We applaud the Jamaican Government and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) for finally beginning in Parliament what we consider to be that very necessary debate on reparations for 400 years of the enslavement of Africans in the Americas.

Most of all, we applaud Mr Mike Henry for having stuck with the issue for years, always insisting that it was of utmost importance, deserving the full attention of his colleagues.
Many will have laughed and scoffed at Mr Henry's suggestions, especially early on. And we suspect that even today there are perhaps more than a few parliamentarians who, "under the quiet", consider all the talk about slavery to be nonsense. Chances are, they will not now say so openly, since it is no longer politically correct to do so.

Bear in mind that this year marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and that there is a global movement to commemorate the event.
We note the suggestion by Mr Henry's Opposition colleague, Mr Andrew Holness that a "one-off" payment of $52 billion from Britain to transform Jamaica's education system would be sufficient for the descendants of the victims of slave in this country.

But we empathise with Government Minister Ms Aloun Assamba that the Jamaican Government should seek a collective position on the matter with its Caribbean Community (CARICOM) partners.
Further, she appeared to recognise the extreme complexity of the issue and of the need for a unified voice in any discussions with the Europeans.

Truth is, no amount of money can ever adequately compensate for what was done to those millions of people who were taken in chains from Africa and transported in horrifically cramped holds of sailing ships to the Americas for forced labour.

Many died in the process and the survivors were totally dehumanised. In the African Diaspora, and in Africa itself, the terrible social and economic consequences of one of the most extreme examples of man's inhumanity to man are still being felt.

We contend, for example, that the damaging inferiority complex which so many of our people display - extending to the bleaching of the skin to appear less black - is a direct consequence of the experience of slavery and its dreadful aftermath.
In arriving at compensation figures, the experts - devoid of emotionalism and with due attention to issues of law - will have to look at a range of issues not least the huge benefits that flowed to white Europe and America as a direct result of slavery.

The red herrings being thrown across the path are many. Not least that slavery was an accepted practice in the Africa of the time and that Africans were full, if only naïve partners, of the Europeans who came in search of slaves.

Of course, adequate levels of compensation apart, the reparations debate in Parliament provides another opportunity to educate Jamaicans about their past and of the need to understand slavery and the effect that it continues to have on our society.

Hopefully, it is a debate that will be extended and sustained well beyond the bounds of Parliament. Because this is not simply about money. It is about the humanity of an entire race of people.

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