Barbados’ transition to republican status presents the ideal opportunity for the country’s leaders to focus on reparations for the economic, social and psychological damage caused by the trans-Atlantic slave trade.That was the general consensus of panellists in the second in a series of panel discussions held by the National Task Force on Reparations, entitled De Youth Speak: Reparations in the Republic.“There are many people who have never heard of reparations or don’t understand it, but essentially we have had our resources stolen from us over a period of 500 to 600 years and now it is time to get them back so that we can make progress like everyone else,” said moderator of the recently held panel discussion, Barbados and Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Sustainable Development Ambassador, Gabrielle Gay.
