This week, the United Nations hosted the fourth session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. Once again, different countries sent their various representatives to address the assembly and deliver statements denouncing racism and calling for its eradication.
The Permanent Forum is one of the first gatherings for the U.N.’s Second Decade for People of African Descent which will be from 2025 to 2034. What made this year’s session of the Forum a little different was that many attendees were also raising questions about what is expected to occur following this week’s gathering. The Permanent Forum brings together community advocates and political representatives to discuss the most urgent humanitarian issues facing Black communities, yet many attendees want to know how those urgent issues will be solved.
One Forum event designed to deal with that question featured a discussion about the organizing work that people in the Caribbean Community (Caricom) have been able to do. “Caricom has been at the forefront of the Reparatory Justice Movement, formulating the region’s 10-point plan as a framework within which reparatory justice can be realized,” Jamaica’s ambassador to the United Nations, Brian Christopher Manley Wallace, said as he introduced the “Apology and Repair” event. “The [Caricom] plan calls upon European governments to acknowledge and apologize for their role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and to provide remedial actions for this crime against humanity.”
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The “Apology and Repair” event was moderated by former BBC News anchor Laura Trevelyan. It detailed how discussions began between descendants of enslaved Africans and those of British Caribbean enslavers, including Trevelyan, whose family is recorded as having enslaved 1,004 Africans on the island of Grenada. Another family in attendance were New Zealand-based sisters Kate Thomas and Aidee Walker, the descendants of John Malcolm, who enslaved over 2,000 Black people in Jamaica in the early 1800s.
Charles Gladstone, whose great-great-great grandfather, John Gladstone, was one of the largest plantation owners in the British West Indies, was also in attendance. Gladstone spoke of the shame he felt when he found out his family history –– and as it dawned on him that this part of British history is often ignored. “This part of our history has been completely buried, and we’ve been told that Britain was a great country, always was a great country –– a lot has been taught about [slavery’s] abolition. And I feel very strongly that we need to completely unpack that history and create the real history,” he said.
“The reason that we need to do that is that it is very clear to me now that the evils of this crime against humanity are not historical, they’re felt very, very profoundly today, and therefore what I can do is to make a noise. I think that it’s very important that we talk about working together and working mutually, but I feel that my government will not make any moves toward proper reparations unless it is the will of the people. …I think that governments tend to follow what people want rather than lead the way. I have a sense that if thousands of families, like my family, could stand up and say, we would like to do something about this, there is a chance that the government in Britain could do something more substantial. I mean [we] constantly [hear] the government say, ‘We’re not going to do anything because it’s the past.’ But, in fact, my argument is that it’s the present. So, what I’m trying to do in a very peaceful but incredibly determined way is to try to make as much noise as I possibly can and to explain that the evils of the past are the evils of the present.”
Gladstone and Trevelyan, alongside others, have formed the group Heirs of Slavery, a union of people whose families prospered from African enslavement in the British Caribbean and who are now advocating for reparations.
University of the West Indies Professor Verene Shepherd explained that when Heirs of Slavery members reached out to her and others about making an official apology for the crimes of their ancestors, some people didn’t want to hear from them. “They have decided that saying sorry, apologizing for the crime against humanity in which their ancestors were involved, is their duty,” Dr. Shepherd said. “Some scoff at this gesture, even Christians who otherwise abide by the philosophy of apology and forgiveness. But an apology highlights the importance of acknowledging mistakes, taking responsibility and expressing remorse, emphasizing a role in repairing relationships, fostering trust, and promoting people.”
Dr. Shepherd emphasized that the apology from the descendants of enslavers is crucial for promoting healing, particularly in relation to Caricom’s 10-point plan, which calls for accountability from former colonial powers for the enslavement of African descendants. This gesture of contrition can pave the way for a broader acknowledgment of the individuals who played pivotal roles during slavery and help the public to understand how the institution operated and why reparations are necessary.