Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 28th, 2012 (SKNIS): Following the successful attendance and participation at the “Demystifying the Reparations Debate" at the Red Cross Building in Nevis, members of the Kittitian Public are encouraged to do likewise at the Sir Cecil Jacobs Auditorium of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) following the presentation by Michael “Miguel” Lorne, tonight at 7:00 p.m.
Thelma Richards, a member of the UNESCO Slave Route Lecture Series Subcommittee told the St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS) that the questions and comments following Mr. Lorne’s presentation revealed that Reparation was an issue that was critical to black consciousness and the descendants of Africans.
She elaborated that discussion ranged from the necessity of reclaiming one’s heritage with Reparation to the opinion that slavery had ended and all matters connected to it should remain that way as well. Prior to Mr.
Lorne’s arrival in the Federation, the chosen topic for the culmination of the Lecture Series had inspired much debate on several of the call-in programmes on local radio stations.
Mr. Lorne had been proposed as a presenter by Subcommittee member Ras Dabo Penny who had met the lawyer and activist for the compensation of blacks for the atrocities of slavery.
At a press conference held at Government Headquarters at the start of the week, Antonio Maynard, Secretary General of the UNESCO National Commission for St. Kitts and Nevis outlined why that particular topic was chosen.
“We thought it was time to really examine this very important issue of Reparation,” Mr. Maynard emphasized. “Reparation is not a pie in the sky but it is real and as Mr. Lorne will tell you, it is definitely a possibility, not only for St. Kitts and Nevis but these Caribbean islands could move towards getting real Reparations.”
Ms. Richards emphasized the importance of the discussion topic.
“Reparation comes from the Latin word meaning “repair” and there’s a lot, I am sure you all agree, that needs repair in our society,” Ms. Richard stressed. “And we have to now come to the table and begin the conversation from that, and into where we can have an organized advocacy on the subject of Reparation.”
Mr. Lorne whose presentation in Nevis had been described as riveting and enlightening, gave the local media a foretaste of what was to come. He emphasized that Reparation must include an apology as a symbol of acceptance that a wrong had been done, that it would not be allowed to happen again and that a race had been restricted in its development for hundreds of years.
“In a just world, everybody’s talking about justice, equality and so on,” Mr. Lorne emphasized. “Isn’t it time now, that the Africans and the descendants of Africans get our justice? And we are saying that justice can begin with Reparation.”
The Reparation Activist further explained that compensation was not restricted to the distribution of money but, for instance, could also include a detailed calculation of unpaid slave wages which could then go toward the payment of national debts owed to the same colonizing countries. It could also include the returning of stolen treasures taken for Africans and Africa as well as from the enslaved in their new homes.
As such these would include books, various art-forms and creative expressions that, as Mr. Lorne noted, give particular peoples a sense of dignity and informs generations yet to come of their race’s contribution to mankind. Mr. Lorne emphasized that it was a long and difficult road ahead.
“The playing field is not level and it’s not level because of the atrocities of slavery,” Mr. Lorne noted. “Naturally any form of Reparation will not bring back our ancestors to life, many who were thrown overboard, many who were murdered in the slave factories in Africa, some who were murdered during capture and just imagine you send out your little child to the shop and you are there waiting and the child never comes back and next thing you hear they are on a ship going to the land of nowhere.”
The Kittitian general public is encouraged to attend this very enlightening "Demystifying the Reparations Debate" Lecture tonight, February 28, from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the Sir Cecil Jacobs Auditorium at the ECCB. It marks the culmination of a free participatory lecture series that commenced July 2011.
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