BRITISH ROYALS’ JAMAICA VISIT STIRS DEMANDS FOR APOLOGY, SLAVERY REPARATIONS

Wed 23 March 2022:

Jamaican activists, notable professors, politicians, and other leaders have spoken out against the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit, calling on the UK to apologize and pay reparations for centuries of slavery.

Prince William, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, and his wife Kate arrived in Kingston on Tuesday afternoon as part of a week-long trip of the Caribbean.

We’ve arrived in Jamaica 🇯🇲 pic.twitter.com/aMiNV8hY7B

— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 22, 2022

The royal couple’s trip coincides with the 60th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence and the 70th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It also comes at a time of growing scrutiny of colonial-era British conduct in the Caribbean and elsewhere.

“We see no reason to celebrate 70 years of the ascension of your grandmother to the British throne because her leadership, and that of her predecessors, have perpetuated the greatest human rights tragedy in the history of humankind,” read a letter published Sunday ahead of the couple’s visit and signed by 100 Jamaican leaders.

Dozens of people gathered outside the British High Commission in Kingston to protest the arrival of William and Kate in Jamaica.

The protesters were calling for reparations for slavery from the monarchy as the royals continue their week-long Caribbean tour. pic.twitter.com/0gBhojNyUx

— i newspaper (@theipaper) March 23, 2022

In the letter, Jamaicans said they would be celebrating 60 years of freedom from the UK – but stressed that an apology was “necessary to begin a process of healing, forgiveness, reconciliation and compensation.”

“During her 70 years on the throne, your grandmother has done nothing to redress and atone for the suffering of our ancestors that took place during her reign and/or during the entire period of British trafficking of Africans, enslavement, indentureship and colonialization,” the letter added.

On Tuesday, a demonstration was staged outside the British High Commission in Kingston, singing traditional songs and holding banners with the phrase “seh yuh sorry” – a local patois phrase urging Britain to apologize.

Hundreds of thousands of enslaved African people toiled in Jamaica under more than 300 years of British rule and faced brutal conditions.

There were numerous bloody rebellions, with one woman called “Queen Nanny” leading a group of formerly enslaved Africans known as Jamaican Maroons, whose tactics became renowned and battered British forces. “Queen Nanny” remains the sole woman of Jamaica’s eight national heroes.

Jamaica lawmaker Mike Henry, who has long led an effort to obtain reparations, also told The Associated Press news agency that an apology is only the first step for what he described as “abuse of human life and labour”.

“An apology really admits that there is some guilt,” he said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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