#BTColumn – Reparations, the Republic and removing Nelson

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Anthony L. Reid

Just as reading, writing and arithmetic are three fundamentals of basic education; reparations, republicanism and the removal of Nelson’s statue are three fundamentals in the creation of a new Barbados built on social justice, equality and equity.

The emancipation proclamation that ended slavery in these British colonies was not enough to truly free the descendants of Africa.

There was and still is a need for a tremendous amount of reparatory work to be done as the sustainability of the slave society that Little England was, depended on way more that chains and whips; the spirit of our ancestors had to be subdued and redefined.

In addition to the horrors of the physical brutality, there was deep rooted cultural and psychological violence, almost like a form of genocide that alienated many of the enslaved from their African soul, their history and heritage.

The cultural and psychological violence did not end at emancipation; in fact, it became more intense as the physical violence ceased to be the acceptable form of control.

Having successfully used schooling and religious indoctrination to bring the working class in line at home, the strategy was exported to the colonies to maintain the status quo.

It was not until the eve of independence that we could begin to transform their oppressive institutions and begin to put our healing institutions in place. Emphasis on begin, because there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done.

Just as Britain financed the system of mis-information, mis-eduction and general mis-socialisation 200 years ago it is now called upon to significantly contribute to cost of repair.

‘Reparations’ is therefore not simply about our great great-grandparents pay-cheque as someone once suggested, but about restitution.   

Part of the reparatory work to be done involves severing the toxic umbilical cord. Holding on to an abusive kidnaper for a mother is unhealthy.

Modern Barbados was established as a colony in 1627 and English society with all of its institutions, including the crown, was transplanted on to this 166 square miles.

Within a few decades thousands of Africans were forcefully removed from their homelands and subjected to a system of rule where the English monarch was imposed upon them.

In 1966 the descendants of those enslaved Africans claimed their Independence from England, but the English monarch remains the head of state.

No sovereign people should have a foreigner as their head of state. Especially a foreigner, who sits on a throne that enslaved, brutalised and subjected their ancestors to a subhuman status. For this reason, if no other, the Queen, the English monarchy and its colonial vestiges must go.

In 1813, white Barbadians, slave owning Barbadians, saw it fit to erect the statue of a British hero who epitomised their values and protected their interest.

This is not that Barbados. They saw it fit to erect the statue of such a man because their values and his were the same; he defended their interest and stood as a hero to them. How can the descendants of the victims of such barbaric values now maintain the presence of such a statue, a symbol
of such values?

Nelson was never a hero to the majority of Barbadians. Nelson’s battles or victories had nothing to do with the majority of Barbadians. In fact he was an enemy, an oppressor to them.

The removal of Nelson’s statue then, along with the removal of the Queen of England Queen Elizabeth II as head of state of Barbados along with the pursuit of Reparatory Justice are indeed fundamental to the making of a new Barbados, a correct Barbados. They are not the totality, or anywhere near such, but they are a start.