Important conversations....
A call for reparations
By By Verdel Bishop
Racism and other legacies of slavery continue to shape the lives of people of African descent, thus reparations must be directed toward repairing the damage inflicted by slavery and racism. This was the clarion call made recently during talks hosted by the Emancipation Support Committee on the topic “The Case for Reparation”.
The discussion was part of the 2013 Kwame Ture Memorial Public Lecture Series with the theme “Institutionalising the African Agenda in the Global Future”.
Held at the Audio-Visual Room at Nalis, Abercromby Street, Port of Spain, panellists David Comissiong from Barbados, Dorbrene O’Marde from Antigua and chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee, Khafra Kambon, called for reparations for injustices suffered by African slaves and their descendants.
O’Marde said those who commit crimes towards humanity must make reparations. Reparation must be directed toward repairing the damage inflicted by slavery and racism, he said, and an apology for the crimes committed is not enough. “With over 400 years of the African slave trade an apology is not enough. These apologies should back up with a new commitment for economic development of the nations that have suffered from this human tragedy. We wish to be clear that our approach to Europe is not confrontational. We see reparations to include reconciliations with Europe to include wrongs perpetuated against African people. We talk of redemption and of repair and we do those things not only in the interest of money but in the interest of building a better world for ourselves and our children,” O’Marde said.
He added that reparations should be seen as an integral element in regional development strategy. “The legacy of slavery and colonisation has severely impaired our development options. We know that our constant search and struggles for development resources is linked directly to our historical inability of our nations to have accumulated wealth from the efforts of our peoples during slavery and colonialism. These nations that have been the major producers of wealth for the European slave owning economies during enslavement and the colonial period entered independence with dependency which has struggled in their economic, cultural social and political lives,” O’Marde said.
Kambon, in signalling his call for a national reparations committee, looked at the psychological effects of slavery and colonisation.
“This has left great inequalities in the world. Reparation is meant to correct what has happened but we cannot ask them to repair the immense damage that was done to our minds and our self-concept. We cannot ask them to repair that. Their resources can help but we are the ones who have to take our own steps to repair that psychological damage,” Kambon said.
Kambon, during his call for national reparation said reparation is not something the government alone can fight on its own. “It’s a huge fight and we need civil society and mass public understanding on this issue, he said.
The panel discussion also saw the launch of Comissiong’s book titled The Healing of The Nation – The Case for Reparations in an era of Recession and Re-colonisation.
The core of the book, Comissiong said, is the text of a lecture he delivered in Antigua in 2011 as a guest of that country’s Reparations Support Committee. Comissiong compared his book to Hilary Beckles’s book titled Britain’s Black Debt: Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Native Genocide. He said both books complement each other.
Comissiong explained, “A lot is happening on the issue of reparations. In many respects my book is a kind of companion piece to Prof Beckles’ book.
“His book is a very weighty treatise on reparations however, my book could be considered a manual although it discusses the same things as Beckles book but in a much more simple and concise manner.
The two publications complement each other. One of the points the book is that reparations, in addition to offering a way out for Africans and people of African descent, also offers a way out for Western Europe.”
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