Black Reparations Is a Global Issue
S. E. Anderson
Black Reparations Is a Global Issue
Recently, Jamaica and Namibia made demands for reparations from their former European colonial oppressors, a reminder that the struggle for reparations for slavery and genocide against Black people is not just an American issue, but a global matter. In an historic move, the Caribbean nation of Jamaica petitioned Britain to demand £7.6 billion ($10.5 billion) in compensation for the 600,000 Africans that were shipped there and forced to work on the plantations and pick sugarcane, bananas and other crops.
Britain colonized Jamaica from 1655 until 1962, when the island became independent. The notion of the UK paying reparations for slavery only makes sense, considering that when the British abolished slavery in 1834, the government took out a £20 million loan to pay reparations - to the slave owners for their loss of property.
The amount Jamaica seeks is equivalent to the present value of the reparations paid to slave owners. We are hoping for reparatory justice in all forms that one would expect if they are to really ensure that we get justice from injustices to repair the damages that our ancestors experienced,” Olivia Grange, Jamaican Minister of Sports, Youth and Culture, told Reuters.
Britain only finished paying the interest off on that loan in 2015. And they tell us slavery was a long time ago, and Black people should get over it. Meanwhile, slave masters were paid off, their descendants have benefited from inherited wealth built on the backs of African people, and empires thrived and companies profited while Black people suffered.
Meanwhile, Germany has offered Namibia €1.1 billion or $1.3 billion in reparations for the colonial-era genocide and land seizure of 100,000 Herero and Nama people who resisted German rule between 1904 and 1908, when the European power controlled what was then called German South-West Africa.
Namibian Vice President Nangolo Mbumba said the amount Germany has offered in reparations for genocide is insufficient. “I don't think that any Namibian would think that the money is enough to compensate for all that happened - to be killed, to be chased out of your country; no amount of money can do that,” he said.
This news is a reminder that the issue of reparations - for the enslavement, torture and mass murder of Black people - is not merely an issue of importance to Black Americans, but a transatlantic and African diasporic issue. It only makes sense that those who have faced bondage, slaughter and unspeakable violations should make reparations a global concern.
In light of the protests following the police murder of George Floyd, the UN Human Rights Council has called for reparations for people of African descent, including financial compensation, and other “guarantees” to prevent injustices in the future.
We must link the issue of reparations in the U.S. and everywhere else, because there is strength in numbers. Although now is the time for America to make amends, America is not alone. And while the U.S. descendants of the enslaved should and must seek reparations, they are not alone. ///
s. e. anderson
author of The Black Holocaust for Beginners
"If WORK was good for you, the rich would leave none for the poor." (Haiti)
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