#BTColumn – Calling reparations for Rastafari

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

by Ras Simba Akoma

Prime Minister Mia Mottley is making another call for reparatory justice to be bestowed unto the decendants of the enslaved African men and women who were exploited to build up Europen nations at the grave expense of Africa and African people.

The Prime Minister notes the role that the slave trade played in the underdevelopment of Africa and her people.

Reparations is founded on the idea of reparatory justice, and is not only about a financial payout. As the term suggests, repair is the bench mark by which considerations for reparations must be made.

As this is the case, the Prime Minister must acknowledge that just as Europe greviously wronged Africa and her people, the two political parties who have governed Barbados from 1966 until present have grevioisly wronged and allowed wrong to be done to the Rastafari community.

Ironically, these injustices to Rastafari have come as a result of their unapologetic retention of African heritage and cultures. One feasible example of a form of reparatory justice would be the legislation of cannabis for Rastafari use in their Afro Caribbean way of living.

Colonial-based cannabis prohibition that was, and is upheld by African descended Caribbean governments, has led to the serious under development of the Rastafari community.

The Barbados Labour Party and the Democratic Labour Party must share responsibilities for what has been done to the Rastafari community since Barbados’ independence in 1966.

The newly formulated Medicinal Cannabis Industy validates that what Rastafari has been saying from inception, that cannabis is a herb with great medicinal properties and usages.

Prime Minister Mottley should in good moral consciousness decriminalize cannabis to an acceptable degree and allocate a percentage of any national or private cannabis ventures to the Rastafari community. In fact a cannabis business tax should be created with a percentage of that tax going to the Rastafari community.

Another way that the present government can pay reparations to Rastafari is by allocating it one or two of its unused buildings for a Rastafari school and residence for elder Rastas. Start-up capital should be included with the donation to buildings which must be owned by the Rastafari community.

The Rastafari community has established the National Rastafari Registry Secretariat and Trust as the official office of Rastafari to mediate on behalf of its community as it is vital that any representation to government not be party affiliated or supoorters of the present administration.

The Rastafari community is not seeking favours but justice and equal rights. If Prime Minister Mottley fails to address what is being put forward here, her calls for reparations are hollow and not worth their weight in anything.

Charity and reparations begin at home. The Prime Minister must take the mote from her eyes before attempting to encourage others to remove theirs.

I conclude this article by noting that I look forward to return to court, which was adjourned on Thursday until May 31, 2022, to prove to Prime Minister Mottley and her Party that the Rastafari home is a place of worship for us and thus must be included in the Cannabis Sacrament Act.

Under any moral considerations for reparations I should not have to be fighting against Prime Minister Mottley and her Party for what are essentially my human and constitutional rights.

I support the call for Reparations.

Ras Simba Akoma is president and founder of the African Heritage Foundation.