Can you explain the role of acknowledgement and apology in seeking reparations?  

Reparation begins with acknowledging Africa’s and the Caribbean’s painful history, and those crimes against humanity committed during chattel slavery. And if we are talking about forging new relationships, that acknowledgement must lead on to an apology. 

An apology carries a lot of weight in international law. It is tantamount to what we would refer to as an admission of liability. It shows that you are serious, not only in terms of verbally expressing regret or an apology, but in going the next step to try to repair some of the damage that you have done. 

Can you explain the historical link between Sir Richard Drax and the Drax Hall Plantation? 

When Barbados’ National Task Force on Reparations looked at the Drax Hall issue, what we saw was a plantation that has been in continuous operation for close to 400 years now, owned and operated by the same family. 

Sir Richard Drax’s ancestor, James Drax, goes way back to 1627. He was actually on the very first settlement voyage that came to Barbados in 1627, making him one of the very first planters in Barbados. And so not only was he involved in setting up plantation agriculture from way back, but he was perhaps the critical pioneer of the sugar revolution. It was he who introduced to Barbados this notion of establishing large scale sugar plantations based on enslaved African labour. In fact, at a time when much of the labour force in early colonial Barbados was comprised of White indentured servants, it was James Drax who said, ‘I have no interest in white indentured labour… enslaved African labour is superior, and my plantation will be manned by enslaved Africans.’ 

And then, in the 1680s, James’ son Henry Drax actually wrote the ‘Bible’ of chattel slavery in Barbados. The Drax plantations had been so successful in maintaining an enslaved African workforce that Henry Drax wrote down instructions on how to establish and maintain an enslaved African workforce. And his handwritten instructions were then passed down in the Barbadian slave society from generation to generation. This is what guided successive generations of slave owners in their operations. 

Sir James Drax became fabulously wealthy on the basis of pioneering this sugar revolution, so much so that in 1652 he built the Drax Hall ‘Great House’ on the Drax Hall Plantation. And that structure still exists today, just as it was near 400 years ago. It is the oldest Jacobean ‘Great House’ in the entire Americas. And then in 1654, he left Barbados, emigrated back home to England taking the profits that he had generated at Drax Hall Plantation with him, and proceeded to buy up a set of opulent properties in England. But even though he left, his descendants continued to operate the plantation in Barbados. 

Today, the Drax family still owns and operates that plantation. 

What are your hopes related to Drax Hall and the reparations movement? 

Because the historical record is very clear regarding the ownership and the amount of wealth that the was generated and taken out of Barbados, our National Task Force is very keen to engage Sir Richard Drax in a reparations discussion. The Task Force felt very strongly that, considering the central role the Drax family has played in this history for close to 400 years and the fact that they are still here and benefiting from the wealth that has been siphoned off and sent to the UK, the Drax family needs to pay reparations. 

Part of the reparations that we want is custody of the Drax Hall plantation. That plantation and its records could be of tremendous cultural, psychological and academic benefit to the Barbadian society permitting us to have a proper understanding of those 400 years of chattel slavery. You could not find a more perfect slavery museum than the Drax Hall ‘Great House’ and plantation which has been continuously in operation for close to 400 years in the hands of the same family. 

Were you surprised at the change of direction by the Barbadian government in the acquisition of lands at Drax Hall? 

I wasn’t surprised at all. That is part of the Mia Motley administration. They listen to the people and if they have made a misstep, they’re never too proud to say ‘we have made a misstep, let us correct course.’ 

Compulsory acquisition through the Ministry of Housing and Lands is done all the time. And many people need to recognise that the whole of Barbados used to be made up of slave plantations. Drax Hall is not unique in that respect. 

We need to be clear as well, that there was no negotiation between the Minister of Housing and Mr. Drax. This figure of three million pounds that has been bandied about has no real substance either, and is the result of UK journalists making a guesstimate based on the market value of the 52 acres of land. It’s not that the Barbados government had any negotiation or agreement with Drax over this. 

What did you think of the public backlash to the idea of paying compensation to Drax for the acquisition of the land? 

To tell you the truth, I think we were all pleasantly surprised by the reaction of the people. Once the Barbadian people discovered that by acquiring the property, the government of Barbados would have to transfer some of their financial resources to Sir James Drax, the people reacted with abhorrence. There was tremendous pushback once the Caribbean people were aware. 

How could the descendant of a slave master who is still holding on to this property after 400 years and who has publicly rejected the very notion of reparations be given a single cent of our money? 

But the really good thing that has come out of this, is that now we all know the extent to which the reparations idea has taken root within the body politic of Barbados. Our people have an understanding, not only at an intellectual level, but at a deep emotional level, and that is going to strengthen the reparations movement. 

If we wanted evidence that the people are behind this movement, we have that evidence now. And certainly, for us in the National Task Force on Reparations, we wanted to know that our government at the highest levels was giving us the go-ahead to structure this reparations campaign pertaining to Drax Hall and Sir Richard Drax. And I think we have our answers from not just from the government, but from the people of Barbados. 

What role does the UK play in seeking reparations from Sir Richard Drax? 

I think the UK is critical to solving the Drax issue. 

Richard Drax is today probably the most hated man in Barbados. And that need not have been the case. If he had simply done the correct thing, he could have set such a positive example – a descendant of this infamous Barbadian slavery family who did the right thing and reached out in the right way. 

But instead, he has been cast in this light as the arch villain of the reparations campaign in Barbados. But we have to bring him to the table using public advocacy, and to do that we need our allies in the UK. 

Responsible people in the UK should be very concerned about this because this gentleman is a member of parliament. He’s seen as a representative of the people of the United Kingdom in the highest political office. As such he is supposed to be a representative of the national honour of the United Kingdom. And yet the image that he is presenting is a man who says, ‘this has nothing to do with me, I owe these people nothing because it concerns my ancient ancestor 400 years ago.’ He is therefore adding insult to injury, and our people are feeling the insult very deeply. 

Drax’s attitude and lack of acknowledgement is very, very regrettable. It is my hope that between the public campaigns in Barbados, and perhaps even more importantly in the UK, he will be prevailed upon to see that he is going down the wrong road and doing a lot of damage not only to his own reputation, but also to the prospect of a shared future between our peoples built on mutual understanding and partnership. 

How should the movement channel the emotional energy of the people into the next steps of the reparations journey in Barbados and across the Caribbean?  

The truth is we have always known that we will not succeed with our reparations campaign unless it becomes a mass movement. I have always said that we need to strive to create the kind of international mass movement that we did for the anti-apartheid struggle which brought down apartheid in South Africa. We need to mobilise and get the masses of our people in the Caribbean on board. 

But we also need allies in the European countries. We need people of goodwill, people of conscience, the youth, the human rights activists, church people, people of good conscience who are capable of seeing that an egregious wrong was done, and that it needs to be acknowledged, and repaired to take our human relationships to a higher level. 

What we witnessed in Barbados tells us that we have the masses of the Barbadian people with us. Over the last 30 years, we have done a lot of work in Barbados, but we need that not just in Barbados but also in the European countries. 

What would you like to see done to strengthen the reparations movement in the Caribbean? 

I think we already have most – not all- of the right Campaign infrastructure in place, but there are certain things that we have to refocus and tighten up. For example, we need a clear demarcation of responsibilities and functions between our CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC) and our Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Reparations. The CRC needs to be the agency that targets and engages with corporations, institutions and entities that are below the level of national governments, while our Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Reparations needs to get more into the act and be the body that engages with the relevant European governments that have been identified as targets of our Reparations campaign. And incidentally, there are ten such Governments – it is not the UK government alone!

The time has come now where the Prime Ministerial Subcommittee needs to be much more involved in speaking directly to the governments of Western Europe. 

In addition, all of our CARICOM countries need to have their national commissions in place. Those national commissions need to be financed by national budgets and they need to keep doing the work. 

Furthermore, we have reached a stage now where it is critical that we put our legal expertise and structures in place. We have made the decision at the level of our CARICOM Heads of Government Conference that in addition to public advocacy, we now need to start seriously looking at the possible legal options, including options at the level of the various UN treaty supervising bodies, like the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the UN Human Rights Council and so forth. We need to look as well at the International Court of Justice in relation to an advisory opinion. 

We have made very good progress since 2013, and I think Sir Hilary Beckles and the CRC really need to be commended. But the time has now come now where we need to recalibrate and tighten up all of our structures. 

We also need to keep in mind that allies across various countries are critical to this process. It has to be a partnership with allies like The Repair Campaign among others. 

What do you think is needed to get Caribbean people more involved in the reparations movement? 

We have to do two things. The first is to educate. 

Everything starts with the knowledge of the history of what happened and what was taken from us. People need to have a deep understanding and emotional connection to that history. 

And secondly, even as we teach about the past, we have to connect it to the present. 

We have to explain to our people that reparations is about addressing and redressing the historical legacies of underdevelopment that are directly linked to the crimes of African enslavement and native genocide. 

We must make clear to our people that at the heart of these campaigns is a better deal for our communal and national development and for revamping institutions, structures and practices that have their roots in centuries of enslavement and colonialism. 

For us, reparations is about schools, hospitals, clinics, cultural institutions, museums, infrastructure, new terms of trade and better access to developmental resources from international financial institutions. It is about longer repayment periods for our development loans. It is about grants to repair our societies from the damage of climate change. We see reparations in that broad context. My hope is that our people recognise it is not simply about the past but is about addressing the critical developmental issues of today. 

What would you say to those who want to get involved with the reparations movement? 

I think there are two messages. 

There’s a message for us, the Black people of the Caribbean and other societies. And then there’s a message for the people of Europe. 

I want the people of the Caribbean, specifically our young people, to see that reparations is a noble cause, similar to back in the seventies when our noble cause was the anti-apartheid struggle. This is the noble cause that permits you not only to help transform your national circumstances, but to build a new world. 

And similarly, with the people of Europe, you need to be aware. You can’t sweep this under the carpet. The genie is out of the bottle. The information is out there. People’s eyes are open. And with every passing week, more and more information comes to light of the crimes against humanity that were committed. 

If we don’t want a future of bitterness, animosity, or recrimination, then we all have to embrace this reparative justice vision because it is only reparative justice that is going to deliver to us these new, more elevated, more noble people-to-people relationships. 

If you do like Sir Richard Drax and say, ‘nothing to do with me, we owe you nothing, that it is about my ancient ancestors and I have no responsibility’ then you will be adding insult to injury and you’ll be virtually guaranteeing a reaction of bitterness and hostility by the people who feel that you have insulted them in addition to injuring them. 

That’s not the 21st century world that we want. We want nations, governments, Prime Ministers and MPs to have the moral conscience to be able to recognise where a wrong has been done and to repair it – that’s just common decency. 

That is the message that we need to take to our brothers and sisters in Europe and the UK. They were able to rise to that level of moral conscience in the anti-apartheid movement and I have no doubt that similarly they can rise to that level with the reparations movement.