Antiguans and Barbudans are a respectful people and so we join with our Governor General, our Prime Minister and Government in welcoming you to our nation as representatives of our Head of State, Queen of England, Elizabeth ll.
We ask for a return of similar respect.
It has become common for members of the royal family and representatives of the Government of Britain to come to this region and lament that slavery was an ‘appalling atrocity’, that it was ‘abhorrent’, that ‘it should not have happened’. We have heard such from your former Prime Minister David Cameron and most recently from your father, the Prince of Wales and your nephew, Prince William. But such sentiments did not convey new knowledge to us. African people and their descendants – as most of us are – have known such since the middle of the sixteenth century. We have been on the receiving end of the barbarity. We hear the phony sanctimony of those who came before you that these crimes are a ‘stain on your history’. For us, they are the source of genocide and of continuing deep international injury, injustice and racism. We hope you will respect us by not repeating the mantra. We are not simpletons.
We share with you some other things that we know. We present these issues in a non-confrontational manner. Our reparations ideology seeks to foster and facilitate reconciliation between Europe and the nations of our region.
We know that the European slave trade, the enslavement of Africans, the genocide of Indigenous peoples of this region and the deceptive indentureship imposed on Asians were not acts of nature. They did not fall from heaven like manna, they did not occur like hurricanes or earthquakes. They resulted from willful acts of white Europeans aimed solely at Africans. We know that the British Crown – both as royal family and as institution, is historically documented as an active participant in the largest crimes against humanity of all time.
We know that as early as 1558, John Hawkins used one of Queen Elizabeth’s ships on one of his slave-trading voyages and shared the profits with her – and further that she ‘went on to exert Crown control over trade with West Africa, including trade in slaves, by issuing letters patent for such voyages in 1561, 1585, 1588, and 1592’.
We know that during the seventeenth century your family ancestors were owners and investors in the Royal African Company (and associated companies the Royal Gambia Company and the Royal Adventurers Company) set up under Charles ll and his cousin King James II. We know that these companies, all dubbed ‘Royal’, engaged in the kidnap and transportation of hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean.
We know that the Crown ‘owned’ enslaved Africans as late as 1831, three years before the passage of the Emancipation Act. Those enslaved included our ancestors. We ask that you respect that.
We also know that no one today in your family was alive when the crimes against humanity were committed. So please do not tell us that again either – as others before you have done. We know however that everyone in your family continues to live in the splendour, pomp and wealth attained through the proceeds of the crimes.
We alert you that throughout your visit to the region, you will hear the call of Caribbean people to the British crown and Government for reparations for slavery. We know that a former British prime minister has described these Caribbean nations as ‘the slums of the Empire’. We know that our leaders, respectful as they are, will find ingenious ways to hide the physical shame of slum from your eyes but we assure you that across our region, many still live in deep persistent poverty and social despair. The call for reparations is not an academic exercise. It is a demand to Britain and the other enslaving countries of Europe for partnership in a constructive strategy to meet the social and economic development gaps in the region, those imposed through slavery and colonialism and those that are perpetuated through the incredibly unjust existing neocolonial international order which Europe and the United States champions.
Respectfully, we ask a few questions and we hope that you will provide answers during one of the addresses you are scheduled to make here or in any other nation in your ‘goodwill-don’t-leave-us’ tour. Why is it so hard for you to sincerely apologise for your nation’s role in slavery, like decent human beings do when they offend? We know that ‘acknowledging and accounting for wrongs is deeply enshrined within both British law and society’. Then, why is it that you cannot apologise for your nation’s documented historical wrong? Do you think like members of your family before you seemed to think, that we are a sub-human species and therefore not worthy of an apology?
With utmost respect,
Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission
P.O. Box 571, St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
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I agree with the sentiments above. They need answering. The royal family is one of the richest families in the world, all of it gotten from centuries of slavery and bloody exploitation of their own population.
We should note that when ever the “royals” visit somewhere, it is usually the locals who pay the cost of their tour. We pay for security, accommodation, food etc etc. this can amount to 10s of thousands of dollars. In other words, the exploitation has not stopped, even today
At this point in time Antigua only has ONE industry and that is tourism. Caribbean tourism is above 90% white because it would appear that the black market prefer other destinations and activities other than sea, sand and sun for their vacations. One would have thought that in light of this fact that what comes over as an anti-white tirade against the RF and the UK accompanied by the constant demand for money for something that happened 4 hundred years ago would stop by now.
ALL of us either directly or indirectly survive from tourism and the impending visit from Prince Edward and his wife brings with it millions worth of FREE advertising for Antigua and Barbuda. Jamaica and Barbados have apparently taken a hard hit to their tourism market because of negative publicity from a minority bent on ruining the ties to the UK. The UK people by a vast majority support their royal family so for the sake of we, the people who are trying to survive in these turbulent times I would suggest that unless the reparation group have solutions to solve Antigua’s financial woes then it would behoove the haters to, shall we say, suffer in silence for the benefit of the majority.
Since atrocities are still very prevalent in Africa I would suggest that efforts could be diverted to the numerous countries in that continent that still practice slavery/human trafficking and genocide and still have mass starvation; all this while the Chinese are over there raping the African countries for everything they can get for themselves, which is sure to happen here if Tourism takes a hard hit from the naysayers!
Wow! Such callous indifference to the historic and well documented genocide of indigenous and enslaved peoples, along with the pain and deprivation it has perpetuated over the centuries to this day. Such ignorance and self loathing suggests a failure of the social, cultural, educational system that has spurned this ingrate. To refer to the good people’s manning these organizations calling for reparations, haters , is such a perversion of the principles of justice, honor , and integrity
Are you aware that it’s a fact that it’s because our forefathers lost what ever war or battle they fought is how come they ended up in slavery, since when do losers get rewarded?
How do you know your fact. White people tell you that Africans sold their brothers into slavery. I guess you will also say that the Africans put their brothers on slave ships, tossed some overboard and worked many of them to death. You would also say The Africans became wealthy from the plantations they owned and were worked to death on.
They should pay because if it were Jews or white people involved, nobody would say they should not be compensated.
No compensation can pay for the brutalizations and pain many blacks are still suffering today.
Why do they have anything to do with this just cuz there groups past, isn’t this the same as brining up slavery anytime someone talks about Antiguan
Wow! Another VOMIT 🤢 inducing photo … and can someone tell me where he got those military 🪖 medals from, because he couldn’t hack it in the armed services – or come to that, not even the Uk’s training regime.
WHAT A SPONGING WASTE OF SPACE!
Antigua 🇦🇬 will be joining Barbados as a Republic … SOON COME!!!
To any of the political parties in Antigua (especially the UPP and DNA), if you run this Republicanism at the next General election like Barbados did, youl
… you’ll have a sure fire election win.
ABLP will take this nation into republicanism, and I believe they will tell the prince so on his visit. These people will be in this country as tourists, and should be treated like tourists, nothing more, nothing less. LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE REPUBLIC of ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA!!!
They never apologised because they know that it will cost them money later.
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