now, that bill was approved and is awaiting a vote in the house of representatives. so, do you sense that we are going to get some kind of movement on reparations in the united states and if so, what will be impact be? well, let me say, it is a relay race. the caribbean at this moment is at the centre of this global discussion. what happened in the caribbean was very significant. civil society talking about this, demanding this. the rastafarian community, the pan african community speaking about reparations for over 100 years. what was critical in 2013 was that the governments of the caribbean finally came on board. the governments of the caribbean finally came on board and said we are now supporting this civil society movement. they joined the cause. when that happened in the caribbean, it had tremendous consequences for the us and therefore, the us reparations movement was revitalised, re energised and similarly, they formed a national african american
so you say every community has to go about the way that reparations are made in their own fashion that suits their community? let me tell you what the black entertainment billionaire robertjohnson in the united states says. he wants $14 trillion in reparations. he says, we as a country, the united states, must atone by paying back black people of all stripes the rich ones, poor ones, and the middle. i mean, even people like oprah winfrey or lebronjames could be paid under this principle. when somebody like that makes that kind of comment, it invites mockery, doesn t it, that the likes of oprah winfrey should be paid? well, i am not sure it does. what it invites is a call for understanding. what we do now is that we are all united around the reparatory justice movement. what we also know is that there is a diversity as to how and to where and what.
development to become endemic within our societies. that is the focus of our reparation. take, for example, what happened in tulsa a white community goes into a black town. you re talking about back in the 1920s in the united states? yes, burned the town to the ground, hundreds of families lost their cash and their capital. it was a very middle class, affluent african american community. they were rising up from slavery, pursuing they were rising up from slavery, pursuing development. lost their capital. that has to be compensated for in the context of cash repayments and compensation. in the caribbean, we are looking at a different circumstance. we have the highest percentage of diabetes hypertension is in the world per capita the result of these sugar plantations where you consume what you grow. you grow sugar, you consume it. now, we all have a sugar problem in the caribbean because we have been eating sugar as a meal and exposed to that, and now we are all addicted to it. those
the americas, where many enslaved africans ended up, countries like brazil, the caribbean, europe, all over the world. we all know what we want, but there are different ways to conceptualise it, different ways to proceed. there are multiple roads leading to the roundabout. and we do not want necessarily to have everyone walking like sheep down a narrow path. we are a community of multiple experiences and diversities. in the us, for example, there is a very strong argument that says we want cash in hand as part of the repayment of the plunder of the african american community. we have been plundered. we can demonstrate it we have lost our land, we have lost our businesses, we have had personal victimisation. we want to have this repaired in hard cash. in the caribbean, we have not taken that path. we have set our reparatory justice model is about development of our infrastructures. we want more schools, we want public health infrastructures, we want to have systems to allow
of movement on reparations in the united states, and if so, what will be impact be? well, let me say, it is a relay race. the caribbean at this moment is at the centre of this global discussion. what happened in the caribbean was very significant. civil society talking about this, demanding this. the rastafarian community, the pan african community speaking about reparations for over 100 years. what was critical in 2013 was that the governments of the caribbean finally came on board. the governments of the caribbean finally came on board and said we are now supporting this civil society movement. they joined the cause. when that happened in the caribbean, it had tremendous consequences for the us, and therefore the us reparations movement was revitalised, re energised, and similarly, they formed a national african american reparations commission modelled on the caribbean case. calling upon their governments, as we did in the caribbean, to come on board. let me tell you what