Following the successful first stage of the march, a 250-mile walk from Hull to Westminster, which took place in March, the walkers set off again from London on 4 June for the second stage, called the Sankofa Reconciliation Walk. This stage lasts until 11 July and links former slave ports, including London, Bristol, Plymouth, Liverpool, Lancaster, Whitehaven and Glasgow, as well as other cities and towns. “Sankofa is an increasingly popular word from the Akan language of West Africa and means 'we must learn from the past to build for the future,'” said march organiser David Pott. “This will be a journey of discovery to learn about the way the Atlantic slave trade has impacted our society right up to the present time. "We invite people to join us as we aim to bring an apology of substance, seeking reconciliation and the way forward for future generations.” The March of the Abolitionists is the final stage of an epic seven-year journey of the Lifeline Expedition, which is a Christian response to the legacy of the Atlantic slave trade. After the first Jubilee 2000 Lifeline walk in England, teams of Africans, descendants of enslaved Africans and white people have journeyed to slavery sites in France, Spain and Portugal, the USA, the Caribbean and West Africa. |