Book Report on "Britain's Black Debt" by Professor Sir Hilary McD. Beckles.
This piece is a report on Britain's Black Debt: Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Native Genocide a book by Professor Sir Hilary McD. Beckles. The copy of the book that I have is a soft covered (paperback) version that costs two hundred and twenty five TT dollars. The ISBN number is 978-976-640-268-6. This book is published by the University of West Indies Press. It was published in Mona, Jamaica in 2013.The manuscript consists of fifteen chapters and on two hundred and ninety two pages.
Professor Sir Hilary McD. Beckles is a Barbadian historian and scholar who is currently Principal and Pro-vice Chancellor at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados. He also serves as Vice-President to the International Scientific Committee of the UNESCO Slave Route Project and is a member of the International Advisory Board of The Cultures and Globalization Series. He is a major spokesperson in the fight for reparations by the Europeans for crimes committed against humanity that is the transatlantic slave trade and enslavement of the African people. He is also the author of several other books namely A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Nation-State, Centering Woman: Gender Discourses in Caribbean Slave Society and Natural Rebels: A Social History of Enslaved Black Women in Barbados. Professor Sir Hilary McD. Beckles is of African descent and is Barbadian and so his work may be bias that is Pro-African and/or Pro-Caribbean.
In Britain's Black Debt, Professor Beckles sets about making a case for reparations to be made by Great Britain toward the English-speaking Caribbean's for the colonies of West Africans that they enslaved a...
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...the West Indies during the era of the seventeenth to nineteenth century.
The aim of Professor Beckles is to raise awareness of the crimes committed by the British and to successfully argue the fact that Great Britain should be made to make reparations to the Caribbean through accepting culpability for their actions; their crimes against humanity. It seems that he is trying to argue and inform as to give rise to a multitude of persons that would share his sense of justice. I am exceedingly convinced that Professor Beckles has achieved his aim as he has organized some very legitimate evidence to make a awfully compelling argument. ----------------------why was it convincing-------------------------------. The subjects were very suited to the title of the book.
The content of this manuscript is precisely reflective of the definition of Caribbean that is seen today.
Fluorescent turquoise waters, a vibrant city culture, as well as an unending supply of mimosas and sunburns within a resort, benefits the common wealthy couple looking for a swell time. When people imagine the Caribbean, they probably visualize the soft sands of the Spice Island Beach Resort. Many people see the Caribbean as relaxing paradise. What people don’t understand, are the years of history hidden behind the mask of many resorts. In the book entitled “Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day”, Author Carrie Gibson differentiates how people view the Caribbean nowadays, by altering their visualization with four-hundred pages of rich history and culture, that argues the ideology about the Caribbean
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.
This week’s articles carry a couple related, if not common, themes of imagined, if not artificial, constructs of race and identity. Martha Hodes’ article, “The mercurial Nature and Abiding Power of Race: A Transnational Family Story,” offers a narrative based examination of the malleable terms on which race was defined. To accomplish this she examines the story of Eunice Connolly and her family and social life as a window into understanding the changing dimensions of race in nineteenth-century America and the Caribbean, specifically New England and Grand Cayman. While Hodes’ article examines the construction of race in the Americas, Ali A. Mazrui’s piece, “The Re-Invention of Africa: Edward Sai, V. Y. Mudimbe, and Beyond,” looks at the construction of African identity. Although different in geographic loci, the two articles similarly examine the shaping influences of race and identity and the power held in ‘the Other’ to those ends.
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
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. Many have tried to use money on several occasions to help or solve a situation, however this has been noted to be not very effective.
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...
During the 17th century, slavery was a widely used commodity with the Europeans, little do people know however that African kings also had and accepted slavery in their own nations. King Nzinga Mbemba of Congo and the King of Ouidah had similarities on the issue of slavery; they tolerated the use of slaves. Congo’s king had no contingency with slavery; in fact, he had slaves in his country. When the Portuguese were purchasing goods in Congo, the king had men “investigate if the mentioned goods are captives or free men” (NZ, 622). The fact that the king differentiates the men between ‘free’ and ‘captives’ illustrates that not all people in Congo are free. Whether these captives are from the country of Congo or not, they are still caught and held all across the nation against their will. King Mbemba kept slaves because the population of Congo was vastly declining due to the slave trade. In his letter, he pleads with the king of Portug...
By the late nineteenth century, France terminated the slave trade in French Cameroon and abolished slavery in the French colony of Martinique. Although the French removed the physical chains on people of African descent living in French territories, the remnant of slavery and colonialism continues to manifest itself through the mental enslavement and exploitation of people of continental Africa and the African Diaspora. In Jean-Marie Téno’s unorthodox documentary about the history of Cameroon, Africa, I Will Fleece You, and Euzhan Palcy’s film set on the island of Martinique, Sugar Cane Alley, they shed light on the transferable nature of slavery and colonialism in postcolonial societies. Accordingly, Téno’s, Africa, I Will Fleece You, and Palcy’s, Sugar Cane Alley, manipulate
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 debate over reparations to descendants of slaves contains a wide range of diverse viewpoints and involves many ethical, moral and legal issues (Bowman). To properly analyze this complex situation and form an educated opinion, one must understand the basic pieces forming the reparations puzzle. Understanding who was impacted by the institution of slavery, when they were impacted, how they were impacted, where slavery took place, and what exactly took place will help create a better understanding of both sides of the debate. It has been estimated that a half of a million slaves were shipped to the United States from Africa in 1807, the year the slave trade was abolished. However, the slave population grew to four million by 1860 (Bowman). When the Civil War ended and the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in 1865, the bill to abolish slavery, ex-slaves still suffered from harsh discrimination. The topic of slavery and the reparations to the descendants of those slaves is a complicated one. The decision to support or deny slave reparations affects millions of people: those who will receive payment and those who will pay. The argument presented in this essay will display that reparations for slavery are not only complicated but impossible to accurately distribute. The lack of historical documentation and the impact on those who were uninvolved in the institution of slavery that will have to pay the price will display some of the many reasons why reparations simply should not happen.
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
The Antigua and Barbuda islands are well renowned for their destination as one of the leading tourist resorts in the Caribbean. Tourism dominates Antigua and Barbuda’s economy accounting for more than half of the country’s GDP (CIA World Fact Book). When people vacation in this paradise they do not know the extensive history that is present on the island. Many Antiguans are involved in creating an atmosphere that conceals the painful history that existed in Antigua. In this paper I will focus on the history of Africans in Antigua, and show how these Africans developed into the Antiguans we know today.
For this paper, I will be connecting a chapter by Dian Million (2013) with the one by Ann Cvetkovich (2012) by working through, and from, a particular quote. My goal, then, is to draw a parallel between the treatment and conditions of life as a black American with that of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. That is not to say I intend to conflate the experiences of the two groups, as I recognize them as substantively different. Rather, what I want to show is that the afterlife of slavery for black Americans and the afterlife of colonialism for Aboriginal Canadians is strikingly similar. Put another way, the history of both slavery and colonialism have current political stakes that skew life chances, limit access to health and education,
"This was our fate for eighty years of a colonial regime; our wounds are too fresh and too painful still for us to drive them from our memory. We have known harassing work, exacted in exchange for salaries which did not permit us to eat enough to drive away hunger, or to clothe ourselves, or to house ourselves decently, or to raise our children as creatures dear to us.