The time is now for reparations!

BY LASHAWNA GRIFFITH

Barbados has been at the forefront of the reparations debate for the past two decades.

The island which is a signatory to the Caricom Reparations Committee (CRC) Ten-Point Plan is continuing its fight to have the Caribbean repaid for the over 400 years of slavery.

In an interview with the media, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Culture and the National Development Commission John King, said now was the opportune time to speak about reparations.

“When you stop and think about the labour and the blood sweat and tears that have been put in by our ancestors, with the only reward being death. It is why we need everyone to take this matter very seriously.

I am hoping that we can get serious about it, and have it done so people in the diaspora, African continent and living in other parts of the world can begin to feel that they are actually seen as a part of that movement family.”

King said that it is important that reparations take place to give the former colonized countries some of what they have lost over the years.

“Colonialism in my mind is just another form of slavery and it is important that reparations take place to give us back some of the years that we would have lost. I mean you have lost 400 years of being treated as a chattel and having no value.

Reparations are not just in terms of money; it is rebuilding of educational programs, and yes! you would need money for some of those things but there is also the repertory psychological damage that needs to be addressed and that for me is the area that we need a lot of assistance in. Being able to have the technical assistance to do that work. To have the conversation on reparations now is so exciting because I am very much encouraged by the energy our young people are bringing to this very important issue.”

Barbados Ambassador to Caricom and Deputy Chair of the National Task Force on Reparations in Barbados, David Comissiong also echoed King’s sentiments stating that the former colonizers had two opportunities to repay Barbados the reparations that were due: 1834 and 1966, which they have ignored.

“The first occasion that Blacks living in Barbados should have been paid reparations was in 1834 when slavery was abolished. The White Barbadian planters who ‘owned’ our ancestors were compensated by the then British Government for their ‘loss of property in the form of human beings.

When Black people achieved their independence that was another opportunity.

In the post-emancipation era when slavery was just abolished, Black people had very little power and autonomy as they did not even have the right to vote. In 2021 Black people do have the power to vote, they do have autonomy. There must be a message sent out to the world and ourselves that our fore-parents are sacred and valuable beings deserving of justice and respect.”

Programme Advisor Reparations and Economic Enfranchisement in the Ministry of Culture Rodney Grant said that he agrees with the statements made by King and Comissiong. He believes that reparations are vital as our former colonizers underdeveloped the Caribbean by taking our development from us.

“We are underdeveloped because they took the development from us.

Imagine your ancestors had no recourse, nothing or no one to turn to, and they had to work in the boiling sun and rain for six to seven days a week. All of the wealth that they would have created went to another country to build that country’s institutions. Imagine that in 1834-1838, when this process was over, they left these plantations without even shoes on their feet. Meanwhile, the very people who enslaved them got recompense and rewarded for freeing persons that they enslaved. Imagine that!”

The social media campaign, which is being organized by the Barbados National Task Force on Reparations, is seeking to sensitize and educate Barbadians on reparations and why it will take all of society advocating for reparations to make it happen.

Members of the public are invited to join and follow the movement on social media by following @mytridentisbroken on Instagram, or Barbados National Task Force on Reparations on Facebook.