“Our Reparations”

by Ras Dakarai

Please let us be clear that our reparations are entirely due to the restitution owed for the charges of crimes committed to our people, namely — human rights violations, kidnapping, child labour, human trafficking, rape, paedophilia, human harvesting, plundering, desecration and genocide among others.

The quantum of such restitutions (reparations) ranges in the sums of trillions of dollars, and the financial institutions and governments of the guilty parties ought to be prepared to set aside budgets to commence the reconstruction of the health, educational, infrastructural, agricultural, scientific and cultural sectors of the descendants of chattel slavery.

On account of these crimes, our existence as a proud and peaceful people was obliterated to the point of us becoming a clone of the so-called conquerors in whose images we still see fit to defend at their command. So much so that we are willing to sacrifice our warriors at the behest of the puppet masters’ instructions and fancy.

Our programming was/is so severe that the mere thought of regaining our self-esteem and dignity as a people to be counted as equals amongst mankind scares us for the very fear instilled in offending our oppressors.

Some of us walk around like peacocks celebrating our “successes” of assimilating to these distorted realities, instead of spending time rediscovering the true meaning of self-worth, which is who we are as a people and what will preserve our future generations on the world stage.

Sadly, we relish in bureaucratic conversations of ridiculing ourselves and trying to convince each other that the measure of our destiny can only be realised through the validation of our captors.

Shamefully, however, we still join others in celebrating their glorious history, traditions and achievements, and not for a second stop to pay homage to ours, much less to include same in our school curriculum even today. If the old adage of charity begins at home applies to any real construct, then why are we only offered symbolism instead of substance at every juncture?

If we were to take a page off the books, hypothetically speaking, of other nation-states today, and analyse their strategies, the common denominator would be the looking inwards, preserving their own cultures and motivating their people towards self-reliance and, most importantly, defending it militarily if necessary.

Our disposition as a confused and disoriented people was by design through politics, commerce, and most notably, greed. The institutions established were all geared toward domination, subjugation, and exploitation. Until and unless we are prepared to take the bold step, to first accept that only we as a united people can liberate ourselves; and stop accepting handouts in the form of platitudes, grandstanding, and showboating, study our great history, culture, and our ancestors’ contributions to civilisation.

The defiling of our culture came with a price both to us and the culprits who perpetrated it. Said culprits built “empires” still in existence today, and they are willing to defend their ill-gotten “treasures” through cunning, tomfoolery, deceit, trickery, and empty promises. We, on the other hand, ought to be willing to go to war if necessary to preserve our future, our resources, and YES, to collect our inheritance, the debt owed which is long overdue — namely REPARATIONS.