Issue #7
October 4th 2003.
"In Support of Reparation" (Part 1 of 2)
...by Lady Dixon
Many people who influence public thought have no idea or understanding of the history of Black people in Jamaica and throughout the Diaspora and therefore tend to downplay the importance and significance of reparation. I have never experienced winter. I have never seen snow fall from the sky and I have never felt snow. How can I therefore argue with people who have weathered many winters? Should I assume that it is because they have the wrong attitude towards winter why they complain about how cold and harsh winters can be?
Having lived the Black experience, I am here to tell anyone that life is cold and harsh for Black people regardless of their economic status, and all my life I have wondered where is justice for Black people. It would appear that we either have committed the worst kind of evil known to man and therefore we must be brutally punished, or we have been, and continue to be such a powerful race, capable of doing powerful and wonderful things, that we were and still are the envy of other people. So to my mind it is this envy that was, and is used to keep us suppressed for hundreds of years and even into the present time at tremendous costs.
After this preamble, the word 'costs' brings me to the difficult subject of reparation. Time and time again I hear the arguments that Black people must forget about slavery and all the cruelties and atrocities that went along with it. In other words, bad things happen in life - so get over it, as it's all in the past and there is nothing that can be done to change the past. I totally agree that there is nothing we can do to undo the terrible crimes perpetrated against our forefathers. However, we forget and most times conveniently, that vast material resources were stolen from our forefathers homeland, in addition to the human resources - referred to in history books as "human cargo," that was stolen as well.
If in the world of today, thieves had invaded a home and kidnapped the father and raped the mother in full view of the children, stripped the walls of the artwork and artifacts, emptied the china cabinet and took all therein and then stole all the cash, there would be a lot of hue and cry, at least for nine days in Jamaica. This woman is now left bereft of all hope of ever having a good life. She, in most cases would be doomed to a life of poverty, especially if the children are too young to fend for themselves. Many people would argue and say that she knows who did this awful thing to her family, and that the police should do everything in their powers to see that the perpetrators are brought to justice. Still others would argue that if she could just get back what was stolen from her, then she would be able to raise her children comfortably and that the family might yet be able to prosper, even though the breadwinner was snatched from them.
Nice story so far. But there can also be a down side. The mother would have no choice but to work in order to take care of her fatherless children. But every time the mother works her fingers to the bones, some of the children steal the money and squander it on themselves, and she and some of the other children are powerless to do anything about the thieves in the family. So while some bellies are full, some bellies are starving.
These analogies are simple, but they underscore the point that if goods are stolen, they should be returned, regardless of what the new owners want to do with the goods. People and material wealth were stolen from Africa and brought to the Americas. My concern is not whether Black people sold other Black people into slavery, that is immaterial at this time - everything must be seen in its proper context, and many who argue this way are not able to realize that slavery meant different things to different people even during the same times. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, but he was able to become a 'deputy' Pharaoh. Remind me - in which millenium will a Black man become President of the United States of America? I forget, but that story is for another time.
All Black people know who were involved in the slave trade and who their ancestors' owners were. Many of the slave owners' progeny and the slaves' progeny now agree that some awful crimes were committed. There is shame on both sides and it is time for us to forgive each others foreparents and move on. But the fact still remains that property was stolen and it needs to be returned.
Hitler and his regime annihilated six million or more Jews. The descendants of these Jews have asked for reparation from the Germans and have been given huge sums of money and also lots of treasures that were stolen, have been returned to the victims' families. The Jews, however, have a big advantage over the Black Diaspora. They knew the names of all the Jews who were annihilated and there was, in most cases, documentation of the stolen property.
There is a great difficulty here for Black people. Not only were the Africans stolen, but so were their identities. They had to give up their religions, family names and were given Christian names, and most times arbitrary surnames. If documents existed, these were destroyed. Black people were, and even to this day, never keen on writing or documenting, and even if they wanted to write, they were deliberately denied access to pen and paper. Our history is replete with instances and examples of how we were suppressed as a people. The only thing most of our ancestors were left with was an indomitable will to survive, hence the reason why so many of us are alive today. Our survival today would be greatly enhanced if we could have our case for reparation properly argued. Lawyers would have to argue that the principal sum plus interest must be returned to the descendants of the people from whom the wealth was stolen. How the principal sum is arrived at is immaterial at this point. The principal sum may never be able to be fully repaid, hence the need for compensation - otherwise called reparation. That's why only intelligent lawyers must argue this case. Those who have no interest in research and history need not apply.
NEW JAMAICAN Vol.1
