KINGSTON, Jamaica - SIR Hilary Beckles' recently published book, Britain's Black Debt, has returned to the spotlight the burning issue of reparations.
Launched last Thursday at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, the book definitively establishes that there is a case to be answered by providing detailed historical evidence of slavery.
The issue has been one that has, over many years, generated positions that are poles apart. Proponents argue that the enslavement of African people for 400 years was the greatest crime against humanity for which there should be compensation from the countries that were the beneficiaries.