HISTORIAN Dr Rita Pemberton says the issue of reparations will not be evaded and the struggle for it will not end without a proper resolution being reached.
She made this comment on October 22 in response to a position taken by the British government that reparations will not be on the agenda of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), now taking place in Samoa, and the disclosure by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, of his family's connection to the slave trade.
In a statement sent via WhatsApp to Newsday, Pemberton said, "Evasion of the issue of reparations will by no means be considered its resolution."
She added that the struggle for reparations will not cease.
"The UK will ultimately have to face its responsibility for its brutal inflictions on its former colonies."
Pemberton, a Newsday columnist, said, "During the era of enslavement, particularly regarding male offsprings, the question of paternity was not always made visible, especially if the mother was an enslaved possession of the plantation owner or a mixed race (mulatto) woman."
She added, "There is no doubt, several persons in similar situations which they do not want publicised."
On October 20, TT National Reparations Committee chairman Dr Claudius Fergus rejected a recent position taken by the British government that reparations was not on the agenda of the CHOGM. The CHOGM began on October 21 and ends on October 26.
At Emancipation Day celebrations in Port of Spain in August, the Prime Minister said Caricom intends to speak "forcefully" on the issue of reparations at the meeting.
In a statement on October 21, Welby spoke about his family's connection to the slave trade.
"I have recently discovered that my biological father, the late Sir Anthony Montague Browne, had an ancestral connection to the enslavement of people in Jamaica and Tobago. His great, great grandfather was Sir James Fergusson, an owner of enslaved people at the Rozelle Plantation in St Thomas, Jamaica."
On October 21, Scottish writer Alex Renton said Welby's disclosure about his family's connection to the slave trade underscores the need for people to speak about the evil it inflicted on generations of people and to work to right the wrongs caused by this tragic chapter in the world's history.
Renton discovered his familial connection to the Fergussons.
He wrote about it in 2021 in his book, Blood Legacy: Reckoning with a Family’s Story of Slavery.
Renton visited the family's estates in Tobago and Jamaica.
He is also a founding member of the Heirs of Slavery group that works to encourage other families enriched by slavery wealth to acknowledge their history, apologise and support campaigns for reparations in Europe and the Caribbean.
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