Being a citizen of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, I will do my best to make suggestions from a Caribbean perspective, and not just a Trinidadian perspective.
When the term “Caribbean reparations” is discussed, many people think it’s just about “Europe and England giving money to poor black people in the Caribbean”, and that would be a bad idea for the Caribbean economy. Furthermore, concerns are raised about how damaging it is to Caribbean economies as it relates to inflation.
This may have some truth, but reparations can be much more dynamic and potentially delivered in many other ways than simply giving cash to the descendants of slaves.
Moreover, the effects of properly administered reparations for slavery in the Caribbean would give the people of color in the Caribbean dignity and economic equality (compared to East Indian, Syrian, and Chinese descendants in the Caribbean).
Reparations in CARICOM should be a model of restorative justice for all those affected, not only by 400 years of slavery, but as a result of the colonial wrongs done to black people after slavery, which came in the form of economic neglect and social apathy and disrespect to blacks. people within the English-speaking diaspora of the Caribbean, immediately and long after slavery had ended.
History has shown that the Jews received their reparations by being paid some $100 billion or more by Germany after World War II for the Holocaust. For Apartheid, black South Africans received hundreds of millions of US dollars or billions from whites there in the name of justice. Other countries paid reparations to some people who suffered and died under the cruelty of war and oppression.
So now is the perfect time for Caribbean black justice to be delivered by the UK and Europe as reparations to the people of CARICOM for 400 years of human trafficking, murder, free and forced labor and other atrocities. Even the white descendants of plantation owners in the UK and Europe were paid billions for over 200 years for the so-called economic loss of income due to the emancipation of black people from slavery in the Caribbean.
I realized that some of my ideas on Caribbean reparations are very similar to those of the Caribbean Reparations Committee, but that is pure coincidence.
These suggestions for European reparations would ultimately raise the living standards of Caribbean people in the English-speaking West Indies:
• EUROPE AND UK MUST SEEK APOLOGIES: A comprehensive apology from all European participants in African slavery to the affected countries of West Africa and especially to the black descendants of slavery in the CARICOM region, must be first and foremost;
• HELP STRENGTHEN THE BLACK ECONOMY: The “black economy” is mostly “sports and entertainment”. Therefore, Caribbean art forms such as sports such as football, track and cricket, and entertainment genres such as Calypso, Soca, Reggae, Dancehall Music, Zouk, Steel Pan Music, DJs, Arts and Crafts professionals, songwriters, record producers and various Carnival celebrations of all Caribbean territories. The black participants in these activities must be able to work their trades easily for a living. For this to be a reality, these practitioners must be given more international recognition through reparations. For example, Caribbean entertainment practitioners should be given more access to key international markets through strategic partnerships with major streaming platforms such as Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music. In addition, well-known record labels and their European subsidiaries such as Virgin Records, EMI Music Publishing, Sony Music UK and Warner Music Group.
As such, Caribbean music collection agencies such as the Copyright Organization of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT), the Jamaican Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers Ltd (JACAP), the Barbados Copyright Composers Society, Authors and Publishers Inc. (COSCAP) and the Eastern Caribbean Collective Music Rights Organization (ECCO) should be allowed to establish a permanent strategic partnership with music collection agencies in the US, such as ASCAP and BMI, and PRS, MCPS and PPL in the UK .
This means, these multinational companies should set up offices here in the Caribbean with an objective to help Caribbean music develop and reach wider audiences. Of course, reparations can help Caribbean musicians and artists across the region to forge a sustainable partnership with entertainment media powerhouses like VIACOM and SKY UK Ltd. so that black West Indian artists can gain more internationally from royalties through broadcasting, music publishing and other intellectual property. .
More regional and international airplay is also needed for songs from new artists throughout the English-speaking Caribbean. Caribbean music should also be part of the curriculum of European schools from primary schools to universities in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Germany and Belgium (and to some extent in the United States of America). Many iconic Caribbean artists are dying poor.
• FREE EDUCATION: In terms of education, European reparations should fund Caribbean university education for all African descendants up to the Master’s degree and in addition provide free vocational skills training for the next 50 to 100 years. In Trinidad and Tobago, there is Government Assisted Tuition Expenses (GATE), and the European Union and the United Kingdom through reparations could expand this model of tertiary education throughout CARICOM. Our government says they can’t afford to fund GATE, so they propose it be scrapped soon. However, reparations can help perpetuate free tertiary education for generations throughout CARICOM;
• FREE HOUSING: Free housing for those who do not own homes and/or providing mortgage facilities and subsidies to non-home owners who do not qualify for home mortgages should be of great importance to European countries paying compensation for CARICOM. For example, reparations can be in the form of giving houses (or land) to the homeless;
AGRICULTURAL BOOST: Reparations should also provide agricultural land to black farmers in the Caribbean and provide subsidies to Agricultural Banks throughout the English-speaking Caribbean. Free access to technology support for farmers, reduced export tariffs and free land for non-farmers and Training should be provided to all black farmers;
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Across the region, there are many Caribbean visionaries who have great business ideas but no capital to make these initiatives possible. Once again, reparations can help through the placement of business grants from USD 50,000 to USD 150,000 depending on business plans. Ongoing support and training is also needed to ensure sustainability for black business owners;
TECHNOLOGY: As we enter the information age, Reparations must ensure that all people of color in the Caribbean are not only completely computer literate, but students for example (from primary schools to universities) must be provided with computers , laptops, latest tablets. and other devices to facilitate learning. Computers and accessories can be expensive for those who need them;
• FREE TERM LIFE INSURANCE: All blacks over the age of 18 within the English-speaking Caribbean must be given free life insurance of at least USD 75,000 sum assured. Many Caribbean people do not have insurance or cannot afford life insurance. So when these people die, nothing is left for their loved ones. This only creates a cycle of poverty and despair;
• HUMAN REpatriation: There are some African descendants within the Caribbean diaspora who feel strongly about returning to their homeland, Africa, but do not know how to do so. The European Union and the United Kingdom through reparations should offer free airfare and resettlement programs to any black person interested in returning permanently to any African country they feel connected to. Furthermore, Europe must help black Caribbean citizens rediscover exactly which African country they originate from and which tribe we belong to. Thirdly, funding to set up businesses in Africa, or finding jobs and free access to all levels of education should also be an integral feature of reparations for people of color in the Caribbean;
FREE NON-VIOLENT WRITERS: Many black people are in prison for minor offenses, and this only frustrates the judicial and penal systems.
The laws at the Caribbean Court of Justice (perhaps with the help of the Privy Council) should be changed to pardon these people;
CARICOM SHOULD REMOVE LEGAL NECESSITY FROM THE DEFAULT CONDITION: Reparations must also come in the form of legal independence. The Caribbean Court of Justice should be the final court of appeal in the CARICOM Caribbean because we in the Caribbean are no longer the Privy Council of England.
MONETARY DEALINGS: It’s the little things that count, so even if every black person in the CARICOM countries gets USD 100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) in their bank accounts, that would be welcome;
• DRAFT LAWS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, EUROPE AND USA TO BAN RACISM AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE OF AFRICAN Descent: True globalization can never be achieved unless international laws are drafted to make racism, anti-black criminals and minors. Of all the races, African people everywhere are the most disrespected and suffer the most racial abuse, globally. Even in international sports, black athletes are racially taunted by spectators in stadiums. It goes against social progress in every way if, today, people are still judged by the color of their skin and not by their contributions to humanity.
For example, why is it illegal to make anti-Semitic comments against Jews, but we (African descendants in the Caribbean and the American diaspora) are still not given the same respect, socially and legally, as blacks?
In particular I wish to express my sincerest gratitude to these distinguished people: Vice-Chancellor or UWI, Sir Hilary Beckles of Barbados; both Prime Ministers of SVG and Trinidad and Tobago Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, and Dr. Keith Rowley for handling the issue of reparations in the Caribbean; Jamaica (as a country) and the Caribbean Reparations Committee (CRC) in CARICOM for the continued lobbying and tireless work being done to ensure that blacks within the CARICOM Community receive reparations from the UK and Europe for slavery now.
Now is the time for us as a region and as a people to stand up and lobby for our retribution for the injustice of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
