Dr Hilary Beckles makes a most compelling and convincing case for reparations from genocide and slavery. The lecture accompanied the official launch of Dr Beckles’ book ‘Britain’s Black Debt: Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Genocide.’
Sometimes we take slavery for granted, and this may explain why some people think it is okay to forgive, forget and move on. According to these persons, slavery is too far in the past. But Dr Beckles lecture opened new wounds afresh. It certainly opened eyes and helped to place the reparations case firmly on the agenda.
Dr. Beckles’ description of the Zong case, where more than 300 Africans were thrown into the Atlantic, demonstrated the wanton disregard for human life. In fact, Africans were seen as property, not human as Judge Mansfield ruled. The dumping of the Africans were akin to tossing pigs or cattle. The captain of the Zong, who essentially murdered 300 Africans, was able to return to England and claim the insurance money for the Africans whom he threw to the sharks.
There is also Dr Beckles’ description of the role of African women during slavery. They were the ones depended on to perpetuate slavery. A child born of an enslaved African mother was doomed to a life of slavery. The African woman was used and abused, raped and assaulted at will. If the African man was brutalized, the African woman was dehumanized. It is not by chance that African people, who experience slavery, to this day, exhibit behaviors that reflect destabilization and mal-adjustment. It is a kind of disorientation seen in many of us that Professor Joan O’Leary describes as Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.
When I lived in the United States, I was often asked whether I was not ashamed of the performance and conditions of African Americans and other people of colour. My response then as now is that rather than being ashamed, I was surprised and heartened by the fact that so many of our people are doing so well, in spite of the odds. The same view holds for those of us who called the Caribbean home.
Those who disputed the negative legacies of slavery must have been blown away by UWI research which showed the connection between the slaves diets our ancestors consumed for centuries and the fact that Caribbean peoples were now some of the most unhealthy on earth. Dr Beckles revealed that Caribbean people are afflicted with hypertension and diabetes more than any other group on earth. The slave diet makes it difficult for our people to break down sugar and salt. Those living on Africa’s west coast, where many of our ancestors were captured and enslaved, suffer from these ailments like other population groups. The slave experience in the Caribbean makes all of the difference.
Dr Beckles’ lecture demonstrated the vital importance of the fight for reparations. Reparations is about making the children of former enslaved Africans whole. It is a tribute to those of us who have escaped the trap of underdevelopment endemic to the post slave state. But the journey to free ourselves from mental slavery and for holistic development of mind, body and soul would become just a little easier when we unite in the struggle for reparations.
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