Reparations and Repatriations

written by Nathan

What are reparations and what are repatriations?

Yesterday, we went to Cape Coast Castle It is one of nearly sixty remaining colonial forts along the coast of the great ancient kingdom of Mauritania, the ‘Gold Coast of Africa’. It struck me there that we have not taken seriously enough repatriation and reparation opportunities in today’s day and age. The world has become concerned about remedying itself; but, we do not seek out yet a root cause. While there, I took a photo of a sacred text. It had been brought to the castle and placed in a foul corner of the women’s cell. It was addressed to President Obama. It read, “Now that you are President Mr. Obama, What is your opinion on reparations?”

‘How can we ask the world’s most powerful leaders to take seriously the cause of reparations when we are not aware of it ourselves?’, I thought.

After the Civil War, President Lincoln promised reparations to freed slaves in the form of 40 acres and a mule, if this amount were given at fair historical interest, even not individually, but as a fund for reparations to today’s African-American diasporic community, it would be sufficient for a historically marginalized and politically and physically oppressed peoples to gain a more equitable division of power, voice, and sustainable economic wealth to make up for some of the evils of the past slavery. But, what of the other groups that deserve reparations? What would be justice with one oppressed peoples’ served and not the others. So, justice can be served by programs of comprehensive reparation and repatriation. Again, no political will in the world today could leverage such a powerful movement. Who could do this? Could people do this?

For 200 years, this fort sent 1000 men and 300 women every three months into slavery. It was but one of many such points of embarkation - a ‘door of no return.‘ At this fort, the last door slaves used before exiting onto the slave ships three hundred meters off to sea. The door to the ships which cruelly handled their ‘slave cargo’ across ferocious straights between West Africa and the Americas was called the Door of No Return because once slaves left they would either perish at sea or in a new land.

But, there was no UN at this time, there were no conventions which bind us now. So how would we begin this desired world outcome of economic and social justice.

Well, of course, the world has become more aware of how justice is created. It has actually come through the ages to us, through Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. All have spoken of the same framework. Political thinkers too, have wrestled with philosophies of guidance and behaviorisms for society.

But, there has been no binding movement, and causes and injustices have built up more rapidly in the past 200 years, though with equal amounts of Law and Human Rights Progress to balance against the severity and ruthlessness of previous millennia of cruelties.

If sufficient resources, education and understanding were given to a true repatriation movement for pan-africanist blacks from the Americas to afford a serious and healthful repatriation to countries where their families were enslaved in Africa it would benefit both sides of the Atlantic. This could bridge histories of suffering between descendants and inflictors of slavery. This is one of the starting places. Local communities and peoples are encouraged and working in small pockets for self-reliance and self-sufficiency programs to begin sustainable and locally beneficial processes.

Many of these, led by Universities, NGOs and Churches, are outside led, but have traditions of gradual acceptance of community participation, engagement, and control.

Affirmative action was conceived as a type of reparation. So was a truth and reconciliation commission set up in South Africa after apartheid. Experiments towards justice and equity have been used after conflicts and changes of oppressive rule now in much of the world. In a sense, it has created more faith that systems of justice can be conducted on the basis that all human beings caan be found equal under the law. This is a very large ideal. It is one I, personally, hold dear.

What are reparations and what are repatriations? In their fullest sense they are ethnic harmony, equity and health in stewardship of environments, cultures, and economies.

What would it mean to initiate global reparations for historically marginalized peoples’?

How could such peoples benefit from self-guidance and self- sufficiency? How could such an economy be scaled to create oppression mitigation?

It would take a majority of the planet, making community-based decisions to work together and benefit collectively from universal self-interest, to begin to pay down the inequity of only the last two centuries. But, if we do this, if we make two centuries of reparations, we can both make restitution in the form of more pluralized democracy while simultaneously conceiving of a sustainable high-functioning, egalitarian world social enterprise.

Are there other paths to this new, more equitable, society? There are likely many varied forms to begin to get there. These will only blend, however, so long as they are still exercised from principles of self-sufficiency, stewardship of economics and aesthetics, and sustainability. But, in its most simple socio-economic principle reparations built on new principles of ZERI businesses and non-profit societies, along with repatraiation and open borders, will get us peaceful harmony between nations and persons in the quickest best order. If not repatriations, then what? What can we do to build new and respectful forms of justice and equality stemming from so many centuries of its misappropriation by others?

In the women’s cell, placed next to the wreath left by the Obamas, is a wreath newly left by the Reggae artist Sizzla. It reads, “To all the deceased ancestors.” Ancestral, Cultural, and Aesthetic abundance together with education, economic and social productivity means repatriation and reparation in forms of coming to terms of justice through equity, inclusivity, collaborative control.

If you are of African descent living abroad, you are welcomed by the Ghanaian government to place your wreath at on of its infamous slave castles (usually wreathes are left in their plastic wrapping but may be unwrapped as the Obamas).

Our trip to West Africa confirms my long held belief that for many African-Americans, repatriation to Africa is a good option in some form (physically, spiritually, emotionally, economically etc). Not only is Africa the fountainhead for lost history and culture; but, it is a healing land of important ancestry. Aligning ourselves with positive human and political movements; with economic, humanitarian, and educational progress here; can serve as an act or personal and social liberation and a source of power.

What are reparations and what are repatriations? Aids to benefit a world of economic justice.