#BTColumn – Ready for reparations?

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

by Esther Phillips

I believe that the ongoing fight for reparations is a just cause. The wrongs inflicted upon Africans who were enslaved, as well as the decimation and other crimes against indigenous peoples, must find redress. Four hundred years of forced and unpaid labour under the most dehumanising of conditions must be compensated.

This is only right and just.

It is my understanding that reparations are now being sought in the areas of literacy, health, infrastructure and debt cancellation, among others. What small, developing nation would not benefit from such interventions?

Meanwhile, there are pertinent questions regarding these reparations, a major one being the matter of oversight, management and distribution in ways that are competent, fair and equitable.

It is my view that such answers need not be as complicated as some would have us believe. We have found ways to organise and manage other processes.

Perhaps a more important question, though, is whether or not we are prepared. I pose this question because I believe that there are some philosophical and psychological issues, we as a people need to confront, even as we speak of benefits we hope reparations will bring.

If our educational system, for example, does not change radically, if race and class differences remain as deeply entrenched as they are at present, if the perception remains that some must advance economically while the masses are kept at the bottom of the ladder, if we refuse to see that the rise in crime and violence is directly, though not exclusively, linked to the ills I have just outlined, then reparations, much as we believe they are due to us, will take us only so far.

As it relates to education, we as a country must inculcate a philosophy that is based, unequivocally, on the belief that every child is equally valuable, regardless of background or differences in skills and talents. It is heartening to hear that the so-called Common Entrance examination will be abolished.

We all know that the only factor those thousands of children have in “common” on that one day of the Examination, is that they will have to tackling the same exam papers.

But we who live in this society know full well that many of those children do not have the same resources, advantages and other crucial forms of support that the others do. These disadvantaged children are practically non-starters through no fault of their own.

Yet they are subjected for the next four or five years to a curriculum they simply cannot handle. They are also beset by a daily belief that they are less than their peers; not good enough. Why are we surprised when the end result is a cadre of frustrated, angry and alienated young people let loose on the society?

No wonder some would argue that the policy of divide and rule has insinuated itself into our educational system: the separation of those who pass for the “good” schools and those who do not. The implications of race and class are inherently interwoven into this pattern.

What’s wrong with continuous assessment in the primary schools in order to evaluate our children’s literacy and numeracy skills? What’s wrong with an educational policy that ensures the development of and respect for children’s individual skills and talents, whatever they are? But perhaps this would be too kind, too progressive, not punitive enough.

My overarching point relative to education and reparations is that we must develop citizens who are literate, whose diverse skills and talents are encouraged and respected, who are confident in themselves as individuals; citizens equipped and able to contribute meaningfully to the further national development envisioned by those who are on the side of reparations.

As for the issues surrounding race and class, it is time that we have some national conversations, particularly about the race question. I’m not talking about shouting across the aisle or the Internet at one another, so that no side is able to hear what the other is saying. But I’m talking about the kind of forums comprising individuals from the various ethnic groups who are, hopefully, knowledgeable, mature and responsible enough to face the hard questions we need to address.

In the interest of those kinds of conversations, let us not take refuge in the argument that we, as Caribbean people, are a “cohoblopot” of different races, and therefore it’s all good so let’s move on. We must face the historical and present truths that we are still divided by race; still “in the jet-stream” of slavery, as observed by Professor Sir Hilary Beckles. And we must be willing to examine the ways in which this division still impacts us all. We will never find solutions to problems we do not face honestly.

Emotions will run high at times in these forums. We cannot expect to put band-aids on wounds that are still festering. We must lance the wounds, drain the toxic fluids, clean the areas, then put the band-aid on where and if necessary. Some treated wounds heal well enough in free and open air.

A crucial question in this matter of race is how we as a nation of 98 per cent black people see ourselves.

The psychological impact of enslavement has been traumatic, and although we’ve come a long way, the results are still evident in the ways some of us treat our own sisters and brothers just because they are mirror-images of ourselves.

How we see ourselves can influence, for good or ill, opportunities that come our way for improved lives.

Sadly, there are individuals, including blacks, for whom reparations is a bad word. So, let us reflect on two words related in meaning, and with which such individuals may be more comfortable. These words are restoration and redemption.

To restore and to repair(reparations) carry the same meaning: something that was damaged or broken is brought back to its proper state. I think the relevance of the definition is obvious in this context.

The term redemption, however, carries a weightier, even a moral resonance. And this is where, admittedly, matters become complex.

We know that entrenched and powerful economic structures that have profited from the trans-Atlantic slave trade still flourish. Can laws be passed mandating reparations when the same power-brokers may be part of the legal systems? Or can we on the other hand depend on moral suasion?

I believe it is possible to consider reparations as part of a redemptive process in the following regard: by enslaving other human beings, the slave traders and slave owners pawned their conscience, their sense of fairness and justice, their morality, even their humanity.

Those profiting from that nefarious trade who now seek to repair such wrongs, whether voluntarily or under various forms of pressure, may be seen as attempting some form of self-redemption.

Some would argue that no kind of reparations could fully compensate for the centuries of wrongdoing whose effects still continue today. Others may consider this attempt to repair the damage as the beginning of the long journey towards a necessary justice.

Esther Phillips is a published writer and Poet Laureate of Barbados.