#BTEditorial – United Caribbean call for slavery reparations

The call for Britain to pay reparations to Caribbean countries where they plied their slave trade seems to have gotten louder in recent weeks.

Leaders of The Bahamas, Belize, Jamaica, then Trinidad and Tobago, and our own Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, have all called for the Brits to pay up.

Sparked by a recent visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the Caribbean, Belizeans protested, Bahamians and Jamaicans lined the streets of their countries and demanded reparations.

The Bahamas National Reparations Committee, an independent panel created by the government to study the issue, issued a statement that said, in part: “They and their family of Royals and their government must acknowledge that their diverse economy was built on the backs of our ancestors. They must pay.”

In Jamaica, Rastafarians and Christians alike voiced their disapproval of a visit from Prince William and his wife, Kate, with no promise of reparations.

The Rastafarian group said part of that reparation mandate should be the writing off of loans and financing for the construction of more schools and public hospitals in the island.

Lewis Brown, treasurer of the Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolence Society told the Jamaica Gleaner: “We sent a letter to Minister [of Culture Olivia] Grange, hoping that she will open up a way so that we can make a presentation to them as a reminder of the country’s reparation claims from slavery. The Prince is coming here, and we would like to make a presentation in the form of a letter, reminding them of their responsibility of reparation as their family benefited from enslaving Africans in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.”

Along with reparations, Jamaican Anglican priest the Rev Sean Major-Campbell called for the Brits to tender an apology.

He said: “They displayed a lack of common decency, emotional intelligence, and sensitivity for the pain and suffering endured by our revered ancestors and the manumitted who were never even compensated for the centuries of Great Britain’s prosperity at the expense of their lives and dehumanising experiences. The insult to our human dignity, self-worth, and autonomy is so palpable that many no longer realise the ongoing effects of the sheer cruelty wrought upon us by the genocide and holocaust of the transatlantic slave trade.”

While addressing Jamaicans, the Duke of Cambridge expressed “profound sorrow” for the “appalling atrocity of slavery”.

“Slavery was abhorrent and it never should have happened. I strongly agree with my father, the Prince of Wales, who said in Barbados last year that the appalling atrocity of slavery forever stains our history,” Prince William said.

Days later in Trinidad, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley called a spade a spade. He said while Britain admitted wrongdoing they must now pay.

“Recently, I was very pleased to hear Prince William say that he acknowledged that slavery was wrong and that the British government, the British people have some responsibility in that piece of unforgettable history.

“I was pleased to hear a member of the royal household in the United Kingdom say that, but tonight I want to say to Prince William, having said that I believe you, but I believe you more if you do what you must now do which is to offer some reparation to the people who were wronged in the way that you have acknowledged. It is not sufficient to say that I acknowledge it but not to seek to help those who are harmed by it.”

This week, while on an official visit in Dubai, our Prime Minister added her voice to the Caribbean conversation. The PM, who has spoken on the issue before, again said that those who have benefitted greatly from the slave trade should provide compensation.

“It should not be, either, an issue that is driven by anything other than absolute clarity that there is a development deficit today that is the result of that behaviour in the past, and that development deficit has to be met with legitimately – both in terms of reparatory justice, but as we are also now explaining, climate justice,” she said.

Mottley argued that the former colonisers removed the wealth from countries such as Barbados and created the industrial revolution in developed nations which, in turn, contributed significantly to the world’s greenhouse gases.

“The issue [reparations] is very much alive still because people – and younger people in particular – feel strongly that whether it is the return of artefacts like the Benin Bronzes [to Nigeria], or whether it is in terms of reparations . . .  first [there should be] apologies but secondly also, recognising that the extraction of wealth from our colonies led to the industrial revolution in these developed countries today.”

Prior to the Royal visit, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) revealed an official letter they sent to Europe asking them to pay up. It was not the first such letter sent.

We are pleased that the affected Caribbean countries are continuing to apply pressure to this situation. We applaud them for allowing their voices to be heard, especially at a time when the UK media was in the region following Prince William, the second in line to the British throne. We hope and pray, for the sake of our generation and generations to come, that they do right by our people and allow them to enjoy some of the financial gains their forefathers toiled to provide for the white slave masters.