Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Caribbean Activists Turn Up the Volume for Reparations
The Voice
21 Sep 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Caribbean Activists Turn Up the Volume for Reparations
Image of burning plantation during the 1831 rebellion led by Sam Sharpe in Jamaica.

The death of the queen is a reminder of the debt that Britain owes to Caribbean nations. Reparations are owed for slavery.

This article was originally published in The Voice online.

Demands for reparations are growing across the Caribbean, following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

The British monarchy have come under heightened demands from several Caribbean countries to undergo the reparatory justice process and issue an apology for their part in the slave trade. 

It comes after Royal tours of the Caribbean earlier this year led by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, followed by Prince Edward and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex were bundled by photo-ops disaster and tone deaf gifts.

Niambi Hall-Campbell, Chair of the Bahamas National Reparations Committee, said: “As the role of the monarchy changes, we expect this can be an opportunity to advance discussions of reparations for our region.”

Hall-Campbell went onto to send her condolences to the Royal family before and acknowledging how Charles spoke of the “appalling atrocity of slavery” as Barbados became a republic. 

She said she hopes he would lead in “justice required of the times. And that justice is reparatory justice.”

The Bahamas, including Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda and St Lucia, all led calls for the monarchy to lead in reparations for their islands over the slave trade and long-standing effects of colonialism. 

During Willim and Kate’s visit to the island in April this year, a spokesperson from the  Bahamas National Reparations Committee (BNRC), wrote an open letter to the couple as protests engulfed the island.

“We were motivated to write the letter to show that we do not owe this family and the regime they represent anything and to reject the notion that we are the model colony that won’t rock the boat.

“Bahamians are not limited to only being a legal jurisdiction for financial services; and an ideal tourist destination. We are a free and sovereign nation and believe that it is time to change our narrative to reflect that.”

Caribbean nations including Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Dominica and most recently Barbados are the only countries to have removed the Queen as head of state.

Jamaica has been most notable in its intentions to elect their own president followed by Antigua and Barbuda in the days after the Queen’s passing.

As former British colonies took in the news of the Queen’s passing, David Denny, General Secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration in Barbados told Reuters: ​​”Whoever will take over the position should be asked to allow the royal family to pay African people reparations,” said David Denny, general secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration, from Barbados.

“We should all work towards removing the royal family as head of state of our nations.”

Slavery
reparations
Caribbean

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Man in a field wearing a keffiyah holding a Palestinian flag
    Black Alliance For Peace
    The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the Murderous Assault on Occupied Palestine
    10 Oct 2023
    The Black Alliance for Peace released a statement in solidarity with the people of Gaza and all Palestinians under occupation in the racist, apartheid settler state of Israel.
  • Léopold Sédar Senghor
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: West Africa in Evolution, Léopold Sédar Senghor, 1961
    10 Oct 2023
    The current political turbulence in France’s former colonies in Africa can perhaps be understood as the continuation of an unfinished project of decolonization.
  • Laphonza Butler swearing in
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Laphonza Butler’s Liberal Dem Credentials All But Glow in the Dark
    10 Oct 2023
    No one better exemplifies the Democratic Party’s overarching identity politics than California Governor Gavin Newsom.
  • People marching at a protest in Haiti
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The United Nations Pushes Haiti Under the Bus
    10 Oct 2023
    For the tenth time in the last 30 years, the United Nations vote to authorize an occupation of Haiti.
  • Ralph Nader
    Jacqueline Luqman
    Of Course Ralph Nader Can Say He Prefers Autocracy To Fascism: He's Not The Target Of Either
    09 Oct 2023
    Millions of people voted for Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader in 2000 but now he has denounced them and himself by proclaiming his support for Joe Biden’s re-election.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us