Secretary-General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and Chairperson of the Open Campus Council, Dr. June Soomer, is one who believes that the history of Indigenous and African people, of women, in particular, should form part of the school’s syllabus.
Soomer, like other historians before her, made that suggestion when she addressed the Dame Eugenia Charles Memorial Lecture at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus on February 6th.
She spoke under the theme “Upgrading to first-class: The role and contributions of Dominican women in the Caribbean Reparations Movement.”
“We need to be able to bring history back into the schools and when I leave here, I want you all to advocate for Dominica to do that. We have school systems that do not teach the people’s history. We refuse to teach history and when we teach history, we teach European history,” she told her audience.
She said the reparations movement in the Caribbean as well as globally, is still being intimidated by “the anti- reparations movement” which views this as a call of greed.
“You know, whenever it comes to something for black people, it’s only because we are greedy,” she said.
Dominicans, according to Soomer, must never be afraid to fight for justice and unless “we get reparations including and an apology, black people cannot move on”.
Reparations for slavery is a political justice concept that argues that reparations should be paid to the descendants of slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa who were trafficked to and enslaved in the Americas as a consequence of the Atlantic slave trade.
Meantime, Soomer said women are more than 50% head of the household and if they are oppressed, the country can never go forward.
Soomer added that in Dominica, the call for reparations must never leave out the indigenous women as they were dehumanized and made almost nameless and faceless in history.
“You know how hard it is to find information on indigenous women. You cannot find their names; you cannot find their numbers. It is not in the written documents,” she stated.
She noted that indigenous women were also part of the first group of maroons in history.
The historian hastened to add, however, that her lecture is not against white people or men, but about all the things that bring people together.
“If nothing is done against the injustice that women have faced, no one will understand what society is supposed to be about,” she explained.
Soomer also encouraged her audience to have a relentless advocacy with all the national reparations committees and encourage a global discussion on the topic.
Don’t just settle for my word on this, please visit this link for a few insights Re past REPARATIONS: https://qz.com/1680558/for-slavery-reparations-the-us-can-look-to-post-holocaust-germany/
Will someone please do us all a favor and research how many Jews complained about reparations, how many Japanese after they were bombed, Germans, British after just a few bombs from Hitler and got ‘The Marshall Plan’, fancy name for…. you guessed it ‘Reparations’, in the trillions. I’m just wondering how many protested and said ‘duh nonono, don’t rock the boat you’ll make massa mad at us, and beat us?
By the way these Reparations are never in the form of a few dollars in the pockets of each person or gov’t official as justifiably fear but to bolster civil institutions from education to infrastructure among other things, some as promised and broken. And yes the Reparations movement ‘will’ rock the boat but please don’t fear, massa will not beat you, be brave, we together will succeed.
Dr. Soomer, while you sit and wait for reparations, I will work hard and smart, make good investments in myself. I am 100% certain to get much further ahead than waiting for that fat check you suggest will make us whole as a people.
Some people spend a lot of time and money to attain a good education and at the end they come out talking more nonsense than before they went to school.
We can see you are very concerned with saving your European masters some money. But you were moomoo when you learned that they paid reparations in millions of pounds to THEIR OWN slave owners after losing their slaves when they were forced to free them. It may be best to shut up and learn even though you are in retirement with all the time to write nonsense.
This has to be the worst article ever appeared on news online. Dominicans must stop feeling sorry for themselves, people achieved success through hard work.Despise school and remain a fool. If you running away through hard work you learn nothing. Africans never use any polite words, only mussles.How did they achieved the title CHIEF. The tunnel is in Ghana. We never thought iron would float. Tackle your country problems. Your young men site on the side road while strangers come in and tidy their country for them. Clean your own back yard first. Colour does not matter, all was born with 49 ounces of brain.
It is no excuse not to have read much passay primary school and nothing beyond what’s put out there by the same perpetrators of the worse atrocities ever against mankind. We can see you mimicking word for word. What did you expect them to put into your 25 ounces when you refuse to further your education on the subject? Much of the info is out there, it’s not too late to learn more and see right thru those lies.
I’ve always been mystified by this “Reparations” Movement. The idea that we should be compensated for the atrocities done to our ancestors is, in my opinion, a cash grab. It is clear that in the 21st Century we are no longer slaves except by our own minds and our future is dependant on us and us alone. We are free people and if any Reparations were needed to be given, it was to our ancestors to help them begin their new page of freedom.
Considering this movement has existed for so long, is there a solid plan for how the Reparations should be distributed? Will it be given the the Council so they can distribute it to the various nations? Will it be given to the government of each nation so they can further develop their nations or will they be required to distribute it to families? What about the Lebanese/Syrian/Indian descendants among us who weren’t forced to come here through slavery, will they be included? Not to mention possibilities of corruption (let’s be real here).
No it should not, thats a bad idea
Dominicans, according to Soomer must never be afraid to (fight for injustice) and unless “we get reparations including an apology black people cannot move on”. Are we just trying to find excuses?
Really Doctor Soomer! What movement have you started in your capacity to try to retrieve reparations for your black brothers and sisters? The statement above; we must fight for injustice; was that a Freudian slip? Some could argue that this was a manifestation of your thoughts. So don’t just tell us, Doc, show us. Your position allows you a platform to parade your thoughts into action.
With our irresponsible speeches we continue the enslavement process of our people. We tell people Do, she said what she wanted to happen after she left Dominica, she did not say let us join forces with our brothers and sisters from the wider Afro-Caribbean dispensation under the Dr. Soomer Umbrella to effect change! Is unity not strength? Black Stalin Calypso is more appropriate and informative.
ADMIN: The line (fight for injustice) was an error and has been corrected.
Ras B mi Bredda
U should really do your research Properly before you try “dem soff shots” 🙄❤️💛💚🙏🏽
Lambert, please educate us!! Has she shown leadership on the Afro-caribbean front?
Black Stalin, on the other hand, drew attention to the need for hard work and trying: You may be too young to know this but you can check on U-tube: Black Stalin, “We can make it if we try, just a little harder” and the inspiration of Rastafari: when he informed politicians that they can learn a thing or two from the Rastafarian movement, he said there is something the rastas know that the politicians don’t know. You may also wish to check his lyrics on the Caribbean man.
Your comment is so childish, it shows your age into the colonial era of calypso, not even funny at all if that’s what you’re trying to achieve.