 Good evening all at home and abroad and welcome to this evening's activity which is special in many respects taking place first of all on the 29th of February which is only comes around every four years also taking place on the first weekend after the end of a month of observances of St. Lucia's 45th Independence Anniversary and just a few hours after significant tribute was paid to a member of the National Reparations Committee and on an evening when we will be launching the first in a series of reparations lectures relating to our program for National Consultation on Reparations which was launched on the 22nd of November last year at the Castries City Hall at which we indicated that as of the period after New Year and Independence we would be launching our monthly series Which will start this evening. We didn't advertise it as this evening, but you are participating in the historic first wherever you are and this evening we will be making a special presentation which will be repeated and not in form and format but in terms of thematic follow-up having to do with the struggle for the continuing struggle for reparations and the fact that it is now ten years since the Caribbean community Karikom has been striving to make a case for reparations for from Europe for slavery and native genocide in the Caribbean and to Welcome us this evening after having put this evening in perspective. I'd like to call on the head of the local UWI Global campus also a member of the National Reparations Committee and Please welcome Leslie Crane Mitchell Good evening ladies and gentlemen and a special welcome to Monsignor Dr. Patrick Antony who is here with us this evening I would also like to especially acknowledge the online presence of her Excellency Dame Pellet-Louisey who is not only a founding member of our National Reparations Committee But who was honored earlier today as our chair just mentioned for her 25 years of Stirling service as chair of the Nobel Laureate Festival committee Welcome your Excellency and thank you for honoring us with your presence this evening even after such a long day a Pleasant good evening to everyone joining us here this evening those physically presence as well as the many persons joining in via the live stream as Head of the global campus St. Lucia site It is my privilege to extend a warm welcome to all of you joining us for the very first lecture of the 2024 National Reparations Lecture Series The UWI global campus St. Lucia site has had a long Association with the National Reparations Committee from its inception over a decade ago as A founding member of the committee we have had the honor of supporting the work of the committee in particular Leveraging the technical capacity of the UWI global campus to assist with online presentations to the general public as Well as an outreach program to school children across the region of which the NRC is particularly proud The UAE is no stranger to the fight for reparations Voices such as those of our Vice Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles chair of the Carrickham reparations committee and renowned author of Britain's black debt and more recently how Britain underdeveloped the Caribbean and Also, Professor Vereen Shepherd current director of the Center for Reparation Research at the University of the West Indies Have for decades been raised in the call for a pouch Rejustice their voices has been raised in the call to account for the forced Displacement of over 12 million people from the African continent by European colonial powers and over 350 years of enslavement and unpaid labor by them and their descendants which made a significant significant contribution to the rapid development and Accumulation of the wealth held today by European nations private corporations and individual families and The side-by-side with them has been our very own Honorable ambassador dr. June summa an Indefatigable reparations champion who continues to advocate for equality and equity in sustainable development Particularly in the Caribbean region her recent ascent to the prestigious position of Chair-designate of the permanent forum on people of African descent speaks volumes Regarding the esteem in which she is held globally an extra special welcome to our campus ambassador summa We look forward to your presentation this evening and to the lively discussion that will inevitably ensue upon its Conclusion welcome again to you all. Thank you and it is my honor to Present our speaker this evening the first presenter in our year-long series During which we plan to go to every one of the 17 constituencies in st. Lucia on a monthly basis on the last Thursday of Every month as we did with our first series of national reparations lectures in the 2020 I Was just remarking to dr. Isumo that this is the shortest bio that I've seen of her and It is my pleasure to Let Those of us who don't fully know who is going to be speaking to us this evening about what I will first let you know who is going to be addressing us and of course on What and why it is important that this topic that has been presented this evening due to st. Lucia the Caribbean and the whole wide world through the Worldwide web is one that will Significantly contribute to a better understanding and appreciation by Caribbean people in this case st. Lucia of What really is being fought for on their behalf over the past ten years by governments none of which have Undertaken a national consultation As we speak there is original consultation that has already started but as with our Features speaker often being described as the June of firsts Because of the number of firsts that she has scored What we are doing this evening is launching the process of Taking the reparations issue to the people on whose behalf we are Seeking reparations and st. Lucia's will have the first opportunity To say to us and to the governments that represent us and the people what their views are and Through these sessions to put questions to our presenters who will come from a wide range of Subject portfolios Associated with reparations. So who do we have this evening? Excuse me. I'm honorable ambassador. Dr. June sumer SLC st. Lucia cross The whole is a PhD in history from the University of the West Indies. She lectured at the University of the West Indies and universities in the United States and I worked at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank between 1996 and 2006 that an entire decade she was said Lucia's Plenty Potentiary ambassador to the OECS and carry com with responsibility for diaspora affairs from 2008 to 2016 eight years and Following that she was the secretary general of the Association of Caribbean states from 2016 to 2020 the first woman to hold that position one of her many firsts and Of notice that she was the first woman to hold these posts like I've just mentioned as well as the post of the chair of the Global Campus Council a position that she currently holds and We also Have to note that she's also the chair designate of the United Nations permanent forum for people of African descent and she was one of the two Caribbean representatives on the permanent forum and she has been Elected and appointed and is the designate chair of the permanent forum Which is expected to be confirmed within a matter of a weeks more weeks than months and Of course who we have the fact that over the years she has received many awards including the St. Lucia Cross Look for distinguished service in the fields of education diplomacy regionalism and development specialty that was in February 2021 and the order of Jose de Marcelo Jose de Macalota of the degree of the Grand Cross from the Republic of Nicaragua in the area of diplomacy and that also was in 2021 and a tireless advocate for the global reparations movement honorable ambassador Dr. June sumo is a founder member of the St. Lucia Reparations Committee the National Reparations Committee and a member of the United Nations permanent forum for people of African descent and her topic this evening will be the the Brattle Report on reparations for transatlantic chattel slavery in the Americas and the Caribbean exploring the case for reparations justice and equality for women African descent. Let's put our hands together to welcome ambassador Dr. Honorable June sumo Thank you very much And let me see what an honoured is to represent the National Reparations Committee at this launch and invite you to Listen carefully because I want questions. It's the first time that the Brattle Report is being presented in St. Lucia at least to the public and so this report gives us the opportunity to see the amounts and the valuations that have been placed on our labor and on our lives and I go into the presentation by trying to find out Whether you think that the valuation that has been given is a good one. So I want your assessment because we want Governments to discuss this report. It will be a report that That will be presented to them and we want them to be able to come back to us and tell us about it. So I thought I would start the presentation By saying to you that reparations is not a new theme for us or a new pursuit for us People are always saying to me because I am really an ardent activist in this area Why all of a sudden you all are talking about reparations? Why don't we leave this behind? Why are we trying to to rewrite history? Why are we trying to raise history? It's in our past. Let's forget about it But I want you to see that it is not in our past that it is in our present And if we do not work on it now, it will mean our future. And so I want to tackle reparations and repair from that perspective Moreover, I want to focus some attention on women Why do I want to that? I will go into a lot of depth as to why I want and I'm advocating for reparations for women But I'm doing it because I think there has been an undervaluing of women enslaved women women in colonialism and women currently that has caused Even for me within such a prestigious report It has caused a certain amount of angst because We are so undervalued that if we do not speak out as women of African descent The whole undervaluing of what is owed to us will take place Because if you undervalue what is owed to women what is owed to the whole reparations movement is undervalued And so I want to take that perspective. I Start with this quotation from A former enslaved person who had escaped and not escaped but left because of the civil war in the United States and the plan To wanted him to come back To the plantation and he writes to the plan to seeing look Where I am now I am earning money so if After serving you for so many years 32 years and his wife for a certain number of years 20 years If you can offer me what you owe me now and he gives the amount So so we start to see amounts very early in the reparations movement People talking about giving me back my pension given me a pension for the years. I served you on the plantation give me What you owe me for years of free labor and they are naming amounts We start to see a naming of amounts very early even during enslavement You start to see people asking for what is owed to them. So this is nothing new for us What is interesting to me in that little quotation is the fact that he's asking for less you see the less for what his wife is is owed You see the amount he's asking for compared to what he's asking for for himself And I will go into that in more depth as we go along And so I look at some of the valuations on the transatlantic chattel slavery To date so what people have asked for I give you an overview on the Brattle report So you will understand better this report that has been developed for the Caribbean I look at specifics related to women in that report And I asked the question which I try to answer also within the text is this valuation adequate and I give you some conclusions and so for the Transatlantic slavery valuations We see a number of them during enslavement And I think the first really recorded on people have asked for them verbally But people didn't go to court when people started to go to court they started to record them and the first one we have is in 1782 when Belinda Royale asked for her 50 years of pension from the plantation owner We move on to Cali house in 1890 who asked for 68 million the same amount that was paid to the to the the soldiers Who fought in the Civil War? She asks for that and then we see Marcus Garvey later on in the 1920s asking for one billion for African Americans So you start to see a different you see it from a personal perspective you see it from From groups you start to see it from regions. So you see African Americans on the Marcus Garvey And there are a number of valuations that have been done that I found between 2004 and up to about 2020 and Most of these valuations focus on the United States They focus on the United States, but you can see the range I show them to you because I wanted to show you to see the range people are asking for you know and at this stage in the In this decade and this century people in the 21st century people are asking for trillions And it has reached as high as five point nine trillion dollars in one case and in the case of the last one in 2020 the cost of colonialism Hickel asks for 30 trillion for the entire period including colonialism The indigenous people also have a report before the UN that they presented in 2018 which calls for five trillion so we can see that there's a range But people have been trying to value this and it's not an easy thing to do But it certainly is something that we in the Caribbean needed to do even in St. Lucia we had started since the 1890s asking for reparation and we have the quotation from the Royal Commission by by John Quinlan of St. Lucia who goes before the The Commission and says These peasants are descendants of the slaves that were emancipated 50 years ago And he's he was speaking to a Commission that had been sent down to look at the economic conditions in the Caribbean And they came to St. Lucia and things were so desperate that the Commission had to receive Petitions from the public and this is what Mr. Quinlan said he says the British government knows perfectly well that they referring to the Previous landslayer people are entitled to just as much consideration as their masters received 50 years ago of the millions Judy these slaves throughout the West Indies we in St. Lucia are entitled to many Hundreds thousands make your immense British here while your chest is overflowing I don't know the British will tell you now that their chest is overflowing But when they had chest was overflowing they didn't give it to us then either but I'm showing you that we always Put forward a case for reparations. It's nothing new So we come now to the Brattle report The Brattle report was prepared for the University of the West Indies and the American Society of international law second symposium on reparations on the international law So we are we have been talking a lot for the last 13 10 years, but more than that But we want to make a legal case and you must do the research and put in the work So Brackle the Brackle group decided to put in the work to tell us how much is owed to us. I Have to tell you that the Brackle group at knowledge from the beginning that there was some challenges And so they were only able to look at things that were quantifiable They looked at legal issues for them to be able to see what has been paid in the past And so they can see what is quantifiable and what is Unquantifiable and it's a comprehensive outlook. It looks at the entire region including Latin America the United States, etc and it gives us it goes through a process and in that process it Concludes that the transatlantic chattel slavery was not lawful Because people have a way of telling me but slavery was legal at the time The Brackle group has concluded and we're talking about lawyers economists a whole group of people that Transatlantic slave trade was on lawful Okay, and that's a very good first step for us And so if we would now say that it was illegal then restitution must be the next step Restitution must be the next next step for us to be able to to Mitigate get rid of etc. The the challenges that we face now And if not mitigation then reparations or compensation, which is what they had paid to the the former slave owners And so that report determined that compensation had to be paid by the former slave Holding states for the wrongful act of the transatlantic chattel slavery That's the overview and the Brackle Quantification is historic because for the first time you have an available scientific and well argued quantification of reparations due for the the transatlantic slave trade and for chattel slavery in as I said it was comprehensive in the Caribbean Central America South America and North America. I told you before that Brackle indicated that the report Was divided into two parts because there were some things that were quantifiable and there were some things that they could not quantify and these things that were quantifiable included loss of life and Uncompensated labor loss of liberty personal injury Mental pain and anguish and gender-based violence so we can get reparations for these things But because they cannot quantify the other things then there's a challenge It means from the onset that you don't have a full picture of a Evaluation then because they are so there are some limits so things like intergenerational trauma that we speak about all the time They say it's unquantifiable loss of identity. I mean I can quantify that for them if they want loss of identity Loss of family. How can you not quantify loss of family and things like that? You know when you go to a psychiatrist Because you have been traumatized isn't there some way of quantifying it? I figure there is So they are saying because of that they have been able to come up with two sums that need to be paid by all former slave-holding states And so for the period of enslavement you have 107 trillion U.S. Dollars and for the post enslavement period 22 trillion U.S. Dollars. I Am not too sure that's enough for and it's one of the things I question for systemic racism that continues to oppress people of African descent 22 trillion I know some people are saying wow June, but that's a lot of money. You know How are they going to pay us if it's so much money? Let us Not worry about that yet. It is not our debt to pay So let us talk about What is older? I'm trying to to not preempt you with quest with your questions, but try to to bring some clarity as we go along and The other limitation of the battle Brattle report and I have to say that they tell you these things up front They don't hide anything. It's a very comprehensive report. The report does not address the earnings of plantation owners So what they have earned from the plantation? the it does not It does not address banks a lot of banks supported we know banks like Barclays for example supported the slave trade Insurance companies like Lloyds of London You know and other entities that profited from the transatlantic Chattel slavery and they tell you this is a work in progress. They're still gathering the data So there are the hundred and seven trillion and the 22 trillion might increase Because we might look at these other People differently now with the overview you I Because it's such a big report. I try to just focus on the caracom countries So I pulled that out of the report and so the estimated reparations amounts for caracom Countries for enslavement. You can see these amounts here In billions of US dollars and as well as the the countries that have to pay So for example in the case of Antigua and Barbuda You have a certain amount that Britain has to pay you have some fabelis. I couldn't understand the believes one So so I'm not sure that I can answer a question on it the Virgin Islands the islands that are Called the British Virgin Islands, but don't call them that because that's not the legal name I was just in the Virgin Islands and the Insist that you call them the legal name, which is the Virgin Islands and not the BVI So, please don't call them the BVI Dominica Grenada gets from Britain and France Haiti gets from France and you see the amounts in billions of US dollars and then we come down to St. Lucia. I Have to tell you that when I saw what they put in for St. Lucia. I behave like a St. Lucia. I said What happened to the French For my entire life. I learned seven times a British and seven times French We even make it romantic by singing about it in songs So where are the French in our reparations claims and I have told all on Modern one occasion. I am not letting the French get away So we have to do the work now ourselves to make sure that we put in the Amount that the French owes to us and you can see for all of the countries the amounts that are owed for enslavement and then We go to the amounts that are owed to the caracom countries in the post enslavement period You can see it again in billions of dollars. Barbie. This is 51 billion. The Virgin Islands is 3 billion Mind you. They're still trying to take back the Virgin Islands And right now there's a whole and that's one of the things that we have to recognize when we are doing reparations I Find it harder to talk about reparations when there's still countries that are colonized in the Caribbean and we're talking about post enslavement sums We cannot do reparations without doing decolonization and That is also one of my my pet peeves That they're still colonies in the Caribbean And so you can see what is owed. I don't know why on the Greenator France oh zero in the post enslavement period just because You are no longer an occupier does not In any way say that you are not responsible for what has happened to the people in the post colonial period So you removed yourself because Britain Won a war a European war in the Caribbean and You say to us you say to the people of Grenada Oh, well the French left after the English took over so they are no longer responsible for giving you reparations in the post Enslavement period I do not agree and we can argue that as we go along and The same thing for for the other countries St. Lucia is getting from Britain again Where is France? Seven times British seven times French Up to today I heard somebody saying well, we were fought over 14 times. I don't think it's a romantic thing You know and I have mentioned that in other circles before So these are the figures that wish we could we That have been calculated the devaluations that have been done trillions of dollars owed to the Caribbean for for transatlantic shuttle slavery and for post slavery colonialism There's a critique right at the beginning of the Brattle report by Judge Robinson who sits on the ICJ He's from Jamaica He's on the ICJ and he was able to to write the synopsis and it's in the front of the report where he gives a critique of That report and he said there is an underestimation in the amount of reparations owed And that's also my view as follows. It's a very conservative working method and and and the challenge for further Brattle group is that The numbers are not always there for you to make the estimation But we know how many people Came out of Africa we know by now on the of the underdevelopment of Africa because of the removal of key able-bodied women and men Because they didn't go to Africa to take all people they took people who were in their productive years and Reproductive years to be able to bring to the Caribbean to work so There is an assumption that one person was born that One person was born into slavery you take it for every person that you brought one person was bought was born into slavery I don't know that is true Because as we start to look at the issue of women you will see that Young women 10 to 13 were being raped on the plantation and having children So if you have your first child when you tend don't tell me that it's only one We're talking about because by the time you reach 40 The number of times you would have had children Okay, maybe only in enslavement. There was not an emphasis on Reproduction, but once the slave trade ended in 1807 We had to reproduce the slaves or the enslaved He also says there's very it's very conservative It was very conservative in fixing the interest rate The interest rate because of quite apart from the amount they calculated They also put in an interest rate and the interest rate is at 2.5 percent He's saying that is very conservative because already they were saying 3 percent was very low And they went as low as 2.5 percent So he's asking you know for us to to review that because it underestimates the total reparations Due and he also says that the harm inflicted on the enslave are not fully captured By the five quantifying areas remember I showed you before loss of life and all of these issues Gender-based violence and so he's saying that these five issues do not capture all the harm that was done to the enslaved people He's also saying that they use something called wealth parity disparity to look at the So they look at for example, what is the wealth of Britain as opposed to the wealth of St. Lucia They look at what is the wealth of white people as opposed to the wealth of black people in the United States And he's saying that what the method they use is also very conservative Because it is not just For me is the welfare is not just about the amount of money you have in the bank But what you are able to do. I'm not an economist, but how your $1 multiplies is very important So so there's an underestimation there he also says that in the post slavery period the The harm scores are also Underestimated and he but he he concludes however that nevertheless This report is a good a Good document or a good negotiating tool For governments because never before have they had that kind of scientific work done So governments now have to take the next step to negotiate with the offending country With regard to reparations and whether or not reparations will be paid, but he wants us also That What it what it does is to just tell the victim states that reparation the reparations to which they are entitled Onto in under international law but it is and it's a good instrument for that but The descendants all because the descendants of the Enslave were just grouping in the dark before we always talked about reparations without knowing how much you know Etc for what we wanted the reparations But this gives us a good basis Now While I was reading the report I had to put in some preliminary conclusions because I didn't want to wait till the end for me to tell you I conclude ABC dear and I'm saying that part of the challenge for this report is There is not enough comprehensive research on the histories of these countries So we see a lot of research for example on Jamaica a lot of research on Barbados a lot of research on these Sugar bigger sugar plantations, but there is not enough research for example on Sinclucia You know the instability that happened in this country with the centuries of European Wars over Sinclucia The impact that it had on enslaved people. How are we going to not quantify these things? Simply because we have not taken the time to do the research and there is research There's a certain amount of research on Sinclucia But not enough for us to be able to be in the realm of countries like Barbados and Jamaica, etc So we have work to do and I was hoping that at least one government official would be there for me to tell them We have work to do you know And for me another issue has to do with European collaboration So we are we are identifying individual countries to give reparations So let's see. Let's see for Haiti. We are seeing France But what happened to the collaborators What happened with those? Colonial governments that got together to destroy Haiti Why are we only asking France? It was the first time you saw Europeans come together in a European Union against Haiti France Spain Britain and later on the United States To destroy Haiti and to put down what was supposed to be the first black Republic in the region and in the world What happened to collaborators? What happened to collaborators like the Dutch? Who were at the heart of the slave trade and therefore had a foot print in every single one of our countries What happened to them? Why are we not asking people in solution not asking for reparations from the Dutch because the British were the last colonizers What happened to collaborators? So that's one of my conclusions. We have to look at these collaborators No legal term we still designate these countries overseas territories That's not a legal term and so that goes back to my point on colonialism and the proper language for these things and He also says Finally that each destination must prepare a substantive negotiating brief to supplement the gaps And they are gaps in the report and they acknowledge as I said the gaps And so we have to work the National Reparations Committee has to try and fill in some of these gaps that the Brattle report Has now since since the emphasis was on Quantifiable the emphasis on enslaved women in the Brattle report is primarily addressed under the section entitled gender-based violence It starts with the acknowledgement that sexual assault and forced pregnancy Was widely experienced by enslaved women and documented by the slavers They are they are journals. They are Diaries from the planters on the number of rips that they committed It's there for us to see The report estimated that the number of women who were sexually abused during enslavement You see that 1,000,000 208,925 I'm still saying that's an under estimation It estimated from available Databases that 35% of those enslaved were women. I am still seeing that's an under estimation Because after and I will show you some some some figures as we go along that And they said for the sake of consistency this 35% was applied through forgot to the middle passage as well as those who were born into slavery and They but they acknowledge that that number may be low and it used age 10 as a conservative Estimate of the age of the first non-consensual sexual encounter so it could have happened before All right, so One of the things I have not pointed out and you may have noticed at the bottom of my Or each of my slides or almost all of my slides I have the name of a woman who worked on a plantation somewhere in the Caribbean most of them are from Sinclucia But I put the names always when I do reparations lectures because you must never be afraid to say the names These are the people that I am speaking about as I go along These are the names of these women who were raped sometimes for 40 something years Okay, so so also pay attention to the names at the bottom of the slides as we go along and The report says that given the prevalence of sexual abuse and the near constant threat enslaved women faced in having their sexual autonomy revoked or abuse We believe that it is reasonable to assume a hundred percent of enslaved women Over the age of 10 face sexual abuse Every single enslaved woman and he's done so there is a figure that really Caught my attention in the report 51 million 339,000 836 years of gender-based violence experienced by disembarked enslaved women If you take that number and you divide it by life expectancy You will see that these women will rate for almost 40 years from age 10 51 million Reaps in the Caribbean So you think I'm you think that I am grouping when I ask for reparations for women of African descent. No These are the numbers that I have that you you are dealing with and so he's there the report says that the for lifetime gender-based violence damages for enslaved women brought to the Americas you have Billions you have it in billions. I myself think that it's trillions Not if you tell me because you're undervaluing if you're telling me that they have 53 million reaps In the in the in the period of the 400 years of enslavement It means you undervalued if you give me these numbers for gender-based violence But they are going with regard to the what is obtained now in quotes with regard to gender-based violence I still think that gender-based violence in the Caribbean is Underestimated and undervalued women ought to be paid more for this kind of abuse So I'm making non-historical statements there But I am telling you that it is based on what I have seen in the in the report and in history Is the valuation adequate has this report gone fine enough? If it has not taken the time to note that Chattel Was not a gender-neutral term Remember I told you that this is what chattel slavery Chattel is not a gender-neutral term. We're talking about both men and women And that if men would in if men were denied their humanity Black women were considered even less and we are still considered even less firstly Whether we are we are underestimating the cost of the payment due Because we are undervaluing the contributions of women So under the the those that they assist are we also undervaluing? Because we are undervaluing the contributions of women So if my if you have a man on the plantation, I was about to see my husband though. That's out if you have a man on the plantation and you In the post-slavery period and you paying him Five shillings you would pay the woman for the same amount of two shillings Okay, so you have a wage disparity even if she might be doing more than him You know, there's also a challenge because of the numbers issue and I'll get to that I Think are we restricted by colonial myths about the nature and character of women of African descent? And it's our misunderstanding limiting the expansion of our democracy and the equality of women in the Caribbean So we don't work as hard So you underestimate us you don't pay us what we are owed So you and you entrench the inequality that started during enslavement You know when you know those of you who had mothers who worked in the house Your mothers would your mother would go out to work in the in the in the garden come back and cook the food wash the clothes Etc. Etc. What are we estimating if we do not take all these things into consideration? There's the quantification of loss of life and uncompensated labor fully explore the labor and the labor of enslave women and its impact on continued systemic racism on the offspring of women of African descent I think by undervaluing Women of African descent and women enslaved women. You are also undervaluing their children and That accounts for the continued racism Because I have said in other places it is only an enslaved woman who could reproduce an enslaved person think about it if an enslaved man had a child with a white woman and that happened very often Was not one asleep If a white man had a child with a white woman Child was not a bonus leave If a white man had a child with a black woman Bonus leave if a black man had a child with a black woman bonus leave So are we undervalued by undervaluing women are we also undervaluing the children? Serious question As I said the grouping called enslaved was not a generic grouping Let us differentiate enslaved women whose experience was specific to them and not just insert them into a Conversation as if they were bystanders bystanders and not participants. We will not participate We were not just standing by And and and I argued that in other places that I do not want us to just look at things through a gender lens I want us to look at in more detail the experiences of of enslaved women Don't just say let us do this for a gender lens Because it might be just to appease me because I say it must be done No, let us be serious about thing and look at these things and look at the experiences of of enslaved women Is the valuation Adequate lack of recognition of Devaluing of our work. Let us start with the numbers Is it only about numbers? So just because you have ten men and You have one woman Why are you undervaluing her work just because of numbers is she doing less than the man when she's working? I think that you know, it reminds me all the time when I was growing up and I did mathematics If it takes ten men to dig a hole in four days How long will it take to dig the hole? I would say to myself just bring in two women And the work would get done. You wouldn't pay them all that money So I'm saying that numbers are not the only thing But the quality of the work that you did and the value of the work that you did it and I'm saying also that there's a misconception because by emancipation and the bridge themselves wrote it that that and other people wrote it for example, Rhoda Reddock wrote it that women Worked more in the fields and were equal on the things like the whip So why wouldn't we equal with when pay came along? We were equal when they were beating us You know and we also see that in places like St. Vincent that in the post emancipation period That women made up the majority of the feed laborers and then and and and beckles also Explosed that in Barbados that Barbados is the only slave society that reproduced itself because women were having children So that means there were more women of more and more women So why are we underestimating the numbers of women and in St. Lucia for example because I always look for the same Lucian bits as I do these things Father Jess wrote that During the during the wars between one of the last wars between the British and the French Yes, there were 400 men fit to bear arms, but there were maybe four times that number of women So we were also on the front line not only in the plantations. We were also fighting We were in the maroon societies You know, we were the ones who who kept these maroon societies alive We cook the food we plant the food because the men would go out to fight We look after the children etc in the maroon societies and we maintain these settlements and Also when it came down to emancipation and this they started to divide us into pre deal and non-pre deal workers Workers who worked in the field and all women more were more likely to be brought into the group where they would have to work two more years on the plantations So all of these things we have to consider when we are doing that the valuation We'd also worked not only in the fields, but also in the houses in the nurseries in the hospitals There's a lady on one of these and her surname is Lopitala because she was a nurse in the hospital and They sometimes would call them by the by their profession. They certainly would be their profession So whatever her name is Lopitala was a nurse So we know that there were a variety of jobs even if they kept us from the most jobs considered more skilled And to a large extent this undervaluing I believe is because of patriarchy Black women who are not seen have only been seen as physical beings not thinking beings That assignment was left for white women and so you can understand why when you look at the corporate ladders White women are going up and all black women are staying at a certain level Because we are not the thinking people because of our race and our gender and And patriarchy to a large extent has assisted in the devaluation of women and patriarchy was learned from white men Black men behave the way they behave because patriarchy was learned from the colonialists and We have to recognize that is the valuation adequate. I'm asking why again Why am I asking that because of the lack of specificity of women? Women in the text are usually Examined alongside men Or alongside white women women of African descent don't have their own identity within the text and that is part of the devaluation And so there are a number and I have to give credit to a number of Intellectuals who are going below that veil to look at women and what they're doing or what the Experience during enslavement, but it's still not enough. We have more to do. I'm asking why again because of the continued Discounting of childbearing during enslavement say oh It wasn't important to bear a child because they could replenish from Africa But after 1807 it was important It was important to the point where they use some of these people that were born into enslavement to to colonize other countries to set up plantations in other countries like the late Colonies like Trinidad and Tobago Guyana and so on So it was important There's also the myth that women of African descent have a higher pain threshold It has been written that because we have masculinized bodies that we can withstand pain and So they did a lot of experiments That data has to be there for you to understand what has been done to women with regard to their health It has to be there. So we have to find it For us to be able to see how the slave owners Collaborated with medical posts and it's written. It's actually written in medical books to the point where even today When black women go into her babies, they don't want to give them anesthetics because you can bear the pain. Why are you bawling? You know, these are things that we have to get rid of So I'm saying surely this evidence is there and that we need to be able to look at it apart Apart from being just loss of labor So it's dealt with in the takes as loss of labor. So you are having a baby. So that's the loss of labor No, there are other things attached to it And I'm telling you this because even up to to 2023 the report all published by the UN on maternal health of women and girls and African descent of African descent in the Americas says Afro-descendant women and girls in the Americas are disadvantaged before during and after pregnancy Afro-descendant maternal deaths in particular are alarmingly high in both absolute terms and one come on once compared to other groups non-African descendant groups structural racism and sexism are evident in maternal health disparities that exist across income levels and national and regional borders Racism and discrimination by medical Providers increase the likelihood that women and girls of African descent will experience mistreatment in maternity care So we're not simply talking about what happened in the past We are talking about how the past has affected our present and that is important when you look at reparations Moreover, I think that's the enslavement destroyed the image of African these people of African descent, especially women and has entrenched patriarchal constructions of a woman's body that perpetuate ridicule of the black female body and defines what is beautiful You know that you know you were growing up and you will hear things like You are very pretty because of the color of your skin. I can tell you all of them You have good hair. I prefer Shabin You know all of the colorism things that we take for granted. We don't realize where we have learned them and how they continue to affect us so Black women are not supposed to be beautiful you know and I think that has perpetuated the gender-based violence against women Because there is this and the rape of black women Because we are supposed to be hyper sexualized and so it is you know, it's not anything to to to treat us and abusers in that manner and That has resulted in a lot of self-heat And so you see a lot of the things that people criticize now Whether women have weaves or how much makeup they wear etc. Black women that is only because black women are managing a marginalized identity You have always been told that the person in the long hair was the pretty one You understand why they bleaching because it is the first skin women who attract men Not the dark skinned women So you have to manage this Identity that has been marginalized over centuries because people have always told you that black women and not this are not desirable Very important So is the valuation adequate? The battle report ensures that it listed its limitations from the beginning and that there's some things that are not quantifiable I accept that Some figures within the report are quantifiable, but I think are too conservative I think that there are gaps in the research and the research needs to continue And you know why I think that research has to continue I think it's because there's a systematic approach of dehumanizing African women which started in the 17th century and which set the tone for the continued devaluation of women of African descent to this day I wrote that in an article that I presented will have asked me to present something and I entitled it stiff backspins the militancy defiance and plain speaking of enslaved women in St. Glacier in 2007 and That devaluation continues today. I Hope that after this lecture you become more aware of these things as you go through Your daily life in St. Glacier. I Also think that by locating women of African descent in the reparations dialogue We give them back their humanity by talking about the five the 50 million rapes I think that you have that feeling that we're talking about human beings that spent 40 years on the unabusive situation We have to give them back their humanity and if we give them back their humanity We give back humanity to all people of African descent because it is our undervaluing of Black women that has caused the undervaluing of the black race. We need to focus attention on the unquantifiable The report has many unquantifiable things I think that we need to focus our attention on making sure that we can quantify those things that are unquantifiable for us to understand the impact and Finally, I want to say to you that reparations concerns both our past and our present And that comes from the report of the special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism racial discriminations xenophobia and racial intolerance There are many Wrongful acts that have been committed against individuals reparations for slavery and colonialism Implicates entire legal economic social and political structures that enable that enables slavery and colonialism And which continue to sustain racial discrimination and inequality even today Thank you Thank you honorable ambassador dr. Suma for this comprehensive brief analysis of the Brattle report its history its historicity and and putting into Context the Undervaluation under appreciation and therefore the insufficiency of the assessment of Women The assess under assessment of all aspects That would lead to an ultimate amount That we would be looking before as she pointed out the report Starts with an admission that it is insufficient, but quite apart from that it looks at an amount during slavery and An amount for slavery, but as dr. Suma has pointed out We also have to Look at the call for reparations from the standpoint that reparations Cannot be complete without decolonization so it is a very comprehensive assessment and dr. Suma has thrown out with some important challenges to us and To the authors of the Brattle report that not withstanding their admission of insufficiency There is still much work to be done research to be continued and therefore This is what we are looking for by way of the launch as of this evening of The first in our series of consultations on reparations we are monitoring the chat online and We are also prepared to take your questions in-house It doesn't of course only have to be questions. You can share your observations and Make the Contributions that we look forward to whatever they may be because every contribution adds to the discussion and Every discussion adds to the debate. So the floor is open the lines are open and Let's Get going. Let's first of all, let's start with Monsignor dr. Patrick Anthony Few things who initiated this battle report was origin of it and secondly what international institution Would that reports have to be taken to To give its because a legal document What institution would give it? legitimacy or It can be taken to a further resort. So look this we are looking for Restitution, so what institution would be with will guarantee that Thank you We've regarded the first question it was a series two symposiums I think that were held and in the call the the symposium on reparations on the international law organized by the University of the West Indies Yes, we and the associate the American Society of International Law so in Going through this symposial they prepared this report for consideration This report has been presented at the Karakum reparations Commission meeting Not in its entirety judge Robinson did come forward and present the the The synopsis at the front of the report to us This report We can recommend from the CRC that it goes to the governments for consideration Because really and truly as I said in the presentation Judge Robinson recommends it as a negotiating brief for the governments So so in the end governments have to know about it and to do that I myself think that the Brattle report ought to be discussed as a public document Reparations is not simply about what we are doing. We are not the only movement The governments have agreed that this is the Karakum reparations movement, but it's not a government thing It belongs to the people and so I think that we ought to discuss it And I'm hoping that it will take it to the communities as he as we do our Reparations consultations so that people will understand what we are talking about Look at the context of the report as I tried to present if we got to just women but we can do it in really in relation to enslavement on a whole and also We need to talk about Reparations in a much deeper sense reparations with regard to What would happen With if we receive funds You know some countries I was looking at the reparations report from California and individuals are actually because California was not a slave owning state and Maybe about 4,000 enslaved people were taken to California and so you can trace their descendants and So they are giving individual checks and their other communities Counties in the United States that have started doing that Even individual but we have to decide the form because all of us are descendants How will we what is the form that reparations will take? one of the questions I also get with regard to that is About Governments and what they're going to do with the money Everybody's always afraid that governments will take the money. We haven't reached that stage yet with regard to the forms Etc. But I think that alongside the money discussion We must talk about these Unquantifiable things that the Brattle report pointed to the trauma. How do we do the self-repair? What do we put in place? You know, I think that we have to do the two things together Otherwise, I will continue to get the question Why we blame in the black the white man? I get that question all the time for our situation Can blame the white man and you can point at him because he's responsible. It's like a rapist You have to name your rapist You have to point your finger at them and you have to see this is what you did while at the same time you pursue other psychological You know and other assistants that will make you a full person again But you you can do the two things simultaneously Just follow up. I don't know about Edward. So we are looking at carry calm carry calm Sort of confronting say the European Union But would it be involved with like the International Court of Justice summoning that because the legal document we have right So the battle have yet at what level that's a lot like that. I have Since I'm not a legal person I can only tell you my feeling I have to Have two feelings. I'm still trying to weigh them because as a member of the prominent forum for people of African descent the Consultations we have had with people on the ground People have asked for us to take it to the ICJ But you have to develop the case I don't think that we are the point where we can take anything to the ICJ yet But I think at some point we have to get some Legal body to say yes, you need to pay reparations still no guarantee that people will pay reparations You know, but I think you need to take it into the legal sphere And I have to tell you that a lot is being done in that regard last year I attended a Study tour from a group of jurists from Africa that came down to the Caribbean And we met in Barbados to talk about reparations and what we were looking for so we're looking to build a case this year the jurists are meeting in Africa and they bring in Caribbean jurists to that meeting for them to discuss So the steps are being taken to build a case before we can go to the ICJ now So I'm happy about that I'm conflicted because the ICJ is still a colonial court That's my conflict. It was set up at the end of the second world war It wasn't set up to serve us In fact, the only people that have gone before the ICJ are black people People of African descent to all the horrors that you see You know, it's only African leaders and all military people who have been taken to the ICJ It's like it's been a whip on our back. So I'm conflicted Sometimes So then we have to ask ourselves then if we take it to the ICJ and the ICJ say no Maybe because of the duration you are not entitled to Reparations what is our next step? So we have to plan all of these things So I don't think we're ready to go to an international court yet But we are making our case power. We are moving and we are moving and things are happening One of the greatest things that happened last year. I attended the first African Reparations conference in Ghana. So Africa has always been very silent Because it's always thrown at Africa that you will complicit So Africa has always been cut, but they have done the research and they understand why Africa Was forced into selling its people. The case is there. So Africa now is asking for reparations I think that is a good thing. We are making progress You have a question. I saw your hand go up Yes, Master Lyme Good evening doctors Master Suma and colleague Earl Mosinian and members here I want to make kind of a statement and then come to about three questions One I have been following The reparations committee for quite a number of years. I've sat on a few committees with you and Earl and I Was confronted by a group that I challenged as to why they don't believe That it's necessary to pursue reparations So listen, well, I would sit at university campuses I would speak to them speaking about Caribbean students that have spoken to Caribbean people's illusions here when I get into discourse and discussions about reparations religious groups and One commonality that came out from amongst them was that Why don't we leave this thing alone? I'm sure you've heard this before it's done. It's over. It's past and They were because of my deep spiritual convictions. I was More or less challenged by the religious groups to say that Where is your spirit of forgiveness and this is gone the people of the day now they are not responsible It was done by their forefathers You are not responsible for who you are today, but you can live with and I'm I can I can roll the Comment from my head because they bone inside of me that you are You are who you are now so get used to it get comfortable with it. You are You people who are so much in this reparations thing you are Actually, this came from some British Caribbean people you are actually promoting Anger division you're promoting racism Rage between the races because those white people today are not responsible for what happened So are you going to tell me the argument was even made Would you say to me that if my father Bunch your house Must I pay? you I See of course if you have the money and in fact I want your house But they considered me to be too militant because all my life. I have always Been against what I considered the bastardization of my education Because what I was taught the history that I was taught at primary school growing up and what I Subsequently learned when I became exposed and especially hanging out of Ghanaians and Understanding the history that was written by the white man to be taught to me in a Caribbean school and what I knew made me so Interested in reparations and followed it because I knew it was wrong And I find it so interesting and want to learn more and more and I do not believe that you're We are or you are Promoting division. I do not believe that They should not pay because I understand clearly and I say probably because I'm involved with you or probably because I'm always around you I listen I discuss I ask questions. What is wrong then? Is it that your outreach? and your education is Limited that it's not involved enough because even like looking at here. They're not here You know, I see a lot of young people. They don't want to hear about reparations They can't be bothered if the money come. Yes, they'll take it and they only think of money Whereas I have seen in that last this you remember that Big thing we had where it was broken down that it was not just all about money They're not interested in learning are our young people being targeted to understand Are we reaching out to them because I am really tired of watching young people and Even old people looking at me and tell me leave that alone I am tired of going around and meeting that's poor people think that we want to Interfer with the white people at the day now that has done nothing to us and We were trying to make peace with us with black people and we are interfering with them And we forgetting is the black man is a white man that asked for Especially the British they like to say that that asked that asked for emancipation, you know, so Honestly, I have found myself very upset angry challenge, especially with the religious sect Who think that reparations is really an evil? so how Are you guys? Challenging that how is your outreach to our young people? How is it that our people cannot become so involved so interested to captivated to come and Lend the voices and understand what you're doing. That's my Question, thank you. Thank you the fight for reparations is not for the weary It's not for the weary because it will take a long time to undo The education the what did you call it the bastardized education system that you you know went through It will take a long time to do it But I can tell you that all hope is not lost Because young people are coming on board with regard to reparations Maybe they not hit tonight because all of them online All of them wanted the link So we had to Leslie had to send them the link So maybe they are listening online, but even if they are not The national reparations committee and all can speak to that better than me has Undertaken education programs with young people and the national youth council actually sits on the reparations committee So we are engaged in if young people It is not an easy thing to engage with young people now on any subject far less reparations It's a very difficult thing and so we have to find the Communication means to do it and I have to say that the reparations the national reparations committee Does it's work and has done its work for the last ten years? because of our commitment We don't get any funding to do it We do it because of our commitment to the movement and we understand why we must do it You came after I'm addressed the question about Why are we blaming the white people? I Delta that but I have to tell you that We need to put the blame where it's supposed to be Yes We think that You know the counter to what you said about blaming the white man they say but we independent And look what we have done. Well, we just celebrated 45 years of independence in solution. What have we done for the people? You understand what happened that independence Independence did not mean Because I never speak to the issue of post-colonialism There's no such thing colonialism exists today in the Caribbean There's nothing called post-colonialism. So in our post independence period We have had to put in place for the last 45 years using our own resources to develop our people either by taking loans at exorbitant Interest rates because black people pay more interest at the IMF than white people or We have had to Look for Partnerships with governments that are willing to assist us because you know when we became independent When St. Lucia became independent we had one school for girls one school for boys We had one hospital that was underfunded We have had to develop our own infrastructure. I want all of us in every country to develop an inventory with regard to what The former colonial power has done for you and what you have done for yourselves and Tell me That you have done nothing for the development of this country over the last 45 years When independence when we went to seek our independence the first country that went was Jamaica and The colonial secretary route to the colonial government and said Give them they want independence don't give them any resources our independence was not supposed to succeed They were giving us nothing Absolutely nothing After they had left us in such a depressed state after the 1930s rights We were to rebellious. How dare us ask for independence? They were going to give us nothing People don't understand the way in which the compensation money that the that the planters received How it has built generational wealth that has put white people in the place that they are today We have not been able to build generational wealth In fact, we have intergenerational poverty in the Caribbean What I don't know how better to explain it to them. I Used it the the analogy of the rapist earlier That you must confront your rapist they came extraction That took place during enslavement and colonialism as a form of rape He raped the country They took away all the resources They ripped the women the 50 something million years of rape Women that were it for five days for five hundred years, etc How are you going to explain it if people are not interested in hearing it? I leave that to all Because all is going to go down in the communities and his best real He's going to try to explain reparations. He's bringing power with him To explain what reparations is about with regard to the church. It is not All the churches it is not every church pipe. I would just give a lecture down there in the seminary in Trinidad About the responsibility that church must take for the development and what is happening How the church has to be part of community the church has to be part of the reparations movement That church must become a part of the reparations movement so I Can let him answer that but I am telling you that it is very important for us to You know to these things and have the conversations and not be tired. I am not tired. I Am not tired. This is not for the weary. Thanks We have a question from line All right Yes, folks will share some online comments and we have a Comment from bongo wisely a member of the national reparations Commission He's also the chair of the Caribbean Rastafari organization and in his first comment. He says we need to Reactivate the maroon come Community in Ionola, St. Lucia who so we can exercise our sovereignty as African descendants and in his second post he says And I quote what about internal reparations the self healing aspects. We are still Traumatized from the effects of colonization Organization Another comment in our chat is from we've received congratulations from the Bonnet human rights organization and of course when I Saw we got that message from Bonnet. I remembered Ambassador sum up always repeating that there is no pride in Us boasting about for being 14 times 14 And being sometimes French and sometimes British these sort of poetic and thematic Niceties and flowery descriptions tend to catch us in the case of the Dutch colonies you have in the Caribbean the ABC Islands Aruba, Bonnet and Kerosu and you have the triple S's Sabre sent to stations and St. Martin But nonetheless, they are six colonies six Dutch colonies in as much as the so-called overseas French departments Martinique Guadalupe Cayenne This is a part of st. Martin, etc. They are simply colonies on new names and polished names also in response to the Issue of us making the legal case. I agree that the Battle report helps us to set the stage for the legal case I also agree that we are not yet at the stage where we could make that legal case at the International Court of Justice or the world court, but I would also say that part of the historicity of tonight is that the first indication of the possibility of Carycom taking Europe to court over reparations became a couple months ago when Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr. Ralph Gonzales led a CELAC delegation CELAC being the community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations and he being the post Eastern Caribbean Carycom leader of CELAC temporary in the position of temporary president Was able to achieve something that Carycom had not achieved in 10 years which was an audience with the European Commission in Brussels and That was a summit between Brussels and Carycom Caribbean and Latin American countries and it was during the press conference at that summit that Prime Minister Gonzales indicated that Carycom has in fact being assessing the need to speed up with the preparations put in the case before the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court of course as Dr. Sumer has pointed out not only are we not yet ready because St. Lucia and Grenada and those are the countries that Who suffered under French colonialism and slavery? Have you know have have not yet been assessed in so far as the quantification of the French the French debt The Dutch we've only just heard about the Dutch apology. So all of that is happening and While we continue to discuss the Action continues in so far as Dr. Fletcher's Ambassador Fletcher's question about the Different reactions from Elderly and younger persons as well as similar reactions where they may be seen You know, let's let's forget it. It's all history the experience of the National Reparations Committee and we always repeat that was that when we launched our lecture series after our inception in 2013 we had two Responses when we went to the communities two distinct responses from youth and elderly persons the youth The elderly persons who would be asking you think we will get that money before we die You think I'll see that money before I die. It was always about the money issue Will we get it particularly from the standpoint of Which I think has been misinterpreted about collecting our grandfather happy on the last Friday of every month But the young people Whether at St. Mary's College the convent or the comprehensive schools That we went to around the island To a person the young persons would say to us But how come does not in our books? How come we never learned that let us have the links? How can we get the books? Where can we get the movies? We won't even yet into WhatsApp and all of that which is which makes it much easier now but I think that distinct difference continues to exist and What we need to do like Ambassador Sumer said is to take all of it as a bouillon You know, these are all ingredients of the bouillon that we call reparations and We have to you see the even the questions that surprise us as genuine questions and In as much as we might not have expected them to have been delivered in that way or in that form They are genuine questions and we look forward to Many more of those types of genuine questions coming out of this consultation Not only because like I said, we're talking about money and people will want to know like ambassador said Whether the money is going to go in the Treasury for the government of the day to use or whether it is going to go in the hands of a Neutral body with a long-term mandate of guarantee non-interference By administrations to work extent we might want to ask was the battle report Did it take into consideration so after Lewis's? formula for assessment of reparations as in his first book in 1939 Which which has been adopted as the blueprint for reparations and on the post of August 2020 the Caribbean community adopted The is Arthur Lewis formula as one to follow So we may want to find out as part of the discussions to what extent sir Arthur's Formula was considered by the authors of the Brattle report in coming to a Conclusion this is not to suggest that they ignored But it would be good to know to what extent So Arthur's formula 82 years ago More than that apply or would apply today because it was not based on Just the values of the day But it is a document labor in the West Indies 1939 by W Arthur Lewis What it indicates is that this is a formula that can be applied, you know You know in Time immemorial because it is not based on the dates and times but based on a formula Are there any other questions or do we have any other comments online? Oh, yes We have another question. Can you give her the mic? Oh, yes. Sorry. Go ahead. I need to sit I lost the point I was going to make All right What we historically we have not been teaching history So that a lot of young people are growing up not knowing the history of the Caribbean and We need to consider What is in the mind space of our Caribbean young people is there space to consider all those things that you're talking about That they have never learned and they're hearing for the first time I'm coming to the point of whether you need to be in the schools to Do something about the teaching of history and Making people familiar with those historical circumstances So that the main mind space of the Caribbean child Will hold some of those things and therefore have a different kind of response to what you're trying I Learned history when I was at school I learned history, but I never learned our history and That is that was that's a challenge It was until I went to university That I really started to learn my own history I Learned the same thing that Joyce Lynn learned That it was the white people who freed us. I didn't learn that we had attacked The enslavement system so much that they were forced to give us Freedom otherwise we would take it like I didn't learn about The black abolitionists in England who were involved in writing the Emancipation Act I Didn't learn about Maroon societies where free African people lived in but We had it in a different form in Saint Lucia the neg mawan So anytime you behave badly, they would call you a neg mawan because we learned that the people who Rebelled or the people who tried to take their freedom the freedom fighters a rebellious person or person trying to get his freedom Was supposed to be a freedom fighter We felt sorry when the enslaved rebelled and Bought the house of the planter Look at what they did to the white people You understand that is the colonial mindset That was entrenched within the history that I learned So maybe we need to start afresh. I have heard on many different occasions Politicians speak to the fact that we need to teach history in school At this stage. I'm tired because you can do it Tomorrow if you want to it's there the information is there You have to put it into a curriculum Who is going to do it? You know, maybe people who have never learned history and don't understand what they should be teaching in the school We need to do it properly We need to do it properly the national reparations Committee has gone into the school to speak to the issue of reparations as will said we have one It's covered interrupted, but even then we did we did Consultations online with not only young people in St. Lucia, but in the region online so we have had education programs and But it's not enough It's not enough You know it has to be we have to take a more strategic and Sustainable approach to doing it So people like me will will call me all the time to assist But it is a small committee We want all of you all one of the reasons why I do these lectures is because I want more women on board of this Reparations thing, you know, I think if we meant to control of it that we would it would be more widespread We'd speak about it in our homes amongst our families Etc. Etc. I think that The reparations woman has not attracted women the way it should and more women and that's why I do so many Reparations lectures about women and women enslaved women Not that I am discounting at all enslavement I Just wanted to be a fuller picture. I want the specificity of women in the history So I don't want history to be taught in any haphazard way in our schools and I Am here. I'm willing. I am evil Any other questions? Yes, the voice of the Rastaman Yes, Rastaman. Yes We've been at the focal point of reparations And I want to see the world to know they should not They shouldn't at all disregard our contribution to the world at large as the Rastafari community Because we were in the forefront of reparations and crying for reparations from the one from existence We cried. We cried. We cried. We cried. We cried. We cried. We cried. We cried. We cried but finally Our cries were heard And all over the world we're hearing about reparations reparations reparations And I'm happy to be here today To witness the lunch and this lecture the battle report It's very interesting It has a lot to offer But at the end of all We have to do it together Because we've been crying all the time and people now respecting our voice and the united nations is saying Do not underestimate the contribution of the Rastaman And I'm saying today The reason why the group is not in chaos or topsy-coby today is because of our contribution And we will not stop there. We will support every aspect of reparations Even reparative justice in house Yes, because we accepted the brunt Of what we call reparations I'm happy to be on board with the Rastafari community on behalf of the Archaeological and Historical Society Which came into existence in 1954 I'm happy when people talk about His local history in schools. It's time. It's overdue As a general secretary for the Saint Lucia Archaeological and Historical Society I spoke with the prime minister when we had The only emancipation activity in Saint Lucia in 2021 At the annex community taking the prime minister He visited the exhibition And we said to him we need To be focused. We need to have Our history is taught in the schools We're still sure We went through it. We're beginning to work on it already and our society is working towards that goal because Without our history without where we're from and where we're heading to we are always doomed to fail And that's what it leads to So I can assure the Saint Lucia that they've mentioned history in schools. Yes Because we cannot be teaching the foreign history Not our history When it comes to our indigenous Rights as individuals and as communities Yes, it's very important because The moon won't play a major role as indigenous people We should work towards Establishment of our marine communities in Saint Lucia. Yes and beyond And I'm saying to the globe That we are alive and we continue to work towards the ultimate goal Is reparation and also reparatory justice And also healing which comes with reparative justice and reparations Thank you. We acknowledge the the work Preparations has gone through many phases as I said in the in the presentation And the phase in which the Rastafarians really step forward And and put it on the map And they and they call for repatriation Also is something that is well noted and documented And so we continue to acknowledge that and and a lot of the The repatriation movements in Africa at this time have to do with some of a lot of the work of the Rastafarians so We acknowledge them and other groups the pan-Africanists etc who have been very involved In enjoying that east phase of the is strengthened. Thank you so much Dr You have gone to university and you've sat with groups at universities and you know that Africans on a whole look at us in the Caribbean is not Africans I personally have a problem with When Africa when Caribbean people Talk about Africa As their motherland and getting going back there when Africans themselves do not recognize us as Africans You know that I've sat on several universities that have attended and I've gone through that same problem Because we are mixed and we are not while African Is one of our predominant Jeans It has been mixed up Look at you You are an Indian. I am a woman of African descent. I declare and identify Yes, your african descent and about you look like the indian in your east indian in your family No, east indian will ever accept me as an east indian Right The east indian will never accept you though you look more like them But they are part of your genes and you look more like the east indian because your mother was east indian But the Africans That you and I are african descent and I look more like them although I have very strong Caucasian and east indian in my family Yet they do not accept us Because we are mixed Because we are cooped they what they call us the rate that was going on during my doctoral studies was that we are a we're calico And this is a very real thing For a lot of Caribbean students who are faced or young people who are faced with Africans when we are asking To return and with what Africa is doing making it easy the trade thing for Caribbean people to come into Africa now to move into Africa You know about that movement to they're opening the doors And then of one of the things that the Rastafarian community has been pushing is going back to the motherland You know and they have problems with that because we Have problems with it. Well, the African the Rastafarian community do not but we have a problem with it because the Africans do not accept us And we are mixed up with different races, which is a Reality it's a fact. So how can you tell somebody who knows that they are a mixed up? And the place where they're pushing as the motherland is not accepting you as African how do you answer because this these are real questions? We can't bury our heads in the sand pretend it does not exist. It exists It is there. So that's what I want to ask No, I can answer the question I know that we have run out of time, but I can deal with that question in short space First of all, I don't know that Africans don't recognize us as Africans Africa is a continent and you may have encountered people from different parts That do not recognize you as an African because you are mixed as Africa is a mosaic Africa is mixed also So they might have encountered people who in the first place Resented that people of African descent People of African descent Probably see themselves. It might have been our attitude also We see ourselves as better than Africans because there is this feeling that Africa is not And we don't want to be part of something that we have seen in the press A backward country or back and they use it. They say a country as if Africa is a country and not a continent Okay, Africa Is as diverse as and even more diverse than any other continent It is because there is self-hate. It is the colonized mind We think that what we came out of is not good enough for us to go back Until you step into Africa and you see what is happening in Africa Africa is the fastest growing continent in the world GDP of Africa over the last 10 years has been 7 and more percent Why do you think the Europeans are flocking back to Africa? Why do you think the Chinese are going? Unless we understand that is what wisely we're speaking about The self-healing that we need to undertake For us to understand what Africa is and what is in us As people of African descent, we will always think of ourselves as mixed every nation is mixed The first human beings were Africans So the white people also have some genetic You know trace They will go to new york They're born in new york And after centuries They will tell you that I am originally from ireland Or I am from my families from germany We are the only group of people who do not want to walk to accept that Africa is the motherland We are the only group because we do not understand we have been so colonized And that is not only us in the caribbean but also people in Africa So those who you encounter also have that There are many successful repatriation programs in Africa right now Very many successful There is progress being made on the sixth region of Africa, which is the African diaspora People don't know these things and so they say these things I am saying that we really need to educate people We really need to educate for them not to You know tell me that I have good hair because my mother was an East Indian Nonsense there are people in Africa better-headed me if it's better hair you're looking for But what is wrong with anybody else's hair Inside of hair because it does not look like mine. What is good hair? You know these are the things that we sell and divide ourselves You nobody's going to separate me from what I believe And we want to thank We have a time period that we are online And um Remember this is the beginning of a year-long consultation and the issues that are raised here We can agree to disagree on until we are able to work them out But I think what we have just heard is one of the reasons why Dr. Sumer Is the chair designate of the permanent forum For people of African descent of the United Nations folks we're running out of time Before we go into our vote of thanks I would like to introduce a bit of a A bit of a surprise element here because After 10 years the National operations committee Has not been able to find ways to find ways to earn budget or A subvention But we have kept our heads above water and we have gone down I mean the history of the kai com reparations Commission as one of the more active national reparations committees and There are Individuals here this evening members of the National reparations committee representing entities that have gone Gone abroad as we would see And and out of the way to ensure and to accommodate us and here where we are this evening Is one of Those entities but before we go to the open campus. I would like to Present on the global campus I would like to On behalf of the national reparations committee make a presentation to monsignor dr. Patrick anthony Who has been a member? A founding member of our committee And he has not been a member of our committee as the chair of the folk research center named after himself He is there in his capacity As he always describes himself as first a caribbean man and secondly as a priest an appreciation for your contributions From day one and your continuing contributions monsignor anthony. We would like to Donate or present this token of appreciation from the national reparations committee If you don't mind we could Let everybody see what you're getting Which is A bottle appropriate with your dress and your mission on our behalf Thank you I'm earlier today we presented one to dimple at louisie and She did note that when she held it it felt empty and I had to tell her that it contained it The contents are under pressure Because it contains It's a bottle full of st. Lucian sunshine So don't open it Secondly, I'd like to invite Ambassador sumo to join me So that we could make a presentation To Sorry to the head of the Local unit which started off as the ui Open campus here one of the places where we had our very first activity And the then open campus was The And continues to be an entity that has done everything to accommodate everything that we have asked them to do as part of us and Leslie queen mitchell as the head of the local unit has always been open to Ensuring that our requests are met and I would like to ask Ambassador sumo who is also the chair of the global campus subsequent to Our cooperation with the open campus So we would like to ask Ambassador sumo to hand this bottle over to Leslie queen mitchell Leslie the Global campus deserves all the sunshine it can get at this time We too have been under pressure like the sunshine in this bottle But despite that you all have always stepped forward to have the nrc I kind of think of an occasion when we called on you whether it's a meeting We have in an emergency meeting a lecture or anything that you and your team have not facilitated us And we could only undertake the kind of education program that we have undertaken Both in the schools and in the public because of the global campus and it's not because i'm the chair It is because of the commitment that the team here Has demonstrated over the last few years So thank you very much and we look forward to continuing our good work with you Thank you ambassador sumo and our final um Final take tonight. We want to invite another member of the national reparations committee The representative on with the committee of the archaeological and historical society Brother immanuel is going to do the vote of thanks. I want to say good night to ones and ones it's great pleasure to Thank each and everyone that made this Event a success. I want to thank especially dr. Sumo For her presentation I want to thank everyone online That were patient and listened and made contribution to the success of this Event Also, I want to thank each and everyone that made it you to be here to be To be part of the activity and meet contributions towards that event I want to thank you all and I want to thank the most i jaras to farai for giving us that privilege Thank you very much one and all