Reparations pt 2

Currently, there are heated discussions on the above topic and there are both proponents as well as opponents for the same. There are persons who feel that for better race relations slavery should be forgotten but it cannot be easily forgotten especially in societies where prejudice and discrimination with such offshoot of racial profiling continue to exist. In the United States the abolition of slavery was followed by the introduction of the John Crow Laws which legalized segregation with state sanctioned oppression.{{more}} It took a whole century for these laws to be abolished and while the laws were in existence descendants of slaves suffered at the hands of extremists hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. It was the actions of the Civil Rights movement with their peaceful demonstrations and freedom rides that forced the Government to abolish the John Crow laws. It is still felt that the present day inequalities experienced by modern day African-Americans could be directly attributed to slavery and discrimination.

In the British West Indian colonies, no attempt was made by the British Government to build a truly free society after the slaves were released from the absolute control of the slave masters. The majority of ex-slaves were still condemned to low-wage estate labour as few other opportunities existed. The labour of slaves had contributed to the development of Britain and as Dr. Eric Williams in his book “Capitalism and Slavery” suggests, contributed to the Industrial Revolution.

When slavery was abolished it was the planter class, many of whom lived in England, who received the generosity of the British Government in the form of twenty million pounds. Twenty million pounds towards the welfare of the newly freed slaves would have set them on the road to progress but that was not done. They were denied the basic elements needed to start a new life even though their labour had helped to make Britain prosperous.

Is reparation too late?

When justice is done or when some conciliation is shown with some tangible gesture then final closure is obtained. It has been suggested that cases in the Court for reparation cannot succeed because of the Statute of Limitation. Issues of limitation, however, should be confined to the judicial process. It is not too late for the British Parliament to make a decision for reparations. It was Parliament that actually instituted the act to abolish slavery on account of the economic realities in the colonies but it failed to pay heed to those who bore the greater losses. Some pressure was exerted by the abolitionists to abolish the system of slavery but there was a serious omission when they failed to recommend reparations.

The policy of reparation is not new. The precedent of reparations was set a long time ago in Europe where after wars ended the victorious nations sat at the treaty table to decide the new world order and victims were given considerations.

The Jews who had suffered received statehood as a form of reparation for those who were exterminated during the holocaust. The issue of survivors was not raised and millions of Jews scattered abroad have returned to Israel to benefit from reparations. The demands for justice were instigated by a generation of Jews who had never lived in Germany during the holocaust. Since reparation was considered appropriate for the Jews it should be considered for the descendants of slaves.

• Ada Johnson is a solicitor and barrister-at-law.

E-mail address is: exploringthelaw@yahoo.com