Dear Editor,

I must admit that the Jamaica Observer gave me a really good laugh with the headline about reparations on Tuesday, September 23, 2014. Which European government is ever going to be in its ‘right’ mind to help pay us 7.3 trillion pounds, especially at a time when many of these same European countries are broke? Thanks, Observer, for carrying the story, I ready enjoyed the laugh.

The Observer article was based on a British programme The Empire pays back by Dr Robert Beckford. Interestingly, while the goodly doctor was blaming the British for all the ills of the black race, he forgot to mention the role that Africans played. Indeed, he went as far as to claim that the Africans shouldn’t pay anything because they didn’t benefit.

You know, I am always amazed by the rants of some blacks in Britain who are demanding reparations for slavery. Most of them would rather die than leave the comforts of Britain and go back to Africa. Why must they constantly bite the hand that feeds them?

For those who don’t already know, one of the major obstacles that would prevent Britain from paying reparations is the simple fact that slavery was very much a legal institution at the time. Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights makes any European Union state not liable for any criminal act today that was not a crime when that act was being perpetrated. In other words, the convention frees any European country from being liable for slavery.

It’s interesting how those clamouring for reparations use such blatant one-sided arguments. I saw a review of Dr Beckford’s programme that highlighted an obvious bias. According to the review, several interviews that opposed reparations or those arguments that presented good arguments against it seem to have been deliberately cut off. What are these pro-reparationists afraid of? The same is mostly true in our own electronic media. When was the last time you heard any discussion as to why this reparations business is nonsense? Like Dr Beckford’s vain attempt, most of those demanding reparations think we are all idiots.

There is another laughable aspect to this reparations joke. Believe it or not, some of us are actually making plans for the money! Some of us are planning to pay off Jamaica’s and Caricom’s debts so that we can “have a clean slate to start over”. I even saw one election campaign promise in an eastern Caribbean island, recently, promising each family 100,00 pounds when it “wins” reparations! I suppose that, as we live in these small islands, we must have small intellects too.

I long for the day when we blacks will take charge of our own destiny. Enough of these poorly disguised attempts to guilt the Europeans into giving us more handouts. We are not defenceless victims, so enough of this sickening victim-ology. Enough of these ‘historians’ making the black man look like a helpless and ignorant fool who couldn’t help being “violated” by these “wicked” Europeans. Enough of our child-like worldview — we need to grow up!

Michael A Dingwall

michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com