Reparation talk critical

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate - “In order to complete [the] circle of economic freedom and the quest for political and economic enfranchisement … as a government, we have to confront the issue of reparation … this issue, as you know, remains an elusive quest for justice.” This is the suggestion of Minister of Culture, Youth Family and Sport, Stephen Lashley, as he spoke at the end of the Emancipation Day Freedom Walk from the JTC Roundabout in Haggatt Hall – the site of the Emancipation Statue, to Independence Square in Bridgetown. “I know the issue of reparations remains an uncomfortable subject for many. [That] may be because of what you perhaps were told. I will simply say reparations, within the context of the mission being pursued by the Commission for Pan African Affairs (CPAA), by the Task force on Reparation and by the government of Barbados, is to look squarely at the historic, social, economic and political wrongs which have been inflicted on our country by those who oppressed and suppressed our ancestors; and that we are on a mission to have those wrongs righted,” he told scores of participants in the event, which was also attended by British High Commissioner, Paul Brummell.