BLACKS?in Barbados and across the globe, whose ancestors were victims of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, have a legal case for reparations.
David Comissiong, a member of the Reparations Task Force, made that assertion at a town hall meeting at Queen’s Park Steel Shed on Thursday night before
an audience that included Minister of Culture Stephen Lashley, chairman of the task force,?Professor Pedro Welch, acting director of the Commission for Pan African Affairs, Deryck Murray, and retired diplomat Orlando Marville.
“Crimes against humanity were committed against African people. International laws say that where crimes against humanity are committed, that compensation or reparations are mandatory,” he said.
Comissiong, the author of Healing The Nation, a 107-page manual on reparations, said that restoration was due to Blacks whose ancestors were victims of genocide.
“A crime has been committed and a legal process now suggests that compensation or restitution is due. In order for us to make a case for reparations, we have to say that when we look at the history of the encounter between Europe and Africa, that what we see in that history of slave trade and colonialism are crimes against humanity and/or genocide.
