T.I. is putting Lloyd’s of London “on notice.”
On Friday (July 17), the rapper and activist shared a two-page open letter to the U.K. insurance giant, demanding that the firm pay reparations to descendants African slaves for its role in the transatlantic slave trade.
“Our people have been financially impaired & economically disabled due to the systemic oppression and institutional racism it leaves behind,” T.I. captioned an Instagram post featuring the letter. “TIME TO TAKE WHAT WE KNOW OUR ANCESTORS DESERVED & DIED FOR.”
In June, Lloyd’s acknowledged its ties to the slave trade and pledged to make amends, which included recruiting more Black employees and providing financial support to charities that promote diversity and inclusion, The New York Times reports.
But T.I. says that just isn’t enough.
“Your commitment to reparations is an honorable one, but commitment without tangible actions is merely lip service, he writes in the letter. “We demand a specific call to action that includes, but is not limited to direct reparations be made to the families who were ripped from their native lands and sold as property while your company profited from the whole shameful endeavor.”
T.I. goes on to suggest four avenues for reparations: 10 percent ownership of Lloyd’s be given to the descendants of African slaves, accurate annual tracking of those reparations, a $1 million cash loan (with 1% interest) to every African-American adult once in their lifetime for the next 200 years, and at least one African-American member on its board.
The rapper closed his letter by urging Lloyd’s to have a comprehensive reparation plan in place by fall of 2020.
“We have waited long enough and our community deserves real action and much more than empty apologies or platitudes,” he writes.
Read T.I.’s full open letter to Lloyd’s of London here.