THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE RECENT disclosure by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson that Jamaica intends to declare itself a republic is timely and long overdue. The colonial ritual of an independent sovereign nation paying homage to its former slave masters and mistresses only helps to rekindle the pain and hurt of how we became a colony in the first place.
One issue not addressed, however, is the inevitable legal action by the republic of Jamaica on behalf of its citizens of African descent for reparations from the British Monarchy and government. A similar movement is presently gaining momentum in the United States, and promises to be the most important legal battle of any millennium.
The meticulous habit of the former institutional slaveholders in keeping detailed records of its involuntary human property has rendered the existing mountain of evidence incontrovertible. The blood, sweat, and tears of the slaves will be easily discernible from the many pages of the surviving painful evidence.
All other ethnic cultures that were institutionally persecuted and victimised have been acknowledged and compensated with reparations except the descendants of African victims of involuntary servitude.
The Native American Indians, the Japanese, and most recently, the Jews have all had their day in court. Successfully. Certainly, under today's standard of War Crimes, as enunciated by the Hague Tribunal, the suffering and deaths of the Middle Passage, and the subsequent tribulations of Africans and their descendants in the Americas must qualify as a crime against humanity and an atrocity.
Will the republic of Jamaica be courageous enough to embark on such a course of action? Only time will tell.
I am etc.,
BERTRAM A. SCOTT,
Director
Jamaican Ambassadors
Chess Academy
jambassadors.virtualave.net/newfile.html
Via Go-Jamaica
