At the time that 'Rule Britannia' was written, 'Britons never...will be slaves' was a triumphalist cry that 'we' were superior to those who were slaves - the peoples forcibly taken from Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas where they were bought and sold and forced to labour
There have been loud objections to the satirical use (or misuse) of the Nazi slogan 'Arbeit macht frei' as it was felt that it was an insult to the descendants of Nazi victims. Surely 'Rule Britannia' is as much if not worse an insult to the descendants of slaves.
Benjamin Zephaniah made clear on @BBCRadio4 #WorldAtOne that these kinds of words and statues that celebrate the perpetrators of slavery stand in triumph over him and are an insult to him @BZephaniah
It's not as if white supremacy has gone away and we are in a situation where the idea that Britons are special because we aren't slaves is just laughable. The Windrush scandal tells us very clearly that white supremacy hasn't disappeared.
