By SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporter
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
TWENTY-TWO persons have been selected to form the country’s National Reparations Committee that will establish the moral, ethical, and legal case for the payment of repatriations by the former colonial European countries.
The newly formed committee will discuss a ten-point plan, which includes debt cancellation and an apology, to present to CARICOM in June as a part of the action plan to seek reparations for slavery.
Earlier this month, the Bahamas endorsed an action plan to seek reparations for slavery from former colonisers, including Britain, France and the Netherlands.
During a CARICOM (Caribbean Community) conference on ‘“Regional Reparations” in St Vincent and the Grenadines, a decision was made to pursue legal action against the former colonial powers.
Alfred Sears, co-chair of the committee, said the
committee is an opportunity to achieve restorative justice that will produce healing and reconciliation as they address the legacies of 400 years of slavery.
He said the committee will discuss a 10-point plan, including seeking debt cancellation and an apology from those European countries.
“This plan includes a path to reconciliation, truth and justice for victims and sufferers, an apology, reparation, indigenous people’s development, contribution to cultural institutions, public health, literacy programmes, African knowledge programme, psychological rehabilitation, technology transfer and debt cancellation,” Mr Sears said.
“We are also inviting stakeholders from the Bahamian community, including the Rastafarian community, which has been advocating for reparations as well as repatriations known as the right to return.”
Phillip Smith, who is also co-chair of the committee, said Bahamians must not turn a blind eye to what happened as a country is only as strong as its history.
“It is an opportunity for the slaving powers to first of all accept responsibility for the wrong that was done and to apologize for having been the inheritance and the benefit of that wrong. Then to begin the discussions with we, the inheritors of the wrong, in how we can ameliorate that very serious difficulty,” he said.
“We choose to have a blind eye if when we look around, not just in the Bahamas, but in all the Americas, the Caribbean North and South America and do not see the lingering negative affects of the terrible industry called slavery. We also turn a blind eye if when we look at history and Europe and we don’t see the very positive financial benefits that slavery brought to them. Their success over the last 500 years had its start from that trade and so there is this lingering responsibility and the need to deal with that.”
CARICOM has hired the British law firm Leigh Day, which recently won compensation for hundreds of Kenyans tortured by the British colonial government during the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s.
CARICOM has not specified how much money it is seeking but Britain paid slave owners £20 million when it abolished slavery in 1834, which would be the equivalent of £200 billion today, or $318 billion.
Memebers of the Bahamas National Reparations Committee:
Dr. Chris Curry (historian, COB);
Dr. Gail Saunders (historian, COB);
Fr. David Cooper (rector, Mary Star Catholic Church, Grand Bahama);
Rev. Williams Higgs (rector, Trinity Methodist Church);
Ms. Marion Bethel (poet, filmmaker, lawyer);
Rev. Timothy Stewart (pastor, Bethel Baptist Church);
Ms. Keisha Ellis (researcher, COB);
Mr. Pedro Rolle (chairman, Chamber of Commerce, Exuma);
Ms. Theresa Moxey-Ingraham (president, Sojourner-Douglass College);
Dr. Niambi Hall-Campbell (Sociology professor, COB);
Mr. Michael Symonette (businessman);
Mr. Michael Stevenson (law professor, COB/UWI);
Ms. M Elaine Toote (director, Archives);
Ms.Kim Outten-Stubbs (director, Pompey Museum);
Dr. Tracy Thompson (director, Oral and Public History);
Mr. Whitman McKinney (Rastafarian Movement);
Mr. Elsworth Johnson (president, Bar Association);
Ms. Bianca Beneby (attorney, Office of the Prime Minister);
Ms. Alesha Hart (journalist, businesswoman);
Mr. Travis Cartwright-Carroll (journalist);
Mr. Cecil Thompson (retired educator, Freeport);
An attorney from the Office of the Attorney General.
Comments
Bahamianpride 10 years, 1 month ago
We have no self respect.... Panhandling for for reparations...
proudloudandfnm 10 years, 1 month ago
SO how much we got to pay these folks for this nonsense? This is pure bullshit if we have to pay one dime for this committee.....
So are the Scotts and the Irish suing too? How about the jews? Are they going to sue Egypt?
This is friggin stupid....
realfreethinker 10 years, 1 month ago
This is utter madness going on in this country. Another distraction. When the hell these people going to do something substantive to advance our country.
TalRussell 10 years, 1 month ago
Debt cancellation for whom? OK Comrades work with me on my math. If we legalize the numbers, the PM claims VAT taxes will not be 15%. So, PM, if Comrade Alfred's committee's be successful getting the colonial masters to perform some kinds billions of dollars in debt cancellation, how low can you get that damn VAT? The mere mega-size of this committee alone should be more than enough scare the living hell out the colonial masters to write they checks. But write to whom?
BahamianAway 10 years, 1 month ago
Another classic "something for nothing" moment brought to you courtesy of the Bahamian people. For the love of all things good why can't we just move our country forward on hard work, determination, fairness, and people with education. Why must we always look for the easy way out.
We get the money and then what...another set of money to be misappropriate and poorly handled by whatever government is in power. SMH!!! The more I think I know about my Bahamian people the more they surprise me. This is a whole new level of the "entitled" mentality.
So my mother grounded me on a day I was suppose to swim and qualify for our national team. Guess I better seek reparations from my mom for all the money I could have possibly made as an Olympic swimmer. Jeesh-
proudloudandfnm 10 years, 1 month ago
The UK will laugh these morons right out of court....
This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen...
GrassRoot 10 years, 1 month ago
I hope the committee will not primarily seek reparations but will seize the opportunity to start a discussion in the Bahamas about its past and history. As BAHAMIANPRIDE said, its all about self respect. We need to have self respect and be proud of our country and our heritage - open eyed. This will change the Bahamas, there will be a goal to works toward together that has not money attached to it. Mutual respect, tolerance, conserving our environment, paying our taxes, stop the corruption and educate our children.
Guest2468 10 years, 1 month ago
One could argue that these individuals do have self respect and respect for their country and that is what led them to pursue this case. If I respect myselfand you harm me I will call you out on into matter who you are. Its when people question their own self worth they become a gluten for punishment and accept whatever people say or do to them.
BahamianAway 10 years, 1 month ago
I am sure that's the same mentality people had in the US and now you can't even sneeze in public without someone wanting to sue you cause you got them sick.
realfreethinker 10 years, 1 month ago
And how does begging for money over something that happened hundreds of years ago going to enhance our " SELF RESPECT" pray tell
Guest2468 10 years, 1 month ago
I think most of these comments above are quite disrespectful. Its one thing if you dont believe we should pursue reparations for whatever reason, but to bad mouth people who feel as though they have a right and responsibility to try and seek justice for their country is deplorable.
B_I_D___ 10 years, 1 month ago
Are you going straight back to the SOURCE? You need to be pursuing the history and connection back in Africa that enslaved the people and sold them onto the slave trade that then took them overseas...oh wait...silly me, they have no money...let's chase after and annoy someone else who does for something that is generations old done and past.
Guest2468 10 years, 1 month ago
Or you can go after both parties.
Hypothetically If I get caught shipping drugs to you to sell locally who is going to jail? Legally both of us should aye?
realfreethinker 10 years, 1 month ago
Where does these people be. It is frustrating watching so much time being wasted on bullshit. Where is the money coming from to fight this,there is no such thing as a free lunch. If the ever get a favorable ruling by the time they see one penny the lawyers would have bankrupted these countries.
TalRussell 10 years, 1 month ago
Comrade Alfred and your newly-formed "four KFC bucket-size" committee, I hate bring you this bad financial news so early in your campaign but Europe is broker than we own tiny Bahamaland. Sorry!
realfreethinker 10 years, 1 month ago
Another waste of time and money chasing outlandish dreams. These huys really dont get it
Bahamianpride 10 years, 1 month ago
Guest2468, With the exception of Germany and the Swiss, Europe is broke and suffer there own societal problems.. Nobody respects panhandlers and beggers, & if the government of the Bahamas is going around begging nations, we as a society lose credibility immediately.. Can the people of today's Europe be forced to pay for the sins of there ancestors that were committed at a time when slavery was a way of life for many nations.. Lastly, what have we done for ourselves since independance in terms of deal making and education to benefit the population as a whole. We never became a ownership society capable of controlling our own destiny in the world. We did not invest in quality education for all, we did not embrace free market capitalistic principles & allowed our own selfishness and corruption to put us in this state of affairs. Now we want free handouts from Europe.. When are we going to take responsibility for our own economic & social conditions?
Guest2468 10 years, 1 month ago
I am simply looking at the issue from different perspectives because it is multifaceted. One way to look at it is that you are starting to take responsibility by seeking justice where you felt you were done wrong. After which the chips fall where they may but the record will show that you exercised your rights and didn't sit in silence out of fear of offending the powers that be.
BahamianAway 10 years, 1 month ago
What we have done is allowed every nation to make calls about our destiny with no regards to the outcome. When American threatened to blacklist us if we didn't open our financial information to them we kowtowed. How did that end for us? Crippled our banking industry- shut down many of our offshore banks and took money straight out of the governments pockets. And now they are seeking way to get it back (VAT), I bet they didn't consider the affect that decision would have on us in long run while they were so busy clinging to America. Same with their need to please Britain- the Privy council has all these men who have committed heinous murders sitting on death row and can't be hanged.
The Bahamas needs to handle it's own business independent of looking for handouts and trying to please everyone.
Guest2468 10 years, 1 month ago
I just want to clarify that I am not in support of suing for reparations. I just dont agree with shooting people down who do support the idea and not hearing their point of view. Also why is this considered a hand out or like we are beggars? Slaves never asked for anything other than to be treated with respect and they didn't even get that. They were used as livestock for profit. So if their descendants decide they would like to pursue obtaining that profit that their forefathers worked for, why ate they bums?
B_I_D___ 10 years, 1 month ago
There is always someone else to blame...and in this case, all of our present problems are fully traceable back to the slave master and the slave trade...gonna make all this noise and fuss because you are unable to look beyond your past and take charge of your future. Everything is about how you wronged my great great great great great grandparents and I'm socially stunted because of it since. The only people who are going to make any money out of this are the lawyers...or are we going to pay every person in the world of slave ancestry 1 buck out of this, because at the end of the day that is the most the common man is ever going to see from it...simply a legal ploy to line some lawyers pockets.
Guest2468 10 years, 1 month ago
I just want to clarify that I am not in support of suing for reparations. I just dont agree with shooting people down who do support the idea and not hearing their point of view. Also why is this considered a hand out or like we are beggars? Slaves never asked for anything other than to be treated with respect and they didn't even get that. They were used as livestock for profit. So if their descendants decide they would like to pursue obtaining that profit that their forefathers worked for, why are they bums?
Bahamianpride 10 years, 1 month ago
This is 2014 Guest2468... nobody owes nobody anything for things that occurred hundreds of years ago, are we that desperate.. Success is earned & taken.. Lets start looking in the mirror, lets address some of our family members for being lazy, ignorant or corrupt f's.. Lets push our people to have morals & enforce the rule law.. Let hold our politicians and business leaders accountable. We are our own worse enemy & if someone give us 10 billion dollars we would still be in the same state of affairs because it would not address our most critical handicap..And that is a large segment of our population are ignorant clinging to the tribal mentality of PLP & FNM politics.
Guest2468 10 years, 1 month ago
One has nothing to do with the other in my opinion. The world did not start spinning when you were born and it won't stop when you die. Countries are still going to war in 2014 just as they were B.C.
I agree with all you said about requiring better from ourselves for ourselves, but at the same time there are people who would like to seek justice on behalf of their ancestors whom without their strength they wouldnt be here. I am simply not getting in their way. And them trying to argue their position does not take away from you expecting more from your people.
newcitizen 10 years, 1 month ago
There is no justice to be sought, all those involved are long gone. The slave sellers in Africa, the slave traders from Europe, the slave owners in the colonies, and the slaves themselves. If your father took something from my father, does that entitle me to something of yours?
Guest2468 10 years, 1 month ago
That currently goes on. If your family had land and someone claims it as there's do you not have every right in the world to challenge them for what you believe is yours.
And the slaves may be gone but there legacy isn't. The perpetrators of slavery may be gone but their legacy isnt either. The sad thing is a lot of people rather cling to the negative teachings than the positive ones.
B_I_D___ 10 years, 1 month ago
I will agree with you that the concept of the slavery reparations has nothing to do with whatever government is currently in power...it is not a PLP or FNM issue that is pushing the reparations bid...the whole concept is just ludicrous though, and for the government not to see that it is wasting time and effort and money and realize that this is simply a money and fame grab by the lawyers behind this who want to tout some massive victory on behalf of all the down trodden slaves...there is no way as I stated before that the common man, who is the ancestor of slaves will be seeing a single red cent in their pocket. By the time ANY funds are dispersed...and I use the term ANY lightly...it's just going into the legal maniacs pockets. Get all these people out here hyped up that they are going to have some major windfall in money because of it. be honest with them upfront...assuming there is a victory...someone then has to do background checks and genealogy checks on people to verify they came from a certain slave...if you haven't seen the shows, the majority of the records on the slaves going back through history are VERY sketchy, a lot of the research done, takes into a count a fair degree of margin for error. Dispersing the funds will be a logistical nightmare and ripe for abuse.
sheeprunner12 10 years, 1 month ago
Would Walter Rodney sue Britain for reparations????????????????? After all, the African chiefs sold those African slaves as part of a deal between the white trader and the local black strongman.................. just wondering
Guest2468 10 years, 1 month ago
I personally do not fully support the reparations argument because of several logistical issues. But I do wholeheartedly support a the issuance of an apology. Whatever follows that apology is another story.
Our ancestors received little to no respect in life, let us please allow them some in death. Its fine to disagree, but do not demonize the individuals who would seek what they consider justice on their behalf.
Again I am not advocating for reparations, but I feel that there are unresolved issues regarding slavery and this discussion will bring up a suitable dialogue to bring about closure.
B_I_D___ 10 years, 1 month ago
100% wholeheartedly agree that apologies can and should be given from all those involved, that's a no brainer...the whole reparations thing though, you've taken it one step too far and people are going to resent the entire process because of the legal stupidity and expenses and lack of actual benefit to the descendants.
B_I_D___ 10 years, 1 month ago
...and sadly...there will never be any closure...there will always be this cloud over people's heads...chips on their shoulder...I can't see the current populace ever letting that go...it's too engrained in thier mindsets and too easy of a 'get out of jail free' card for their shortcomings.
Reality_Check 10 years, 1 month ago
The white master would have put out the public dump fire by now to avoid his slaves becoming terribly sick and irreparably harmed. Not so in the the case of the black master (PGC)......poor honest hard working Bahamians both black and white probably have as miserable an existence today as the slaves of yesterday. Today, under PGC and his corrupt cronies, we are just unfortunate slaves of another kind. The inhumanity of PGC is incalculably burdensome and harmful to the lives of decent Bahamians, black and white! The cruelness of this evil monster is now well beyond comprehension!!
sheeprunner12 10 years, 1 month ago
On a lighter note than the above comment by Reality Check....................... the British government paid the slave masters at Emancipation as compensation for their property being freed.
QUESTION Who is culpable for payments today??? the UK government or descendants of the slave owners.................... just wondering
sheeprunner12 10 years, 1 month ago
So how much this Committee gonna cost the Bahamian people......... cause Alfie dem dont work for free.................. just wondering
countryfirst 10 years, 1 month ago
With the high crime rate and high unemployment there is much more serious matters to deal with than this crap. We should be seeking reparations for the last forty years of corruption and poor education and how our new slave masters have ruined our economy.
sheeprunner12 10 years, 1 month ago
Countryfirst, my sentiments exactly.
I urge all of my fellow sheeprunners to put in their claims for reparations from the PLP government 1967-1992 for the desplicable treatment meted out to Long Island based on political, social, economic and racial/colour discrimination.
Let the Committee (especially those with Long Island roots) marinate on that.......................
mc 10 years, 1 month ago
I think that many of these comments, though deserving of respect, come out of a place of lack of knowledge of Caribbean history, cultural identity, lack of knowledge or appreciation of the procedural and substantive effects of colonialism - and most of all, out of a lack of understanding for the recent trends within this field of social justice and trial advocacy. Even if symbolically, this event will go down in history, and the (for once) daring CARICOM, will have finally tried to do something substantive.
Also, at the very least, it will serve to educate Bahamians (and Caribbean people alike), particularly newer generations, as to their actual history - and not the false history given to us in our text books. That, in and of itself, is a worthy cause. A people without a history is like a tree without roots, it cannot grow.
Of course, this is aside from all the lack of political administration we have (i.e., even if money were given, where would it go?)
Further... if I dare say so - if it turns out that we were granted any type of reparations or formal recognition, many of those that initially opposed it, would be through the roof of happiness - and would be the first to applaud the Bahamian and Caribbean governments.
B_I_D___ 10 years, 1 month ago
I will applaud and stand proud only for the apology part...still against the monetary side of it...sadly, the lawyers aren't going to argue for an apology for free...hence the monetary side...again sadly, the only people who will get money out of this is the lawyers.
TalRussell 10 years, 1 month ago
Comrades if this was all about some apology you'd better believe the 3-buckets KFC size Committee "appointed," would be less the all the KFC you could packs into an 4-piece box with the lid unable to close. Doesn't this sounds more like one of them Bran self-appointment to leadership moves. Reflect with your apology thing, when back in 1999, the African World Reparations and Repatriation Truth Commission called for "the West" to pay $777 trillion to Africa within five years as Reparations for Slavery and guess what it matter not that the gross domestic product of ALL countries in the world was somewhat less than 72 Trillion in 2011.
Bahamianpride 10 years, 1 month ago
This has become intellectually insulting to us by these individuals involved attempting rationalizing this outrageous attempt by the few involved to line there pockets with legal fees and cost.. The forum here has a lot of intelligent people, u may want to rationalize this at one of those political rallies. People here know its all about the $$$ because regardless of success or failure they still get paid for foolishness.. Intellectual Masturbaters are good for talking but not saying anything and despite eloquent conversation, I have not heard any substance.. At this point its cheaper for the Bahamian people to pay a negotiated sum for Embarrassment Blackmail to avoid this, so these people will go away and not make us look like welfare beggars on the international scene.
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