There is zero doubt black people around the world have suffered the most horrific tragedy and sieges on human life the world has ever seen. In Jamaica it was no different, but their reaction today as the Prime Minister of the UK comes for a visit is.

Jamaicans are calling for Britain to pay billions of pounds to the island nation to right the sins of the past that helped make the UK and people from there rich beyond measure. One of those people are the Prime Minister from the country, David Cameron.

The official position of Cameron and Britain is they don’t believe reparations or an apology for slavery is the “right approach”, that’s code for they don’t want to take responsibility or fork over any monetary cash. However, many in Jamaica are set to make this the prime focus of his first visit to the nation.

Sir Hilary Beckles, chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission, has stated that making amends for slavery the focus of their agenda and illuminating the direct ancestral ties of the prime minister to the trades in the 1,700s. The prime minister’s cousin six times removed was General Sir James Duff.

In an open letter in the Jamaica Observer, the academic wrote: “You are a grandson of the Jamaican soil who has been privileged and enriched by your forebears’ sins of the enslavement of our ancestors … You are, Sir, a prized product of this land and the bonanza benefits reaped by your family and inherited by you continue to bind us together like birds of a feather.

“We ask not for handouts or any such acts of indecent submission. We merely ask that you acknowledge responsibility for your share of this situation and move to contribute in a joint programme of rehabilitation and renewal. The continuing suffering of our people, Sir, is as much your nation’s duty to alleviate as it is ours to resolve in steadfast acts of self-responsibility.”

In addition to this pressure, many members in the Jamaican Parliament have approved a motion to seek reparations from Britain for their involvement the slave trade and want to see it on the agenda.

“If it is not on the agenda, I will not attend any functions involving the visiting prime minister, and I will cry shame on those who do, considering that there was not a dissenting voice in the debate in parliament,” Mike Henry told the newspaper.

Hopefully, the powers that be will stand by the side of the people in Jamaica to force not only the discussions and an apology, but the actual pay out of billions, if not trillions, of pounds, cash, dolla, dolla bills.

Source: The Guardian