By Ewin James

It is   axiomatic that Great Britain which enriched itself partly by enslaving the forbears of its former colonies owes those countries reparations.  But it is unlikely that it will ever make reparations, because it continues to refuse to acknowledge its role in slavery and apologize for that role. 

Barbados has finally and rightly severed all ties with its colonial master and former oppressor; it has become a republic, something progressive countries like Jamaica strangely refuse become.

Many Barbadians are calling upon Britain to make reparations for enslaving their ancestors and plundering the country to enrich itself over hundreds of years. Carl Patmore, a Community Worker, told the Independent online newspaper, recently “I strongly believe that the extension to this whole republicanism issue has to be the idea of reparations.

“We should have more scholarships coming out of countries like England for Barbadians; more opportunities should be given. The slaves in Barbados built the British economy. Let’s look at renewable energy, sports, agriculture: this will liberate Barbadians even more.”

Prime Minister, the enlightened and progressive Mia Mottley, said at a Caricom conference last year, “For us, reparations is not just simply about money … but it is also about justice.“I do not know how we can go further unless there is a reckoning first and foremost.”

One Barbadian MP, Edmund Hinkson, called for reparations to be brought up to Prince Charles on his visit to the island to mark its birth as a republic. It was not; and a planned protest against Prince Charles for his country’s role in slavery was cancelled by the Barbadian government.

No reparations will come soon, if ever. Prince Charles in Barbados for the transition to a republic, in a speech, acknowledged the atrocity of slavery, but carefully, like others before him, refused to apologize and even acknowledge reparations could ever be due. According to the Independent, Charles acknowledged the “appalling atrocity of slavery”, describing it as something “which forever stains our history”.

Town and County Website reported that the Prince said “From the darkest days of our past, and the appalling atrocity of slavery, which forever stains our history, the people of this island forged their path with extraordinary fortitude. Emancipation, self-government and Independence were your way-points. Freedom, justice and self-determination have been your guides.”      That is good ; but he didn’t mention his country’s  role in  enslaving Barbadians.         

They never do and never will. In September 2015 when Prime Minister David Cameron visited Jamaica he refused to apologize for Britain’s role in slavery and acknowledge that reparations were due. According to the BBC he said “These would run very deep” and he praised Britain for its role in wiping slavery, “ off the face of our planet.”         

In a speech to the Jamaican Parliament, he said slavery was “abhorrent in all its forms.” He added: “I do hope that, as friends who have gone through so much together since those darkest of times, we can move on from this painful legacy and continue to build for the future.” In effect, forget what we did to you let’s be friends and move on.

The question is why do they refuse to acknowledge their role in slavery and apologize for it and acknowledge the rightness of reparations even if they can’t afford to make them?  Yet like David Cameron then, and Prince Charles now they say they value the friendships of their former colonies and are willing to work with them; they even make some token efforts at doing so.            

But they aren’t genuinely sorry, in the same way a thief who  refuses to repay his victim for what he deprived him/ her  of – when he has the means to do so-   isn’t genuinely sorry, despite saying he is.  

To tell a person you hurt that they must forget what you have done to them is to minimize either the deed or the dignity of the person and also to have a hardened conscience. It means little or nothing to you, so it should mean the same to them. Britain says slavery was in the past and none alive today suffered under it which isn’t true and is rather wicked, because it was slavery in part that  made Great Britain what it is today.         

How can Prince Charles and all Britons honestly see slavery as an ‘appalling atrocity’ when they will not acknowledge that their forbears  created that atrocity, and that they who are alive today in some way benefit from it? To insist we move on is to insist that slavery was not an ‘appalling atrocity’ but an inconvenience. You do not tell a person who suffered from an ‘appalling atrocity’ that you created to forget it and move on. You apologize and make restitutionFor Britain to continue to refuse to apologize and make reparations is akin to a rapist telling a woman who demands of him an apology for raping her, “you should forget it and move on” 

Ewin James , a freelance writer, lives in Florida.