Along with an apology for slavery, reparations is a must, says Queen Ifrica
KINGSTON, Jamaica —
Signalling that she represents the “free Jamaicans that were here before any slave ships or any colonisers”, reggae artiste Queen Ifrica says she is ready to see the end of the British Monarch to dissolve its control over Jamaica.
Queen Ifrica, who was present at Tuesday morning’s protest at the British High Commission in Kingston, said it’s time for the Queen of England to “gwaan and nuh look back.”
“I represent for the free Jamaicans that was here before any slave ships or any colonisers come up. We are the first Jamaicans dem weh did deh yah, the first inhabitants of this land yah and dat is why me deh here — fi tell the Queen say she a come off a di throne. Gwaan and nuh look back,” the reggae singer said.
Highlighting the Queen’s 70-year rule, Ifrica said her stepping down and handing over the reign to her grandchildren will only continue a legacy that Jamaica should be seeking to part with.
“This lady here siddung pan a throne fi 70 years. She is about to celebrate that 70 years by stepping down and giving it to her grandchildren and her peers, while we are still in the very slavery that she came on the throne with,” she said.
“She lived 70 years on that throne and slavery is still in existence. Jamaicans are still dealt with as slaves. So we are saying, if it is that you don’t come here to tell us that you really feel a way for what you guys did to us as a people and are still doing to us, then it would not be significant for any of them to be here today.”
Ifrica shared that along with an apology, “reparations is a must” as she insisted the British Monarch correct the ills meted out to Black people over the last 400 years.
“Apology is not going to be enough. They have to do a whole gamut of goodness for us to say, alright then, you can apologise now,” she said. “If yuh find out that you have been used and abused and dealt with in the way that we have been dealt with as a people, reparations is a must. Many other nations have fought and have gotten their reparations so it’s only fitting for Black people to get their reparations. And after we get the reparations, we get everything else weh dem take from we too.”
