The 2013 publication of Sir Hilary Beckles’ historical economic narrative on Britain’s Black Debt: Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Native Genocide re-ignited the Reparations debate in the West Indies. There are clear proponents in the form of politicians, governments and regional bodies: Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and CARICOM, and detractors as evidenced by a number of articles and letters to the editor appearing in regional newspapers since the launch of this seminal work. The campaign for reparative justice is not new neither is it exclusive to this region; Chief Moshood Abiola, noted Nigerian Pan-Africanist and the first entry in the author’s dedication list, had been at the forefront of this movement and instigated the convening of the 1993 First Pan-African Congress on Reparations. An attempt to advance this movement as envisioned in the 2001 Conference against Racism, Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) held under the auspices of the United Nations in Durban, South Africa, summarized in the second part of this work, was deflated by hegemonic come imperialistic positions adopted by the former slave trading nations. The lack of progress at this conference is used by the author to re-orient the argument and to shift the locus standi of the platform squarely on the Caribbean and the Caribbean people.
This book delivers the case for the Caribbean to pursue reparations from Britain based on the immense wealth generated from, firstly, the systematic decimation of the indigenous populations and the appropriation of their lands, the transatlantic trade in and, most significantly, the exploitation of enslaved Africans, accomplished through their unremunerated labour an...
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...n’s people because of the genocide and enslavement perpetrated against their ancestors. This action has manifested in the July 2013 decision of the Heads of Government to request all member states to convene a national reparations committee to report to CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC), which was constituted at the First Regional conference on Reparations held in September 2013, culminating, for now, with the approval, in March 2014, of a 10-point plan for negotiations on reparations with former European colonial powers. All of this achieved within one year of the publication of the text under review here, the author of which is none other than the distinguished chairman of the CRC. A formal complaint to the Europeans nations is expected by the end of April, 2014 and if rejected, plans are afoot to seek legal redress through the International Court of Justice.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of the article “The Case for Reparations” presents a powerful argument for reparations to black African American for a long time of horrendous injustice as slavery plus discrimination, violence, hosing policies, family incomes, hard work, education, and more took a place in black African American’s lives. He argues that paying such a right arrears is not only a matter of justice; however, it is important for American people to express how they treated black African Americans.
The article “The Case for Reparations” is a point of view that Ta-nehisi Coates looks into the life of Clyde Ross and what he went through in the African American society. Arranging reparations based off of what Clyde Ross lived through and experienced from the time he was a young child to his later adult years. Providing life facts and events comparing them to today and seeking out to present his reparations. Clyde ross explain that we are still living bound down as blacks to the white supremacy and in a new era of racism .Concluding the article the fact that it’s been far too long to live the way we are and it is time for a change to finally be made.
societies to reexamine their view of the Caribbean. In this paper the following topics in The
Last year, Ta-Nehisis Coates’ Atlantic article “The Case for Reparations” threw a national spotlight on a debate and movement that has been ongoing, yet for the large part unseen, for more than 150 years. Reparations suddenly became a topic of national debate, which like most things today focused on the merits of the idea versus proposing any real solutions to the issues. Coates’ article is no different, offering a litany of offensives without proposing any real solvency to the issues that have oppressed the black community in America for the past several hundred years.
In “The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates sets out a powerful argument for reparations to blacks for having to thrive through horrific inequity, including slavery, Jim Crowism, Northern violence and racist housing policies. By erecting a slave society, America erected the economic foundation for its great experiment in democracy. And Reparations would mean a revolution of the American consciousness, reconciling of our self-image as the great democratizer with the facts of our history. Paying such a moral debt is such a great matter of justice served rightfully to those who were suppressed from the fundamental roles, white supremacy played in American history.
The National Archives | Exhibitions & Learning online | Black presence | Africa and the Caribbean. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2014, from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/africa_caribbean/africa_trade.htm
In analyzing the influence of Africa in Puerto Rico, it would be irresponsible to refuse to acknowledge the initial introduction of African slaves to the island of Puerto Rico that by which serves as the main vessel of contact and cultural integration. By the turn of the 18th century, inhabitants of the island where being substituted for African slaves due to the high death rates resulting from “ war, disease, slavery, emigration,” etc. (Duany, 188) Most of the slaves to whom where enslaved were predominantly, but not limited to the Yoruba and Bantu cultures of West Africa. D...
“After 250 years of enslavement in America, African Americans were still terrorized in Deep South; they were pinned to the ghettos, overcrowded, overcharged, discriminated, and undereducated”. The best solution is to owe them reparations. To aid them out of their unjust inherit status. The novel is based on real life situations of many African Americans that had to face during slave, and post slave era in the United States of America. The purpose is to show that not having reparations for the African Americans lead to many downsides to the nation’s inequalities. In the novel “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, he uses just ethics and remorse obligation, to demonstrate the nation should to pay for the damage done to the black community.
As such, like in eighteenth century Isle de France, many slave women in Barbados were domestics and had to be at the disposal of their owners anytime. Slave women in Barbados, like in Isle de France ruled the slave-owner’s households, whether on t...
The first Africans landed in Jamestown, in Virginia in the year 1619. Having them appeared as an indentured servants, there was an institution that allows the black for hereditary lifetime service. From there, transportation of slaves from Africa to the West Indies became rampant. During this time, there were no rules applied for the slaves. The only rule is that restricting all the rights of the servants. (Davis, 79) Because of the ongoing scenario, the British America recog...
Reparations Although the talk of reparations of slavery has been in discussion for over a hundred years, it is beginning to heat up again. Within these discussions, the issue of the form of reparations has been evaluated and money has been an option several times. However, reparations in the form of money should not be obtained for several reasons. Firstly, it is not a solution to the problem, secondly monetary reparations have the ability to worsen discrimination, thirdly, who gets paid, and how is it regulated, and lastly, the money can be misused.
de Las Casas, Bartolomé. The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account. Translation, Briffault, Herma, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London © 1992.
The majority of the nearly 500,000 slaves on the island, at the end of the eighteenth century endured some of the worst slave conditions in the Caribbean. These people were seen as disposable economic inputs in a colony driven by greed. Thus, they receive...
Bouie argues, “The case for reparations, in short, is straightforward. As a matter of public policy, America stole wealth from black people, denied them a shot at prosperity, and deprived them of equal citizenship” (Bouie). Coates, in his article, never tries to make an argument for reparation, merely introduces the HR 40 bill, which would authorize a study of reparations by the American government. The point of the bill is to shed light on racial inequalities, both past and present, that many people are ignorant of, but still benefit from. Coates’ goal is for the country to really acknowledge white supremacy, and the role that it played in our country’s history. I agree that the country should be aware of his true roots, how our country was built on the back of stolen labor from slaves, but simply acknowledging is not enough. Coates is probably hoping that once the country comes to terms with just how much white supremacy and racial inequality is engrained into our culture, then the policy changes will follow. That may be a good approach to take, or perhaps we should demand reparations for those wrong now, instead of waiting and relying on the goodwill of the government to do what is right. What I want to discuss now is what these reparations would look
Africa’s struggle to maintain their sovereignty amidst the encroaching Europeans is as much a psychological battle as it is an economic and political one. The spillover effects the system of racial superiority had on the African continent fractured ...