Jamaica plans to seek reparations

1. I strongly agree with Jamaica’s plan to seek reparation. My reason so is because the

African ancestors were forced out of their homes and suffered unparalleled atrocities

in Africa to carry out labor to benefit the British empire. Jamaica was at the centre of

the slave trade and about 600,000 Africans were shipped to work on plantation in

Jamaica which were forced by British to work on plantation which had a positive

impacting creating a fortune for their owners. It was forced labour, it was trafficking

and we know that to even produce sugar, the life expectancy for people working on

these plantations is in between 7-9 years. In the 18th century, sugarcane replaced

piracy as British Jamaica’s main source of income. The sugar industry was labour

intensive and the British brought hundreds of thousands of enslaved black Africans to

the island. I cannot stress this enough that this was hard backbreaking labor and it was

like a form of early terrorism.

So today we can estimate the equivalent of how much Britain got from it. It’s

interesting this language of trade because trade was how the colonizers saw it and not

how the enslaved saw it. It’s not just a claim of these people in these countries.

About the abolition of the slave trade in 1834, the slave holders got compensated by

the British government by taking out a 20 million pound loan. According to a

Jamaican law maker, Mike Henry who said it was worth 7.6 billion pounds , a sum he

estimated is roughly equivalent in today’s terms to what Britain paid to the slave

holders. So the slave holders got compensated for the loss of their property but the

enslaved got nothing. How unfair! It’s really an injustice to the enslaved. A member

of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, Henry said he is asking for the for the same

amount of money paid to the slaves that was paid to the slave holders. I totally agree
that these amount of money or even much more should be paid to the enslaved

because the matter is just a total reparatory injustice. I really believe that Jamaica

should seek reparation because they forced slaves to traffic across the world to work

on plantations while being completely brutalized and dehumanized.The British never

formally apologized let alone taking steps to ensure reparatory justice.

2. If Jamaica is successful in its bid for reparations, it will help with its development.
Explain in what ways is likely to help with the development from britain over slavery

If Jamaica is successful in its bid for reparation and is willing to pay the amount they

paid the slaves, then it will have a positive impact on the country. The country can be

developed in many ways but I’m only going to outline two it is like to help with the

development.

Firstly, giving college and university tuition to 4 years. The country can have colleges

and universities tutor students. With this development, it gives students the

opportunity to achieve associate degree, bachelors degree etc. Growing up in a black

community, it is often hard to get into private schools. My reason so is because the

majority of private schools are owned by white which some of them are racist and

they often look down on the black people and discriminate on them. So it gives

students a chance to access.

Secondly, the country can develop by giving student loans for descendants of the

black enslaved. Some people say education is free but in reality, education has a price.

Some may be rich and some may be poor. Not everybody that can afford bills or fees

from school that’s is why some students take loans. According to research, it explains

that student loan debt continues to be a significant barrier to wealth creation for black

college graduates. Among 25-55 years old, about yo percent of blacks compared to 30

percent of whites have student loan debt. Blacks also have nearly $45000of student

loan debt compared to about $30000 for whites. Recent. Research finds that blacks

are more likely to be allocated unsubsidized loans. Furthermore, graduates of

historically black colleges and universities, compared to predominantly white

institutions, are more likely to receive subprime loans with higher interest rates.

Lastly, purchasing houses or housing revitalization grants for descendants of the black

enslaved. The country can Housing revitalization grants will help Black Americans to
refurbish existing homes in neighborhoods that have been neglected due to a lack of

government and corporate investments in predominately Black communities.