Dear Editor,
This is an open letter to the British Prime Minister:
Mr Prime Minister, there is currently a well-organised effort in the Caribbean to get your country to pay us black descendants of African slaves in this region reparations for slavery. While some of our intellectuals think that the reasons are sound, I, a proud black man, think that the reasons are not only baseless but also insulting.
While we black people in the West have been fed a steady diet of anti-white propaganda that we blacks were victims of the evils of your ancestors, the truth tells a very different story.
When your ancestors went to Africa for slaves, centuries ago, they had no difficulty in getting them. Slavery was a well-established system long before your ancestors came. The slave trade was a legal and morally accepted institution. Paying us reparations would tell the world that both your ancestors and ours committed a grave crime. This would not be true. How could a crime have been committed if nobody then saw anything wrong?
The involvement of our black ancestors, in particular, is very evident. As early as the late 1400s the African kingdom of Benin had a slave-supply treaty with Portugal. When your country outlawed the slave trade in 1807, the Ashanti king protested, claiming that the British anti-slavery blockage was destroying his economy. As late as the 1930s, slavery was so well established in Selassie's Ethiopia that Italy was able to use it as a pretext for invading the country in 1936, freeing hundreds of thousands of slaves.
Also, we in the West have been led to think that our black ancestors were mostly kidnapped by your ancestors and sold into slavery. This cannot be true. Most of Africa was not controlled by Europe during the slave trade. Simple common sense dictates that the tens of millions of people could not have been moved from Africa for centuries without the active and willing participation of my ancestors.
The simple truth of the matter is that if your government is supposed to pay reparations, African governments should pay too. Since African governments are not being asked to pay anything, your government should not be asked to pay either.
As for us African descendants in the West, many of us saw nothing wrong with slavery. Did you know, for instance, that there are many examples of former slaves winning their freedom and becoming slave owners themselves? I was recently made aware that a sizeable portion of slaves in Jamaica were in fact owned by coloured and freed black slave owners. Even the slaves thought that the institution was morally acceptable. The freed Maroons of Jamaica, who signed a peace treaty with your government in the 1700s, seemingly saw nothing wrong with slavery. That was why they agreed to return escaped slaves to their plantation owners.
In several ways, it can be argued that your government has already paid reparations. Firstly, our ancestors in Africa were paid. Secondly, during the 1960s and later, your country gave us these priceless islands. Thirdly, your government has helped to sustain us with generous technical and financial grants and assistance. Why give us another economic bailout with reparations? Please, don't insult our pride with more handouts such as reparations.
Those of us who are demanding reparations don't understand history. Morality is not a static human phenomenon. While we in the 21st century may find slavery repugnant, it would be wrong of us to use our moral standards today to judge the actions of our ancestors in centuries past. Slavery was morally accepted to all then. We must not condemn our ancestors, who, both black and white, saw nothing wrong with it by making reparations.
Please understand that not all of us African descendants in the West think that there is a good case for reparations. Indeed, some of us, think that those of us who are calling for reparations are truly misguided and misinformed. Unfortunately, there are clearly some elements of anti-white racism too.
Mr Prime Minister, let's hope that good sense will prevail. Don't make any reparations.
Michael A Dingwall
Kingston, Jamaica.
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com
Don't make any reparations
-->
This is an open letter to the British Prime Minister:
Mr Prime Minister, there is currently a well-organised effort in the Caribbean to get your country to pay us black descendants of African slaves in this region reparations for slavery. While some of our intellectuals think that the reasons are sound, I, a proud black man, think that the reasons are not only baseless but also insulting.
While we black people in the West have been fed a steady diet of anti-white propaganda that we blacks were victims of the evils of your ancestors, the truth tells a very different story.
When your ancestors went to Africa for slaves, centuries ago, they had no difficulty in getting them. Slavery was a well-established system long before your ancestors came. The slave trade was a legal and morally accepted institution. Paying us reparations would tell the world that both your ancestors and ours committed a grave crime. This would not be true. How could a crime have been committed if nobody then saw anything wrong?
The involvement of our black ancestors, in particular, is very evident. As early as the late 1400s the African kingdom of Benin had a slave-supply treaty with Portugal. When your country outlawed the slave trade in 1807, the Ashanti king protested, claiming that the British anti-slavery blockage was destroying his economy. As late as the 1930s, slavery was so well established in Selassie's Ethiopia that Italy was able to use it as a pretext for invading the country in 1936, freeing hundreds of thousands of slaves.
Also, we in the West have been led to think that our black ancestors were mostly kidnapped by your ancestors and sold into slavery. This cannot be true. Most of Africa was not controlled by Europe during the slave trade. Simple common sense dictates that the tens of millions of people could not have been moved from Africa for centuries without the active and willing participation of my ancestors.
The simple truth of the matter is that if your government is supposed to pay reparations, African governments should pay too. Since African governments are not being asked to pay anything, your government should not be asked to pay either.
As for us African descendants in the West, many of us saw nothing wrong with slavery. Did you know, for instance, that there are many examples of former slaves winning their freedom and becoming slave owners themselves? I was recently made aware that a sizeable portion of slaves in Jamaica were in fact owned by coloured and freed black slave owners. Even the slaves thought that the institution was morally acceptable. The freed Maroons of Jamaica, who signed a peace treaty with your government in the 1700s, seemingly saw nothing wrong with slavery. That was why they agreed to return escaped slaves to their plantation owners.
In several ways, it can be argued that your government has already paid reparations. Firstly, our ancestors in Africa were paid. Secondly, during the 1960s and later, your country gave us these priceless islands. Thirdly, your government has helped to sustain us with generous technical and financial grants and assistance. Why give us another economic bailout with reparations? Please, don't insult our pride with more handouts such as reparations.
Those of us who are demanding reparations don't understand history. Morality is not a static human phenomenon. While we in the 21st century may find slavery repugnant, it would be wrong of us to use our moral standards today to judge the actions of our ancestors in centuries past. Slavery was morally accepted to all then. We must not condemn our ancestors, who, both black and white, saw nothing wrong with it by making reparations.
Please understand that not all of us African descendants in the West think that there is a good case for reparations. Indeed, some of us, think that those of us who are calling for reparations are truly misguided and misinformed. Unfortunately, there are clearly some elements of anti-white racism too.
Mr Prime Minister, let's hope that good sense will prevail. Don't make any reparations.
Michael A Dingwall
Kingston, Jamaica.
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com
Don't make any reparations
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