Interview with Alistair Hood and Robert and Patricia Kean, Some thoughts from Glasgow/Hawaii
Recorded:26/03/2008Attendees: J Alistair Hood and Bob and Pat Kean Venue: GlenrothesLength 29 minutes 42 secondsProject Title: “Carry Me Home” – SlaveryRobert and Patricia Kean Some thoughts from Glasgow and HawaiiTopics covered: Brief background to Bob and Pat Kean; discussion on Glasgow wealth; trading through slavery; Slavery in Saudi Arabia; Robert (Bob) Kean, born Glasgow and Patricia (Pat) Kean, born Hawaii; slavery and introduction of missionaries in Hawaii.Some discussions about where Glasgow gained its wealth and how did some Scotsmen acquire their wealth. Alistair confirmed that the money was accrued from slavery. Greenock was one of the major slaving ports and many trade products were brought in from the West Indies (tobacco/sugar). Huge warehouses were built to accommodate the amount of tobacco being brought in. In 1965 slavery was outlawed in Saudi Arabia. Bob Kean retold how he was a slave master when he worked in the middle-east and supervised 300 Filipinos. The workers were stopped being paid and had no choice but to work for their food and board. This was something that was not unusual. This had an effect on petty crime because the workers did not have the money to send home to support their families and so they found other ways to obtain the money.There were uprisings in Jamaica because of similar situations when slavery abolished but it had an adverse effect on slavery and things often became worse for them.Bob Kean’s view was that the government often looked the other way when it came to human rights of these workers because of the importance placed on the oil industry.Pat Kean – Hawaii – Pat was born as an American; when the British arrived in Hawaii, they claimed what they wanted and killed off many of the Hawaii population and missionaries did try and force their Christianity and beliefs upon the Hawaiian people; introduced cheap labour and to this day there is a lot of animosity between white people and Hawaiians.Some discussion on Scotland and racism/colour and Scottish tend to have intolerance to the English population.[This disk includes as Track 1 part 2 of the Iain Whyte interview]
