The Trinidad and Tobago Reparations committee held their 9th meeting on

Monday 12th August 2014 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Port of Spain
where the instruments of appointments were handed out to members. This
Cabinet appointed committee stems from CARICOMs reparation initiative where
reparations committees have been set up in all member states as part of the
process of seeking reparations from European nations. According to a release
from the committee, it is a mechanism established to formulate and to press the
case for Reparations across the Caribbean, in relation to the effects of what is
decided as Native Genocide against indigenous inhabitants, slavery and the
slave trade against Africans, as well as the colonisation of countries in the
region.


The committee is chaired by Aiyegoro Ome, and also includes Sir Edwin
Carrington, Trinidad and Tobago Ambassador to Caricom; Ms Avril Belfon,
National Archivist, National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago; Mrs Theresa
Neblett-Skinner of the Curriculum Development Division, Ministry of Education;
Ms Lucia Phillip, (NALIS); Dr Sharon Legall, Attorney; Mr Anthony Birchwood,
Department of Economics, UWI, St Augustine; Mr Andy Johnson, Chief Executive
Officer, Government Information Services Limited; Mr Khafra Kambon,
Chairman, Emancipation Support Committee; Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez,
of the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community; Der One Piankhi, of The Council of
Orisha Elders of Trinidad and Tobago and Mr Clyde Noel of the All Mansions of
Rastafari, Trinidad and Tobago. The Committee also has representatives from
the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of the Attorney General, the
Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism and the University of Trinidad and Tobago.


Several members of the committee took time to share their perspectives on
reparations with Triniview.com. Clyde Noel, chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago
Rastafari All Mansions shared that Rastas have always had a leading role in the
struggle for reparations and expressed gratitude for being included in this important
process. He expressed that our people suffered a lot and things must be put into
place to repair the damage for all atrocities and inhuman acts.

Aiyegoro Ome, chairman of the committee in a brief interview shared that the
genocide of the First People and Slavery were crimes against humanity and
justice must be done towards offering opportunities for repairing and
compensating for these wrongs. He expressed that coming out of the legacy of
Slavery is racism whereby people of African heritage are considered to be the
lowest of the low, even by Africans themselves. "We have also in the Caribbean
classification by colour, where the closer you are to white, the higher you are in
status," he said. To deal with the loss of history and the psychological trauma
from this experience, Ome expressed that the committee will embark upon a
campaign of heavy public education.


Mr. Ricardo Barath Hernandez, President of the Carib Community of Arima noted
that reparations is very important to the First Peoples as they were almost
wiped out by the colonizers, and much of their culture and spirituality erased.
Reparations he said is an attempt to address some of these wrongs. The
education that the process will bring is a plus. He declared that quite a lot of
people dont know about the first peoples and what they suffered. He added that
reparations is also an attempt to get the colonial powers to look back at the past
and see the wrongs.

Dr Verene Shepherd, historian and Chair of the Jamaica National Committee, as
the Co-Chair of the Caricom Regional Commission was a special guest at the
meeting. She expressed that one of the most important activities of the national
reparations committees is that of public education. It is a crime against
humanity to deny people connection to their identity she said. She presented a
copy of her book to the committee. In return, Dr Hollis Liverpool presented her
with a copy of his book Rituals of Power & Rebellion: The Carnival Tradition in
Trinidad & Tobago.

Later on in the evening Dr Shepherd expanded on the significance of reparations
and the mandate of the national committees is a special lecture hosted by the
National Action Cultural Committee titled In Their Name: Caribbean Women,
Slavery & Reparation. Dr Shepherd asserted that the historiography tends to
highlight the contributions of males more than that of females: how widely
known are the names of our women, enslaved and sometimes free, who were
right there beside our brothers; whose narratives may not all be known, but
whose names we can call and who are recognised as quintessential rebel women
who embodied the spirit of Black womens resistance to systems of domination?
She went on to highlight some women and give historical examples of their
involvement in resistance against slavery and called for them to be elevated to
the position of national heroines.

Speaking specifically about the reparations movement she shared that The
CARICOM Reparation Commission in their Caribbean Reparatory Justice
Programme has outlined a Ten Point Action Plan that has been accepted by all
Heads of CARICOM Countries. These are:

[1] Full formal apology
[2] Repatriation and resettlement for those who desire it
[3] Indigenous Peoples Development Programme
[4] The establishment of Cultural Institutions
[5] Addressing the Public Health Crisis
[6] Illiteracy Eradication
[7] The development of an African Knowledge Programme to re-educate our
people about their origins
[8] Psychological Rehabilitation to help us to get over the trauma of enslavement
and its transgenerational impact
[9] Technology Transfer, which is located within the right to development
framework.
[10] Debt Cancellation

She concluded that based on the injustices of European colonialism, the under-
development of Africa and the Caribbean as a consequence of the trans-Atlantic
trade in African captives and slavery, the harm done by slavery to the
descendants of the enslaved ancestors and the failure of former colonial powers
to apologise statements of regret are great but not enough.

Following the performance Professor Shepherd fielded questions and comments
from the audience. One young lady articulated that she was fully in support of
reparations but that the repatriation aspect of it did not seems logical. Professor
Shepherd responded by stating that no reparations activity will be taken
seriously if repatriation and resettlement is not included. She reminded the
audience that a lot of people (especially Rastafarians) who claim the right to
repatriation and so it is a choice for those who choose to do that. Another young
man reminded the audience that history shows that the Arab slave trade
preceded the European slaver trade. Professor Shepherd agreed with this point
and emphasized that all who did wrong needed to be called out on it.


As part of the proceedings, young artistes Anika Collins and Sasha Moses treated
the audience to calypsos on the theme of freedom.