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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 The Bahamas Reparations Committee will launch the public engagement aspect of its work this week by commemorating the anniversary of African Liberation Day – historically observed by the local Rastafarian community. The event will also provide a public forum for citizens to offer their perspectives on the matter of reparations for slavery.
The Research sub-committee is organizing the public forum, scheduled for Thursday, May 22nd, in the auditorium of the Harry C. Moore Library and Information Centre at 7:00 p.m.. It will be the first formal opportunity for the Committee to engage members of the public.
Chair of the Research sub-committee, Dr. Christopher Curry, Assistant Professor at The College of The Bahamas, says the work of the Bahamas Reparations Committee must be connected to understanding Africa, the African Diaspora and Pan-Africanism, ideas to which the Rastafari community as a social movement, are closely linked.
“It is worth noting that long before scholars and academicians championed the cause of reparations, it has been the clarion call of the members of the Rastafarian community, who have also insisted that repatriation is an essential aspect of reparation,” Dr. Curry explains.
“Noteworthy, in 1961, the Rastafari Brethren of Jamaica petitioned Queen Elizabeth. According to the Rastafarian (community), petitioning Queen Elizabeth was only fitting given the historic legacy of the British monarchy and their direct involvement in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade as shareholders in the Royal African Company,” he shares.
At Thursday’s public forum, one of the co-chairs of the Bahamas Reparations Committee, Mr. Phillip Smith, and the leaders of the local Rastafarian community are also scheduled to address the gathering.
Countries in Africa and in the African Diaspora observe May 25th as African Liberation Day, celebrating their freedom from European colonial powers. The day is observed in Ghana, Kenya, Spain, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
According to Dr. Curry, the research currently being undertaken by the sub-committee in order to inform the broader discussion on reparations is extensive and far-reaching.
“Building on CARICOM's initial recommendations, we set out seven concentration areas or core areas of research that would eventually assist the legal sub-committee in developing their case for reparations,” he says.
Those core areas are: 1. Economics (including land deprivation); 2. Social, Cultural, Psychological and Ideological; 3. Spiritual and Religious; 4. Demographic; 5. Medical; 6. Education and 7. Legal. Dr. Curry further explained that after identifying these core areas, the committee began developing specific research questions that could be addressed within each concentration.
“A methodological framework was also adopted whereby we ‘start with where we were.’ In essence, we would examine the pre-conditions (or existing conditions) of Africans and descendants in the natural state prior to European incursions and contact,” Dr. Curry notes.
“The next step would be to examine "what happened" namely the debilitating dimensions of contact with slavery and colonialism. Finally, the third phase would be to examine the consequence or aftermath of the experience with colonialism and slavery,” he adds.
The research sub-committee also has long-term research and educational goals, most notably curricula development and engaging a larger and more sustainable conversation with the Bahamian public on race, class and other forms of discrimination.
The Bahamas Reparations Committee was appointed in March, 2014.
According to Hilary Beckles, Chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission and Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of the West Indies, “Reparations is the process of repairing the consequences of crimes committed, and the attempt to reasonably remove debilitating effects of such crimes upon victims and their descendants”.
At the Thirty-Fourth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government which was held in July 2013 in Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean leaders agreed to set up National Committees on Reparations, to establish the moral, ethical and legal case for the payment of reparations by the former colonial European countries, to the nations and people of the Caribbean Community, for native genocide, the transatlantic slave trade and a racialized system of chattel slavery.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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