Young Barbadians are being called to take up the mantle in the fight for reparations, amid renewed demands for youth-driven leadership to secure justice for centuries of colonial exploitation and slavery.
Member of Parliament Trevor Prescod, the government’s special envoy on reparations and economic enfranchisement, described reparations as “the most fundamental subject matter that is needed at this time for people that look like you and me”.
Prescod encouraged students to study the history of slavery and colonialism and to approach the topic with courage and conviction at the inaugural Schools Lecture Competition on Reparations at Frank Collymore Hall, organised by the National Library Service, on Tuesday.
His message found real-life expression in the presentations of five students from Combermere and Coleridge and Parry Secondary Schools.
The joint presentation of Combermere Sixth Form students Nathan Small-Greaves and Omesha Springer captured first place in the speaking contest.
From Combermere, Tyler Clarke placed second and Jimmario Davis came third, and the Coleridge and Parry duo of Takara St Hill-Boyce and Janae Husbands finished fourth.
Reflecting on their win, the pair of Small-Greaves and Springer said teamwork was key to their success.
“At first we were weary, and then it came with confidence, with courage, and we dominated,” said Small-Greaves, who has dreams of taking his Law studies all the way to being a criminal defence attorney.
“For those who are interested in doing it — do it when you’re afraid. Don’t wait for that fear to go away. Confidence is not just mental, it’s physical. You need to ensure that you wake up every morning on time, healthy and woken, not tired. So take these wise words and use them to build your courage.”
Springer said: “As someone who’s pretty shy and not very confident, they made me realise that if I put my mind to it, I can do it — and so can you guys, so thank you.”
She described reparations as “a crucial social issue that needs to be heard”.
She highlighted the value of collaboration: “Everything can’t be done alone. You can do it alone, but better things come when you do it together. When you have two minds, two different ways of thinking, and you collaborate, you can create something that would blow the mind.”
Prescod congratulated the students: “I want to compliment all of you, teachers, students, and all of you who have been responsible for the configuration of this specific project. This is going to be the essence of how the State must go—voice of youth, more so than the structures that exist within the bureaucratic systems itself.”
Describing slavery as “a felonious crime against humanity”, Prescod warned that the global conversation on reparations had become diluted.
“Reparations, up to today, are diffused in the sense, in my view, by the concept of what is now called reparatory justice,” he said. “Reparatory justice, to me, is all about the moralities and immoralities of slavery. But as far as I understand, this subject, reparation, is [about] a felonious crime against humanity”.
He reminded students of the brutality of the slave trade. “It is about murder. It is about rape. The abuse of women. It is about people not having a choice, unable to preserve their own culture,” he said.
Prescod stressed that the struggle for reparations must be pan-African in scope. “You cannot win reparations by fighting in representation of less than 300 000 people in Barbados and believe that you can come up against Great Britain or the United States of America. You can’t have it. It means that you’re engaging in fantasy.”
He urged students to continue researching the works of leading Caribbean scholars, including Dr Eric Williams, Dr Walter Rodney, and Professor Sir Hilary Beckles. “You have to do some in-depth research,” he told them.
“This information is going to take you to many of the countries across the world where the so-called colonial masters and their families now live in enrichment and with mass wealth which was extracted out of the soils of the Caribbean.”
Prescod also recalled the youth-led Black Lives Matter march from Kensington Oval to Independence Square, which inspired the removal of the Lord Nelson statue. “The Prime Minister said: ‘Tell the young people that by next week I will have legislation before Parliament in relation to the removal of Nelson.’”
He affirmed that the government remains committed to the CARICOM Ten-Point Plan for Reparations but stressed that the next phase of the movement must be youth-driven.
“This path calls for courage, conviction,” Prescod concluded. “You are young people, and your teachers—you all are men and women of courage, conviction. I am grateful that the future is in your hands”.
(LG)
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