BLACK BRITONS of Caribbean heritage say the fight for reparations is taking precedence just as much in the UK as government leaders on their home islands continue to lead calls for compensation over the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Kate and William’s Royal tour of Belize, The Bahamas and Jamaica earlier in March saw protestors gather in opposition to their visit and was blasted for its spate of colonial “PR failures.”

All three Caribbean nations joined a “united” stance in their demands for reparatory justice with both Jamaica and Belize signalling their intentions to remove the Queen as their head of state and become republics.

The latest controversy for the Royals comes as the Prince of Edward and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex had the first leg of their tour in Grenada “postponed” and also saw them face calls for reparations from Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia.

Maurice Mcleod, who is of half-Jamaican heritage and the Chief Executive of Race on the Agenda, tells The Voice that the black diaspora in Britain is watching the unfolding of the reparations movement closely.

“Black people in the UK have obviously been aware of the reparations argument and obviously most of us have come from some form of colonialism in our recent heritage,” he says. 

“The view of black people in the UK is one thing, but if we’re talking about Britain as a whole the reparations argument is something that even if people are aware of it, it’s not something that is really engaged. 

“They kind of see that the Empire was largely a good thing and what are people moaning about, and even if there was something that was ages ago.”

Mr Mcleod, from south-London, said he was “proud” of the Caribbean countries that are taking a stance against people “that only visit their countries every few years,” but admits he was surprised by the apparent anti-monarchy rhetoric.

“I think that the generation before us – my mum’s generation, the first generation – my mom came from Jamaica in the sixties as part of the Windrush. 

“I know my mum isn’t particularly Royalist, but they came with a kind of education into their respect for the British establishments and the Royals. 

“So I think some of the older generation are still quite loyal to the idea of Royalty and certainly to the Queen; she’s just there and never seems to do much wrong.

“It feels like there’s a bit of a movement going on. It’s hard to tell from over here in the UK, whether it’s an offshoot of the whole black awareness thing that went global, but it feels like there’s an awareness in the Caribbean at the moment and for its people.

“I always thought of Caribbean countries as dusting off their caps for the royals and waving their white hankies. This is a new generation that’s older and independent.”

In Britain, the Africa Reparations Movement UK has been leading calls for compensation over the estimated 12 millions black lives that were lost during the slave trade and its descendents since 1993.

The movement garnered more support after it was revealed by the HM Treasury that British taxpayers had been paying off the debt to slave owners who were compensated over their loss of “property” when the slave trade was abolished until 2015.

Prominent black MPs such as Diane Abott and David Lammy have backed the calls for reparations in some form in the UK, mainly for the Windrush Generation after the scandal over their right to remain in the UK erupted in 2018.

Samantha Simms, a lawyer from Brixton, says the lack of compensation from slavery and colonialism ​​from the British establishment is a “double whammy” for many black Britons of Caribbean descent, because they feel “we’ve been brought over here in order to continue the compensation payments.”

However, Ms Simms – who has been living in Jamaica since 2021 – says that the long-standing fight for reparatory justice on British soil shouldn’t diminish the efforts of people in the Caribbean who have been making strides towards compensation and claiming republican status for the longest time. 

“I don’t think the Caribbean has been slow in their efforts. We need to become a republic in practice, not just in name. It’s great that Barbados has been able to achieve this, but the heads of all the institutions should not lead back to Britain. Being British should not, therefore, be a precursor for achieving success in the nation,” she says. 

“These countries have had to focus on survival for a long time. And these countries are also relatively young compared to other countries. You’re talking about countries who have been in existence of their own for the last 55 years roughly.”

The CARICOM Reparations Committee (CRC) was established since 2013 by the Caribbean heads of governments to fight the moral, ethical and legal case for the payment of reparations by all the former colonial powers to the people of the Caribbean for the crimes against humanity of genocide, the transatlantic slave trade and the racialised system of chattel slavery.

The ten-point action plan includes debt cancellation and investment into sectors such as literacy and technology transfer.

Despite the reparatory justice process being fraught with setbacks, Ms Simms still believes the progress of the Caribbean has been in the works for decades.

“I would never say we’ve been slow, because it just shows the maturity of these countries as they have developed over the years, found their own footing and now manage to make these calls,” she says.

“With the economies stabilising themselves a little bit more, people are able to have these more globalised relationships in both social and business life.

“If we think about the work of many of the black Caribbean scholars from the sixties and seventies, they were talking about reparations a long, long time ago.

“I think we’ve been able to unite through these digital platforms, and so we are able to amplify those voices asking for that now.”

Some Caribbean countries had long found their voice in the turn to republicanism.

Guyana first removed the Queen as their head of state in 1970, four years after independence, Trinidad and Tobago followed suit in 1976 and Dominica claimed republican status in 1978. 

However, amid the renewed calls for reparations Saint Vincentian voters defeated a proposal for the nation to become a republic in 2009.

Jamaica first announced its intentions to become a republic for more than three decades and their Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, made the island nation claiming republican status a priority in his 2016 manifesto, but has faced delays to hold a referendum which is often blamed on complex, high constitutional thresholds. 

Daneille Guthrie, the founder of racial justice platform IN.Society, has lived in the UK since she was eight-years-old after moving from the Cayman Islands, and says that to merely label the movement in the Caribbean as a sudden “domino-effect” lacks respect.

“The reparations conversation was happening way before the Royals came over recently, however I think the reason why it’s making headlines now though the Royals have toured the Caribbean before, it’s coming up now on TV, even if it is for 5 seconds, is because of the Commonwealth Games taking place in Birmingham this summer.

“The UK media has not picked up on these conversations in a national front prior to George Floyd.

“These Caribbean islands are smaller; they have to look at their resources, their in and out imports and outputs. Of course, they’re taking all of these things into consideration,” she explains.

“I can give an example of the Cayman Islands – their government has changed structure and ways of governing in the country. 

“If you look into their history, they are still currently seen as a British overseas territory  or basically under British rule. 

“When Jamaica became independent to some extent and there was the conversation even then of what you want to do and they asked to remain under British influence and the reasoning for that is due to resources and knowing their limitations.”

She said it was “hard to judge” these smaller nations and their governing structure just down to case of “follower the leader” during the movement because “they are real governments and they deserve the same respect as any other country does as they need to take into consideration their people and their governmental structure the same way that Britain had to have this big discussion on Brexit.”

In 2015, the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, famously shot down the calls from Jamaican politicians for reparations, telling them they needed to “move on” after almost 400-year old colonial ties with the British Monarchy.

His harsh words were not lost on Jamaicans today when Prime Minister Andrew Holness told Prince William and Kate at his residence in Kingston that Jamaica was also indeed ready to “move on” from its long association with the Queen.

Jamaica, along with just some of the Caribbean countries including Saint Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda, have also called for an apology from the Royal family.

The Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission warned them over expressing “phoney sanctimony” over slavery ahead of the tour to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Saint Lucia’s National Reparations Commission (NRC) said “royal expressions of sorrow” about the slave trade are not good enough and is also calling for a full apology from the Monarchy and the Government.

However, Mr Mcleod tells The Voice that as the reparations movement increases just “saying sorry” is also not good enough.

“I get it, you want it to be acknowledged. In this case, the institution that has wronged you, the British state, to acknowledge what they did and to acknowledge what they did was wrong and to apologise for it,” he says.

“I get that desire, but for me, it’s as if we’re providing them with a get out. Okay, they apologise and maybe they are genuinely sorry, but we’re still where we are. We’re not talking about something that has no impact on today. We’re talking about something that is the very roots of divisions in the world today. 

“So just saying sorry isn’t enough. There’s a Malcolm X quote that goes if you stab a knife nine inches into me and then pull it out three inches, don’t expect me to say thank you. Saying sorry, for me, is not what I would be calling for.”

He adds: “Let’s look at the trade agreement and how they are so discriminatory. Let’s look at how foreign companies are being allowed to extract the wealth of both black and brown countries. Let’s have a look at the historical leasing of these nations.”

However, Ms Guthrie tells The Voice that an “apology first” is required from the British Monarch before righting the wrongs that have been done the Caribbean diaspora is something she described as merely a “standard” process of the movement.

The “gaslighting” the Caribbean diaspora has endured, warns Ms Simms, at the hands of the British institutions when asking for reparations and an apology, she fears will drain the movement of its energy before achieving their ultimate goal. 

“We are pushing forward into a digital society and we are at the frontier of a new digital order. Why don’t we focus our energy from these apologies that may not make us feel that much better,” she explains.

“What we need is change and so encouraging these institutions to embed anti-racism or right thinking ways of being into technology, into future society. 

“I think that is more important than any apology can be. The reticence of the Monarchy in particular to apologise, specifically for slavery, they acknowledge it but it’s actually to do us more harm as we keep asking the apology than good.“

“The reality is, some of these things are a movement that is only going to exist in a moment. We need something that is going to push us forward to a more equitable society.”

Joining the long list of Caribbean countries in calling for either reparations or the desire to become a republic was Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Shawn Richards, the country’s deputy Prime Minister, announced that the government wants to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors in removing the Queen as their head of state.

“The advancement of the decades has taught us that the time has come for St Kitts and Nevis to review its monarchical system of government and to begin the dialogue to advance to a new status, just as Trinidad, Guyana, Dominica and now Barbados have done,” he said.

“All political parties, along with civil society and the youth, will have an opportunity to guide the way forward.”

Ms Simms says that while the movement is carrying on for both black British Caribbean people in the UK and just as ongoing for those still living on the islands, conversation is turning towards whether payout from £17bn and centuries long debt should return home to the Caribbean island, or to African people whose connection to slavery bodes slightly different, or to the pockets of the Caribbean diaspora in Britain.

It’s a conversation centuries later that is also dividing black America and just one of the many reasons why she decided to find solace on the island of her ancestors.

“The U.K. no longer represent my full and healthy self – emotionally, spiritually and physically. And therefore, my move to Jamaica is to make sure that I’m living in the best way that I can live without,” she says.

“Without micro-aggressions, and we’re in an economy that was perhaps a little bit more favourable to my own involvement.

“And among my people as well. So I think we’ve got a lot to contribute. And I would like to see so many of us after the brain drain, what has happened in the Caribbean in particular. I’d like to see so many of us actually return and give back as well.“