Reparations: Barbados task force sets sights on UK families who owned slave plantations
According to The Guardian, the country’s task force has determined that this particular family had a near 400 year uninterrupted presence in Barbados as owners and operators of a slave plantation called the Drax plantation, inclusive of the famous Drax Hall Plantation.
Deceptive campaign by British tabloid
David Comissiong, Deputy Chairperson of the National Task Force on Reparations, however, has had cause to issue a statement on January 2, 2022, in the Barbados Nation, in response to British newspaper articles about Barbados’ reparations campaign on other families it plans to target.
This comes after international news had broken that Barbados also planned to target the family of Benedict Cumberbatch, a British-born actor as part of its campaign.
“It is clear to me that Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper has commenced upon a mission to concoct its own narrative about Barbados’ Reparations Campaign."
"Indeed, the Daily Telegraph’s modus operandi seems to be to interview Barbadian parties associated with the Reparations Campaign and then to quote answers out of context, thereby effectively putting words in one’s mouth,” Comissiong said.
He said as part of the technique in the Daily Telegraph, a journalist asked him if Barbados intends to pursue a Reparations claim against the family of someone named Benedict Cumberbatch.
Answers taken out of context - Comissiong
"And when one answers that one does not know who Benedict Cumberbatch is nor anything about his family’s supposed involvement in slavery in Barbados, that answer is reported as my having asserted that Barbados has not ruled out pursuing a Reparations claim against Mr Cumberbatch and his family!,” Commission added.
Meanwhile, the Barbados National Task Force on Reparations believes that the historical facts pertaining to the Drax family are more than clear to support a Reparations claim.
It is against this background that the issue of a possible Reparations claim against the current owner of the Drax Hall Plantation and a leading representative of the Drax Family has been referred by the Task Force to higher governmental authorities.
Students tasked with seeking reparations
Meanwhile, within the Virgin Islands, one legislator Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3) faced community backlash in September 2022, after tasking students of the Ebenezer Thomas Primary School to seek reparations for slavery and make independence a reality as part of their duties as the next generation of Virgin Islanders.
A month before on August 1, 2022, during Emancipation observances in the VI, Hon Fraser in a social media post said even as the territory celebrated its various emancipation events, it will never be fully emancipated until Britain pays up reparations to the descendants of slaves.
Hon Fraser has told students that topics like reparations and independence will be their responsibility in the future and it is something they must pursue.
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23 Responses to “Reparations: Barbados task force sets sights on UK families who owned slave plantations ”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tippu_Tip
pls coreect me if im wrong, ( and I may well be) were the lands in the BVI handed over to the slaves once their ' owners" left the territory ??
a real question which I hope you are able to answer for me.
thankyou