Back Pay For Slavery

Carolyn Cooper, Contributor

jamaica-gleaner



THE PRINCIPLE of reparations was established long ago in the 1833 Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British colonies. But there was a catch to the act - not much different in essence from the original sin of catching Africans for enslavement in the Americas. Reparations were to be made to the perpetrators of human trafficking, not to the victims.

This is how the act opens: "Whereas divers persons are holden (held) in slavery within divers of His Majesty's colonies, and it is just and expedient that all such persons should be manumitted and set free, and that a reasonable compensation should be made to the persons hitherto entitled to the services of such slaves for the loss which they will incur by being deprived of their right to such services ... ," etc.

This is a classic example of the diabolical mindset of 'wicked white people'. Slaveholders were legally entitled to the services of their slaves and therefore had a right to 'reasonable compensation' for loss of service. The enslaved had no such rights or entitlements. They were freed with nothing in their two long hands; just like that rather sad-looking couple standing in a basin of water in New Kingston's 'Emancipation Park'.

When I talk about 'wicked white people' I don't mean specific individuals who have done me personal wrong. I'm not speaking about singular acts of evil. It's a far bigger issue. What concerns me is the collective crimes against humanity committed by gravalicious people who consider themselves absolutely entitled by God and nature to dominate the world. In many instances, these self-proclaimed rulers just happen to be white.

In the age of colonial conquest, 'wicked white people' as a special interest group committed crimes of unapologetic horror. They ravaged other people's bodies, souls, lands and histories; they vandalised sacred objects and then locked them away in 'museums' - those cemeteries of other people's culture. 'Wicked white people' invading and stealing, stealing, stealing without conscience.

I know I'm going to be accused of racism for exposing 'wicked white people' to public scrutiny in this way. But that's just another ploy of 'wicked white people' and their collaborators to perpetuate mental slavery. It's racism to talk about racist behaviour. But actual racist behaviour is not racism. It's just human nature. What an irony!

Justice versus expediency

So let's say instead that 'nice and decent' white people agreed that it was "just and expedient" to set the enslaved free. But the yoking of justice and expedience in the Act for the Abolition of Slavery reveals the central philosophical and practical dilemma at the heart of the emancipation enterprise.

Justice seemingly puts emancipation on solid moral ground. Expedience erodes all claims to moral authority. It was expedient to emancipate enslaved Africans because plantation slavery had become an expensive proposition. The substitution of beet for cane turned West Indian sugar into a rather sour deal.

After centuries of mostly verbal outrage - incessant talk, talk, talk about 'wicked white people' - we, the collective victims of transatlantic slavery, must finally decide to take legal action in the largest class-action suit in the history of the world. This is a truly wonderful idea. Not the wishy-washy, everyday sense of 'wonderful', meaning simply 'great'; it's the mind-blowing, original meaning of the word: full of wonder.

Five hundred years after the rape of the body and land of the original inhabitants of this part of the world; 500 years after the violent uprooting and enslavement of millions of Africans, we, their descendants, both native and immigrant, must lay claim to rights of reparation.

In the sweet by and by

For many Africans in the diaspora, it is in religion that we find hope for reparations. The Christian religion seems to recommend long-term investment in the celestial stock market. The concept of reparations has best been expressed in pious hymns like this: "In the sweet by and by I'll have a mansion so bright and so fair, won't it be glorious when I get there in the sweet by and by?" God will repair the breach. God is the ultimate human rights arbitrator.

Then we have those Africans who want hard cold cash in the here and now. Think of the title song from the movie The Harder They Come: "They tell me bout the pie up in the sky waiting for me when I die. But between the day you born and when you die, they never seem to hear even your cry. So as long as the sun will shine, I'm gonna get my share, what's mine. The harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all."

That's an excellent anthem for the Reparations Movement, the Garveyism of our times. It's the same kind of daring that made Marcus Garvey conceive the Universal Negro Improvement Association and Communities League: a global movement of African peoples who see themselves as having a shared history and a common destiny.

And don't think it's a joke. With derisive laughter cynics like to say, 'when you get the money you can check me.' But the Jews got compensation from the Germans; Japanese-Americans got compensation for the atrocities committed against them. Why not Africans? I'd like to know what, exactly, our National Commission on Reparations is doing about it.

If you think that after 500 years it's now too late for reparations, just remember Psalm 90:4 in which David, himself a Jew, converses with the Supreme Arbitrator: "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past." Come to think of it, all we're really talking about is half a day's back pay.

August 7, 2011

jamaica-gleaner

Bahamas Blog International

Jamaica: Pope Benedict, the church, Brady bunch, PNP audit

Pope Benedict, the church, Brady bunch, PNP audit
BY FRANKLIN JOHNSTON



ALL churches in Jamaica owe their origins to the Pope and the trend to abuse by some -- from Rasta to revivalist is disrespectful and ignorant. As 3,000 local church leaders meet for a talkfest, this fragile 83-year-old head of the Vatican state and the Catholic Church visits the UK. His job is serving God and man. To some he is "antichrist", to most a lighthouse. His shock and sadness at the crimes of some priests, and his soft rant at "militant secularism" pushing good values to the margins resonate with us too. His trip is the second to the UK by a Pope in 600 years and the first State visit. He gave the Queen lost gospels from 500 CE. I would like "a read"! The Pope is first among equals as our conduit for the Bible. The British church fought the slave trade and slavery; yet after 178 years our churches make no progress on "mental slavery". Whether by illiteracy or denial we make up a past and they approve our fictions being princes and queens in Africa, exiled and so we will not toil. Some form a group of 89 members and say it's the true church.

They speak in tongues; say they have visions of some deacons lusting, hell fire and lottery numbers, yet none of martyrs or thinkers of the global church; all are limited by the little they know. Ask your pastor about the church in 1962, 1862 and 1000? What says he? The Pope is an affront to ignorance as he embodies 2,000 years of faith with archives to show good and bad, crusades and Inquisition! Your pastor got a Bible, a vision to start a church; a penchant for fine robes, titles, ham and eggs prayer breakfasts, but no vision to tackle state corruption or a mission to subdue the land, produce and live in love — imagine that! The riches of many new churches are an affront to poverty. Are some pastors in the pocket of politicians? Who is using whom? They stipple our landscape with tasteless buildings paid for by the poor; they get honours, land and permits — a sop for keeping us quiet! British churches delivered for us! These have not! Foreign missions acted and removed our chains. For 30 years Wilberforce was dedicated to freedom for blacks he didn't know! Our churches collude in keeping us in mental slavery! Is corruption on their agenda? No! New MPs for old? No! I went to Westminster Cathedral and lit a candle for my sins, my friends and my nation -- anything for JA! The Pope is our link to 2,000 years of Christ's blood, guts and glory! Pastors cannot ignore politics, they were born in it. The Pope called Henry VIII to account, so the king beheaded Sir Thomas! Our bishops "see an' blin', 'ear an deaf". Who will say "Bruce, enough!"

The Pope's armour-plated Benz M class Popemobile is as incongruous as his elite Swiss Guard and his retro-red shoes - emblem of blood of martyrs. Let us "hail the man" as the patriarch of all Christians in the West and invite him to JA. Sir Thomas Moore, the Pope's envoy, refused to annul King Henry's marriage. The king executed him in 1535, took England out of the Catholic (universal) church and had royal sex with Anne Boleyn. This break-up was not the Pope's doing, and now for the first time a Pope visits Lambeth Palace and Westminster Abbey, the Anglican power base. All churches derive from one man who could not keep his pants on! What a bam-bam! Anglican, Adventist, Baptist, Rasta, Church of God, all exist because the king desired a woman, the Pope said, "No, stay with your flippin' wife", and lust tore apart the global church! Even today new churches are born of lust and sex. The Pope just visited Westminster Cathedral and love flowed; brown faces of Eastern Catholic priests in mufti and British youth of all colours testify that faith is strong! Our churches want "repentance healing, renewal", why not protest and action? They have the numbers. Prayer is OK, but why not call out members to picket Gordon House and demand good government? Is there a Daniel?

The Bruce, Brady, Manatt debacle is in a primal twist --the don, JLP hacks, suborned writers and civil servants, now a heavyweight! Bruce disowns Brady! Adopt him, Portia! The man "gie weh 'im fren Dudus an now 'im fren Harold". Who next? Brady is credible in and out of the JLP and knows if we follow the money we find truth. No lawyer goes abroad with US$50k, no contacts, no client and no brief. Bruce is playing "business as usual" but is seen by many as damaged goods, a weak heir, disloyal, indecisive, power-hungry, he "sang sankey" and many in the JLP rejoice at his misery! Revenge is better cold! It is as Seaga left it; autocratic, arthritic, no one dares open his mouth! Bruce is no match for Brady; can he buy him off by retraction, apology or rewards? The executive must regret not taking his resignation and they will not fight Brady as he can exhume bodies and make the Dudus episode seem a tea party. I fear for his safety. The spotlight moves to donors, so watch things escalate. What can good JLP donors do now? The donor of the US$50k is the key. If he comes out freely, he clears his name and sanitises all honest donors! He runs a private firm; gets legal permits, contracts and deposits; is an old friend of the JLP; affects the Abe Issa mantra and donates to both parties as "business must always be in power". He has nothing to fear. He is the "game changer" we must pray for. He is the catalyst to make it OK for all of us to support a party openly, if we so wish! This donor is not tribal or criminal and to be a pioneer in our twisted nation is a hard decision to make. He may begin an avalanche of openness; a catalyst to a Parliamentary vote for disclosure! Sir, you can change the tone of our politics! In the sweep of history Bruce is nothing, but our country we can count in history if we defeat the Goliath of ignorance and secrecy and prosper. Please help us. Stay conscious, my friend!

Congratulations to the PNP on a watershed audit! Transparency begins here. Please ensure the next audit is vouched by a registered public auditor and the donor schedule given to the OCG and the taxman "for their eyes only". Most big firms are on both JLP and PNP lists anyway. Whoever loses, business always wins. More power to you!

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants currently on assignment in the UK. franklinjohnston@hotmail.com

September 24, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International