The Greeks had slaves, so did the Romans, so did nearly every country in antiquity. Slavery is awful. I am not defending the practice. I am mearly cricising pointless gestures, such as those by Mr Andrew Hawkins, the descendent of Sir John Hawkins. I am also standing up for the right of Sir John Hawkins to be judged by the standards of his own time, and not ours. Sir John Hawkins saw nothing wrong in the slave trade because no-one else did at the time. It is as simple as that.