By Ewin James

The discussion about reparations and efforts for reparations to black people for slavery,  won’t go away and I’m tempted to ask, do people really want to settle the matter of the horrendous treatment of our black forbears, or do they want rich countries to give us a hand out- ” let off suppin”?

Has any responsible country given any hint or indication that it will even consider the merit  of  reparations, much more  pay us for what its ancestors did to ours? I’ve not heard of it. So why do we continue to expend our time and energy demanding reparations? Do we think that the rightness of a cause will always guarantee settlement of that  cause?   Hasn’t life taught us that such isn’t always the case?

One thing we seem to be overlooking , is that  while many countries in Europe and the United States will admit that their forbears enslaved ours  and that their societies benefited from it, very few people in those countries will see themselves as responsible for the plight of our ancestors. According to them, those who did the evils and their victims are long dead. Why should they now take responsibility for what  occurred over a century before they were born, and deprive themselves of their limited resources  by giving them to the descendants of people whom they did not know?

Furthermore  for people today  to make  reparations to us for things done over a century ago by their fore parents is for them to psychologically concede that they are somehow accountable for  racism, if not brutality,  in the past. Most people aren’t comfortable with  that idea.

And as uncomfortable  as it is to contemplate , it seems that some black societies give the impression that they are prepared to blame slavery and its effects, forever,  for the backwardness of their societies; and will demand things like reparations instead of getting up off their butts and taking  responsibility for their plight and do something about it.  Some people think that white societies  have a moral responsibility to build the countries of the descendants of those they enslaved. 

Mike Henry, Member of Parliament in Jamaica, who is in the vanguard of the fight for reparations in Jamaica,  believes that debt forgiveness is part of any discussion of reparations.  He said so on Sunday May 17 in an article criticizing  Prime Minister Patterson for not calling for reparations during his fourteen years as Prime Minister: “While his (Mr. Patterson) call for debt forgiveness for poorer states globally within the increasingly challenging COVID-19 circumstances does have merit, were the gross exploitation, racial disenfranchisement, and human degradation of chattel slaves in the Caribbean not more compelling grounds for reparation? And who does not know that debt forgiveness has been a central plank of the claim for reparation” 

He is not alone.  There are calls  from poor countries for rich ones to pay reparations, not only for slavery, but also for Climate Change.  That  rich countries by their technological advances and progress are causing Climate Change that is hurting poor countries and they owe them some reparations for so doing. 

India is a country of 1.3 billion   dark skinned people. Its economy is  growing rapidly and in doing do is the third largest producer of green house gases on earth. Yet India believes rich countries like the United States have a duty to help it and other countries build their economies because of what rich countries  are doing to the environment.  According to the New York Times , in 2015 after the Climate Paris talk in which 195 countries participated, people speaking on behalf of India maintained,  “..that rich countries like the United States bear moral responsibility for global warming and should not deny poor countries the chance to build their economies.”

At the 2009 Climate talks in Copenhagen, richer countries , according to Bloomberg News, City Lab,  “did respond to the grievances of India and others by promising to raise a $100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to help poorer ones become cleaner and greener. But India’s environment minister has dismissed this amount as “reparations,” according to The New York Times, arguing it’s not nearly enough. (India says it needs at least $2.5 trillion to implement its 2030 climate change goals.)”

So many white countries see the fight for reparations as nothing other  than the age old attempt to ‘shake them down’, especially, at this most unpropitious time. 

The world is in the grip of a pandemic that is devouring  the  resources of even the richest countries, and it gives no indication of a respite anytime soon.  Millions of people , in America and Europe, are struggling  to feed themselves and keep a roof over their heads.  Do you think they have time to pay attention to calls for reparations for slavery which ended  over 150 years ago?

Ewin James, is a freelance writer, living in Florida.