England and the Caribbean: Reparations Now!

I have something to say about the gall of Western media to still approach formerly colonized nations with the smugness of a master quizzing a servant. The now-viral interview with President Dr. Irfaan Ali of Guyana was definitely more than just a conversation about oil and development. It exposed the festering wound of neocolonial arrogance that still believes it has the right to interrogate the dignity and direction of sovereign nations while refusing to reckon with the centuries of theft, murder, and dehumanization that built its own empires. Yes, England, I am talking about you!

Dr. Ali was understood the assignment to a spade a spade regardless to who is holding the hand. What we witnessed was the spirit of resistance cloaked in a presidential suit. With unflinching clarity and righteous indignation, he named the historical theft of resources, the violence of chattel slavery, the deceit of colonialism, and the continued exploitation masquerading as investment and partnership. And somehow, the interviewer still expected him to bow at the altar of their version of benevolence. Chyle, pu-lease.

The interviewer had the nerve to suggest that Guyana must be accountable for how it manages its newfound oil wealth, as though Guyana hasn’t already been paying the price for Europe's sins for the past 400 years. As though the Caribbean hasn’t had its land stripped, its people trafficked, its cultures violated, and its economies underdeveloped - only to be handed back pieces of its own identity as "foreign aid." And the Caribbean is still reeling from all of this! 

Do not lecture Guyana about justice or equity while your institutions hoard generational wealth built on Black backs, Brown hands, and Indigenous bodies. The same nations asking questions about accountability are the ones who still refuse to return stolen artifacts, refuse to pay reparations, and refuse to divest from oppressive global systems. England, I am talking again about you!

Dr. Ali stood in a long tradition of truth-tellers - from Queen Nanny and Prince Klaas to Walter Rodney, from Claudia Jones to Audre Lorde. He reminded the world that the Caribbean is not some helpless, voiceless cluster of islands waiting for the benevolence of the Global North. We have minds. We have memories. We have brilliance. We have merit. And! We have receipts.

So, when you hear us talk about reparations, we are talking about a handout. Reparations are a moral debt that is long overdue. The West can keep its performative apologies if it won’t follow them with policies that repair, restore, and return. You cannot enslave, colonize, exploit, and then guilt-trip us for daring to want more than survival. The balls on you. 

And for the record: the wickedness of chattel slavery cannot be downplayed or deflected either. Millions of Africans were stolen, branded, raped, and sold like cattle - sometimes for less than cattle - and the trauma lives on in our bodies, our economies, and our relationships to power. Colonialism imposed borders, broke up communities, destroyed ecological knowledge, and replaced it all with greed-soaked governance. The fact that any of us are still standing here - educated, eloquent, and exacting - is a whole other story. 

So no, we won’t be taking notes from those who taught us subjugation and call it democracy. We will not soften our words to make white ears more comfortable (why is this even a thing?) And we will not shrink to fit the box you built to hold your shame either. Feel your shame, or anger, or disappointment, and process what you need to, but you should not claim the right to edit my (Blacks) vocabulary to appease your preferred emotion. How is that going to move you to transformation and change my (Blacks) situation? 

I applaud President Irfaan Ali for his courage in not cowering before the British accent and arrogance. He defended dignity! And to those who still think the Caribbean must come hat in hand to be taken seriously: don’t mistake humility for submission. We are not asking. We are reclaiming. And, no, we don't want a palace. 

England, return our artifacts!

#reparations #repaircampaign #neocolonialism #arrogance #britisharrogance