The writer is professor of global and imperial history at Queen Mary University of London
Last week, President Emmanuel Macron of France formally acknowledged his country’s role in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Meanwhile, Heiko Maas, Germany’s foreign minister, officially recognised the genocide against the Herero and Nama people of 1904-1907, when the territory now known as Namibia was under German colonial rule.
A few days later, President Joe Biden’s speech on the centenary of the massacre of African Americans at Tulsa touched on similar issues. He emphasised the urgent need for the US to “come to terms with [its] dark side”, adding that “only in remembrance do wounds heal”.