King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands apologized Saturday for his country's role in slavery and asked for forgiveness during a historic speech greeted by cheers and whoops at an event to commemorate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Dutch colonies. The king's speech followed Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's apology late last year for the country's role in the slave trade and slavery. The public expressions of remorse are part of a wider reckoning with colonial histories in the West that the Black Lives Matter movement spurred in recent years. In his emotional address, Willem-Alexander referred back to the prime minister's apology as he told a crowd of invited guests and onlookers: "Today, I stand before you. Today, as your king and as a member of the government, I make this apology myself. And I feel the weight of the words in my heart and my soul." Riots in Belgium, Netherlands after Morocco win at World Cup The king said he has commissioned a study into the exact role of the royal House of Orange-Nassau in slavery in the Netherlands. "But today, on this day of remembrance, I ask forgiveness for the clear failure to act in the face of this crime against humanity," he added. Willem-Alexander's voice appeared to break with emotion as he completed his speech before laying a wreath at the country's national slavery monument in an Amsterdam park. Some people want action to back up the words. "Honestly, I feel good, but I am still looking forward to something more than just apologies. Reparations, for example," Doelja Refos, 28, said. "I don't feel like we're done. We're definitely not there yet," Refos added. Study in the Netherlands: Scholarship Opportunities for Bangladeshi Students Former lawmaker John Leerdam told Dutch broadcaster NOS that he felt tears running down his cheeks as the king apologized. "It's a historic moment and we have to realize that," he said. Slavery was abolished in Suriname and the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean on July 1, 1863, but most of the enslaved laborers were forced to continue working on plantations for another decade. Saturday's commemoration and speech started a year of events to mark the 150th anniversary. Research published last month showed that the king's ancestors earned the modern-day equivalent of 545 million euros ($595 million) from slavery, including profits from shares that were effectively given to them as gifts. When Rutte apologized in December, he stopped short of offering compensation to descendants of enslaved people. Instead, the government is establishing a 200 million-euro ($217 million) fund for initiatives that tackle the legacy of slavery in the Netherlands and its former colonies and to improve education about the topic. That isn't enough for some in the Netherlands. Two groups, Black Manifesto and The Black Archives, organized a protest march before the king's speech Saturday under the banner "No healing without reparations." Bangladesh Film Archive signs MoU with RedOrange of Netherlands to collect 1971 war footage "A lot of people including myself, my group, The Black Archives, and the Black Manifesto say that (an) apology is not enough. An apology should be tied to a form of repair and reparatory justice or reparations," Black Archives director Mitchell Esajas said. Marchers wore colorful traditional clothing in a Surinamese celebration of the abolition of slavery. Enslaved people were banned from wearing shoes and colorful clothes, organizers said. "Just as we remember our forefathers on this day, we also feel free, we can wear what we want, and we can show the rest of the world that we are free." Regina Benescia-van Windt, 72, said. The Netherlands' often brutal colonial history has come under renewed and critical scrutiny in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in the U.S. city of Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, and the Black Lives Matter movement. A groundbreaking 2021 exhibition at the national museum of art and history took an unflinching look at slavery in Dutch colonies. In the same year, a report described the Dutch involvement in slavery as a crime against humanity and linked it to what the report described as ongoing institutional racism in the Netherlands. The Dutch first became involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the late 1500s and became a major trader in the mid-1600s. Eventually, the Dutch West India Company became the largest trans-Atlantic slave trader, according to Karwan Fatah-Black, an expert in Dutch colonial history and an assistant professor at Leiden University. BEMEA seeks more collaboration with Netherlands to enhance RMG industry’s competitiveness Authorities in the Netherlands aren't alone in saying sorry for historic abuses. In 2018, Denmark apologized to Ghana, which it colonized from the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century. King Philippe of Belgium has expressed "deepest regrets" for abuses in Congo. In 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized for the church's role in slavery. Americans have had emotionally charged disputes over taking down statues of slaveholders in the South. In April, King Charles III for the first time signaled support for research into the U.K. monarchy's ties to slavery after a document showed an ancestor with shares in a slave-trading company, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said. Charles and his eldest son, Prince William, have expressed their sorrow over slavery but haven't acknowledged the crown's connections to the trade. During a ceremony that marked Barbados becoming a republic two years ago, Charles referred to "the darkest days of our past and the appalling atrocity of slavery, which forever stains our history." English settlers used African slaves to turn the island into a wealthy sugar colony. Willem-Alexander acknowledged that not everybody in the Netherlands supports apologies, but he called for unity. "There's no blueprint for the process of healing, reconciliation and recovery," he said. "Together, we are in uncharted territory. So let's support and guide each other."  

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized Monday on behalf of his government for the Netherlands’ role in slavery and the slave trade, in a speech welcomed by activists as historic but lacking in concrete plans for repair and reparations. “Today I apologize,” Rutte said in a 20-minute speech that was greeted with silence by an invited audience at the National Archive. Ahead of the speech, Waldo Koendjbiharie, a retiree who was born in Suriname but lived for years in the Netherlands, said an apology was not enough. Read more: Seoul court rejects Koreans claim for compensation from Japanese companies for slave labor during colonial occupation “It’s about money. Apologies are words and with those words you can’t buy anything,” he said. Rutte told reporters after the speech that the government is not offering compensation to “people — grandchildren or great grandchildren of enslaved people.” Instead, it is establishing a 200 million-euro ($212 million) fund for initiatives to help tackle the legacy of slavery in the Netherlands and its former colonies and to boost education about the issue. Rutte apologized “for the actions of the Dutch state in the past: posthumously to all enslaved people worldwide who have suffered from those actions, to their daughters and sons, and to all their descendants into the here and now.” Describing how more than 600,000 African men, women and children were shipped, "like cattle" mostly to the former colony of Suriname, by Dutch slave traders, Rutte said that history often is “ugly, painful, and even downright shameful.” Rutte went ahead with the apology even though some activist groups in the Netherlands and its former colonies had urged him to wait until July 1 of next year, the anniversary of the abolition of slavery 160 years ago and said they had not been sufficiently consulted in the process leading up to the speech. Activists consider next year the 150th anniversary because many enslaved people were forced to continue working in plantations for a decade after abolition. Read more: California task force launches study of slave reparations Mitchell Esajas, director of an organization called The Black Archives and a member of activist group Black Manifest, did not attend the speech despite being invited because of what he called the “almost insulting” lack of consultations with the Black community. He said it was a historic moment but lamented the lack of a concrete plan for reparations. “Reparation wasn’t even mentioned," Esajas said. "So, beautiful words, but it’s not clear what the next concrete steps will be.” Rutte's gave his speech at a time when many nations' brutal colonial histories have received critical scrutiny because of the Black Lives Matter movement and the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in the U.S. city of Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. The prime minister's address was a response to a report published last year by a government-appointed advisory board. Its recommendations included the government's apology and recognition that the slave trade and slavery from the 17th century until abolition "that happened directly or indirectly under Dutch authority were crimes against humanity.” The report said that what it called institutional racism in the Netherlands “cannot be seen separately from centuries of slavery and colonialism and the ideas that have arisen in this context.” Dutch ministers fanned out Monday to discuss the issue in Suriname and former colonies that make up the Kingdom of the Netherlands — Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten as well as three Caribbean islands that are officially special municipalities in the Netherlands, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. In Suriname, , the small South American nation where Dutch plantation owners generated huge profits through the use of enslaved labor, the largest opposition party, NDP, condemned the Dutch government for failing to adequately consult descendants of enslaved people in the country. Activists in the country say that what's really needed is compensation. “The NDP therefore expresses its disapproval of this unilateral decision-making process and notes that the Netherlands is comfortably taking on the role of the mother country again," the party said in a statement. The year starting July 1, 2023, will be a slavery memorial year in which the Netherlands “will pause to reflect on this painful history. And on how this history still plays a negative role in the lives of many today,” the government says. The Dutch first became involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the late 1500s and became a major trader in the mid-1600s. Eventually, the Dutch West India Company became the largest trans-Atlantic slave trader, said Karwan Fatah-Black, an expert in Dutch colonial history and an assistant professor at Leiden University. In 2018, Denmark apologized to Ghana, which it colonized from the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century. In June, King Philippe of Belgium expressed “deepest regrets” for abuses in Congo. In 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized for the church’s role in slavery. Americans have had emotionally charged fights over taking down statues of slaveholders in the South. Now the Netherlands has joined their ranks. But for some in the Black community, the notable day was tinged with disappointment. “For a lot of people, it’s a very beautiful and historic moment but with — in Dutch we say — a bitter taste ... and it should have been a historic moment with a sweet taste,” Esajas said.

Michelle Bachelet, the chief of UN human rights, urged countries to address today’s systemic racism and “centuries of violence and discrimination” through reparations and other processes.