King Charles and Olivia A. Grange, Jamaica’s culture minister. Jamaica will ask King Charles to request legal advice on the issue of slavery reparations from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth nations. Photo: PA, Getty Images

It was on Monday, September 7, 2020, that then Governor Augustus J.U. Jaspert sparked community outrage when he said that the United Kingdom's (UK) position on paying reparations to the Virgin Islands for acts of slavery and the slave trade was not something that was being considered, hinting that the VI should expect nothing. Photo: VINO/File

On July 27, 2022, Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3) added that the British Government recently finished off paying off a loan that they used to compensate slave masters and plantation owners at the time of emancipation and can now seek a loan for reparations. Photo: GIS/File

Under the Judicial Committee Act of 1833, the king, who remains Jamaica’s head of state after the country gained independence from Britain in 1962, has the authority to refer matters to the council for consideration.

Hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans were shipped to Jamaica, and many scholars and advocates say the legacy of that period has resulted in or played a role in today’s inequities.

According to the UK-based The Guardian, Jamaica’s culture minister, Olivia A. Grange, said her government was asking the council to consider whether the forced transport of enslaved Africans to Jamaica and their subsequent enslavement was lawful, and if it constituted a crime against humanity.

It is also calling on the council to examine whether Britain is “under an obligation to provide a remedy” to Jamaica, not only for slavery but also for its enduring consequences.

The Virgin Islands has also called for reparations from the UK for slavery. Such calls have come from legislators, influencers, commentators and ordinary citizens.

‘Uk should get a loan for reparations’- Hon Fraser

“It is time they get a new loan for reparations,” the Opposition Leader Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3) said while giving official remarks at the opening of the Bernard ‘Yampi’ Nibbs Festiville at Festival Grounds, Tortola on July 27, 2022.

Hon Fraser added that the British Government recently finished off paying off a loan that they used to compensate slave masters and plantation owners at the time of emancipation and can now seek a loan for reparations.

The British government in 1835 borrowed 20 million pounds – the equivalent of around 17 billion pounds today – to compensate slave owners for the lost capital associated with freeing slaves. This payout was a massive 40% of the government's budget and required many bonds to slave owners to effectuate the law.

The loan was one of the largest in history and was paid off by the UK government only in 2015.

Outrage

It was on Monday, September 7, 2020, that then Governor Augustus J.U. Jaspert sparked community outrage when he said that the United Kingdom's (UK) position on paying reparations to the Virgin Islands for acts of slavery and the slave trade was not something that was being considered, hinting that the VI should expect nothing.

He also called for relics of slavery still present in the territory to be preserved despite community calls for those relics to be renamed so that it can reflect the legacy of Virgin Islanders who shaped the territory.

Calls for the then-controversial governor to apologise were ignored.

Commentator Kenneth G. Gladstone in a September 11, 2020, interview with Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) said the Governor’s statements were as a result of a racist mentality that is being perpetuated, even as Mr Jaspert was spending VI’s money and enjoying the hospitality of local taxpayers, a majority being the descendants of slaves.