.

Stand with us and tell Sadiq we will remember, this is our history, our memorial it's #TimeToRemember

This is our call to all of you to tell Sadiq that Sankofa Day is an event you want to see take place on Trafalgar Square and one which you want him, as London Mayor, to financially support as he does for Eid on the square, Diwali on the square, St Patrick’s Day on the square, St George’s Day on the Square, Vaisaki on the Square, Chinese New Year on the square and Pride on the square.

Please support our crowdfunder too

As well as petitioning Sadiq Khan to support Sankofa Day, we are also running a crowdfunder to cover the costs of the memorial, should we be unscuccesful with Sadiq, and secure its place in the Trafalgar Square calendar for 2020. Please donate what you can.

“If you don’t learn from the past you are condemned to repeat it. Many people will try to brow beat people of African heritage about the legacies of slavery with the cliche ‘stop going on about the past’, but of course they do not really mean this. Those very same people are careful to honour their ancestors, build statues, wear poppies and other such things dedicated to the memory of the dead. It is only right and normal that people should remember those who sacrificed so much for us to be here today. For that reason and many others, I wholeheartedly support the national memorial to support this day and commemorate those that suffered one of the greatest crimes against humanity.” Akala