My family and others with similar histories are donating to youth development projects and educational institutions in the Caribbean and elsewhere
The 10-point reparations plan: for justice and reconciliation between the nations
In 2013 Caribbean Heads of Government established the Caricom Reparations Commission (CRC) to prepare the case for reparatory justice for the region’s indigenous and African descendant communities ‘who are the victims of crimes against humanity in the forms of genocide, slavery, slave trading, and racial apartheid’.
By 2021 the call on European nations involved in slavery had been answered only by Sweden. The following is an excerpt from the CRC’s 10-point reparations plan:
‘The Caricom Reparations Commission asserts that European nations:
Were owners and traders of enslaved Africans instructed genocidal actions upon indigenous communities
Created the legal, financial and fiscal policies necessary for the enslavement of Africans
Defined and enforced African enslavement and native genocide as in their ‘national interests’
Refused compensation to the enslaved with the ending of their enslavement
Compensated slave owners at emancipation for the loss of legal property rights in enslaved Africans
Imposed a further one hundred years of racial apartheid upon the emancipated
Imposed for another one hundred years policies designed to perpetuate suffering upon the emancipated and survivors of genocide
And have refused to acknowledge such crimes or to compensate victims and their descendants’
It goes on to call for a full apology and the development of plans to address social, educational and economic inequities that are the result of slavery and colonialism. More information on the CRC’s site here
Some of the organisations we are assisting:
Manifesto Jamaica ‘A home-grown, non-profit, educational organisation that leverages arts and culture to help young people become the best version of themselves imaginable.’
The North St Educational Development Foundation, Kingston, Jamaica - assisting primary school children move forward with confidence and the necessary resources to secondary school
CASE: the College of Agriculture, Science and Education, Port Antonio, Jamaica
Fight for Peace, Jamaica, London and elsewhere. Counselling and support for young people in communities affected by crime and violence.
The Damilola Taylor Trust, London — providing inner-city youth with opportunities to play, learn and live lives free of fear and violence.
Sistah Space, London — an initiative to ‘bridge the gap in domestic abuse services for African heritage women and girls’.
Pepper Pot Centre, London - support for vulnerable and elderly members of the African Carribean community.
Score Scotland - strengthening communities for race equality ‘We work with partners to address the causes of racism and we provide support to families and young people who struggle with its effects. Our goal is to strengthen communities and to enable people to take an active and full part in community life.’
Genesis Sun Birmingham, UK - improving life opportunities and mindsets of young black people and helping transform inclusivity and representation in the workplace through partnerships with businesses.
The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation wants to fund 100 disadvantaged Black British students through UK universities in the next decade.
The University College, London Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery
Addressing forced labour and unfair employment practices today: Justice and Care and International Justice Mission
For more information or to suggest a project or charity to us please contact me
‘You aren’t responsible for what your ancestors did. You are responsible for what you do.’ Emma Dabiri, What White People Can Do Next (2021)
We who inherited the material goods or the privilege and opportunity that derived from exploitation of enslaved people are the lucky ones in the ongoing story of transatlantic slavery. Some of us who are able to acknowledge that millions of people are still marked, or limited, by the damage our ancestors did are debating what we can do now.
In the summer of 2020 the conversation about Britain and slavery was hugely energised. The Black Lives Matter protests that followed the killing of George Floyd in the United States, and then the toppling of a slavery tycoon’s statue in England, caught the attention of the mainstream media. For a few weeks my country, so long complacent in denial and ignorance of this history, discussed the ongoing legacy of transatlantic slavery.
Since then there have been some signs of a new willingness to engage and be more honest. Institutions are auditing their history and proposing ways to address what they find. People are questioning their beliefs and attitudes to race and to our past. The fact that racism today is rooted in the structures of slavery is at last being acknowledged.
The historian David Olusoga (here discussing history in the age of Black Lives Matter) speaks of a generation with no need to believe in the ‘magical exceptionalism’ of Britain, the idea that this is a country whose colonial project was – unlike others – a force for good. The truth is far more complex: acknowledging it will help, ultimately, in the task of making Britain a fairer and more honest place.
Members of other families that feature in Blood Legacy have been to the Caribbean to see the places where their ancestors exploited people, and talk to those who live there now. One told me he had decided to ‘sell all the silver’ and donate it to organisations doing work with disadvantaged young people in London and Jamaica. A number of people with similar histories are already donating to educational charities and other bodies in the Caribbean and in Britain.
This enormous, still-reverberating wrong can never be put right. However, the inequalities, social and financial, between Britain’s former colonies and Britain itself can be addressed. The discussion over the possibility of that has hardly begun on this side of the Atlantic, yet it is clear that we heirs of the wealth of slavery, more influential than most in the world, can put our privilege to work in the task of repair and healing.
Asking European governments to consider the Caricom countries’ call for a debate on reparations would be a start. The story of transatlantic slavery is not over: we have it in us to change its consequences. here
Reparations: millions of Europeans and Americans are heirs of the wealth acquired through slavery. Some are addressing that legacy . . .
Josiah Wedgwood’s image and slogan used by anti-slavery campaigners on both sides of the Atlantic in the 19th century
A just and fair America?
In the United States a genuine debate continues about the use of reparations for the damage done by slavery and subsequent social exclusion as an effort ‘to heal the United States of centuries of racial trauma’.
In Britain, which enslaved more than ten times as many African people as did the United States, this conversation has not even begun.
‘What Price Wholeness?’ is Shennette Garrett-Scott’s review of recent writing on the history and progress of the reparations movement in the US. New York Review of Books, February 2021. (Free registration required)
‘You aren’t responsible for what your ancestors did. You are responsible for what you do.’ Emma Dabiri, What White People Can Do Next (2021)
We who inherited the material goods or the privilege and opportunity that derived from exploitation of enslaved people are the lucky ones in the ongoing story of transatlantic slavery. Some of us who are able to acknowledge that millions of people are still marked, or limited, by the damage our ancestors did are debating what we can do now.
In the summer of 2020 the conversation about Britain and slavery was hugely energised. The Black Lives Matter protests that followed the killing of George Floyd in the United States, and then the toppling of a slavery tycoon’s statue in England, caught the attention of the mainstream media. For a few weeks my country, so long complacent in denial and ignorance of this history, discussed the ongoing legacy of transatlantic slavery.
Since then there have been some signs of a new willingness to engage and be more honest. Institutions are auditing their history and proposing ways to address what they find. People are questioning their beliefs and attitudes to race and to our past. The fact that racism today is rooted in the structures of slavery is at last being acknowledged.
The historian David Olusoga (here discussing history in the age of Black Lives Matter) speaks of a generation with no need to believe in the ‘magical exceptionalism’ of Britain, the idea that this is a country whose colonial project was – unlike others – a force for good. The truth is far more complex: acknowledging it will help, ultimately, in the task of making Britain a fairer and more honest place.
Members of other families that feature in Blood Legacy have been to the Caribbean to see the places where their ancestors exploited people, and talk to those who live there now. One told me he had decided to ‘sell all the silver’ and donate it to organisations doing work with disadvantaged young people in London and Jamaica. A number of people with similar histories are already donating to educational charities and other bodies in the Caribbean and in Britain.
This enormous, still-reverberating wrong can never be put right. However, the inequalities, social and financial, between Britain’s former colonies and Britain itself can be addressed. The discussion over the possibility of that has hardly begun on this side of the Atlantic, yet it is clear that we heirs of the wealth of slavery, more influential than most in the world, can put our privilege to work in the task of repair and healing.
Asking European governments to consider the Caricom countries’ call for a debate on reparations would be a start. The story of transatlantic slavery is not over: we have it in us to change its consequences. here