#BTSpeakingOut – Is it law, or justice?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Esther Phillips

Mr. Mohamed Nasser recently made a suggestion on the “Brasstacks” programme that seemed controversial. Mr. Nasser made the point that plantation owners in Barbados should give over some of their lands for the benefit of young men who are now stealing the sugar cane and selling it in order to make a living.

I do not believe that Mr. Nasser’s suggestion is as preposterous as some would have us believe. We need only measure what he sees as a compensatory action against the centuries of exploitative and brutal slavery suffered on those same plantations by the ancestors of these same young men. Years of free and exacting labour.

If I were among the segment of those who still live off the profits of slavery in Barbados (and they know who they are), I would listen carefully to the rumblings of the underbelly of the nation. I would pay close attention to the fact that more and more individuals are opening up to the consciousness of the wrongs inflicted by slavery.

I think of the caller on the same “Brasstacks” programme who, having referred to our ancestors brought to Barbados “in chains,” was too overcome with emotion to continue speaking. Do not believe that he stands alone.

If I were among this group, as I mentioned above, I would take into consideration that wounds, though buried for a long time, do not necessarily heal, but just continue to fester and grow worse.

I would also not place my full security in the law written on the statute books. It is a fact of history that the law may prove deficient in addressing the needs of certain sections of a society; that this sector feels broken by the law rather than the other way around.

The call for reparation, in whatever form it may exist, is a call for justice. Nothing more. Nothing less. It is, at this point, a peaceful window that allows for the repairing of past and present damage: steps to social and racial harmony are made possible, some attempt is made to address the economic imbalances, a degree of faith in decency may be restored.

My fear is that in the face of callous indifference and sustained self-interest, this window may close. Then none of us will want to live in this society when the inevitable chaos breaks out.