Make case on moral grounds

THE EDITOR: Over many years I’ve followed the laudable efforts of Dr Hilary Beckles of UWI and Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent, along with other distinguished Caribbean academics and writers, as they have made the case for tangible reparations to be paid by our former colonial masters to their former colonies, who had to endure a long period of the horrifying practice and legacy of the Atlantic slave trade.

Now, I have always felt that despite the barbaric nature of every aspect of slavery, too many years have passed since emancipation day for an effective and compelling legal case to be made for reparations, so the Caribbean should make the case on moral grounds.

In addition, any financial award or settlement agreed to by the British government will, of course, be funded by the British taxpayer and herein lies the root of the real problem. The British people are well known to continuously stand up for their right to be heard by their political representatives and at this time a large majority of British citizens are strongly against paying reparations.

How do I know this? Well, it is a subject that has grabbed my attention for a long time and not only have I read many articles on the matter in the UK press, but I have also read hundreds of letters to the editors of these British newspapers pertaining to the subject and not even one letter writer has supported the case for reparations.

The reasons given are usually along the lines that ordinary British people are generally descended from the working class and their ancestors at the time of slavery were only marginally better off than the enslaved people of Africa in the Caribbean.

Therefore, if Beckles and Gonsalves are going to meet with success in the matter, they will first have to convince the British taxpayer that reparations are a morally and necessary atonement for the horrors inflicted on generations of African people in the Caribbean by slavery.

Failure to do so will not allow the British government to give the green light to the Caribbean-led demands for reparations, despite how compelling and justifiable the case may appear to us Caribbean people.

GREGORY WIGHT

Maraval