The Repair Campaign in collaboration with the Centre for Reparations Research (CRR) at The University of the West Indies, has announced the launch of the inaugural International Reparations Debate Competition. This event, themed “Tackling Reparations Together: A New Decade for Reparatory Justice,” will commence with an online media launch on Friday, February 21, 2025, at 4:00 PM (Jamaica time).
The aim is to engage secondary school students from throughout the Caribbean and the United Kingdom in important conversations surrounding reparatory justice, says a press release from the Repair Campaign. The first round of debates will see participation from 24 schools hailing from countries including the Bahamas, Curaçao, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the UK.
Scheduled to unfold from March to April 2025, the competition will tackle critical issues such as the potential for an ancestor’s wrongful actions to be apologized for, the appropriateness of reparations being paid to governments, and strategies for involving youth in discussions on reparatory justice.
Lucy Gaffney, Director of The Repair Campaign, expressed her enthusiasm for the competition, stating, “The Repair Campaign is deeply committed to raising awareness among young people about the history and ongoing impact of the transatlantic trafficking of peoples from Africa to the Caribbean. We are excited to support this debate competition because it provides an invaluable platform for students to engage with the pressing issues surrounding reparations. Initiatives like this help cultivate critical thinking, empower youth, and amplify their voices in the ongoing calls for justice for the crimes committed during the horrific period of history. This competition is a vital step in educating the next generation and fostering global conversations on reparatory justice.”
In addition to The Repair Campaign, the CRR has received substantial backing from various partners, including the CARICOM Reparations Commission, the Jamaica Association for Debating and Empowerment, UWI Press, the PJ Patterson Institute for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy, and the Wilberforce Institute in the UK. These collaborators share a common goal of advancing reparatory justice through debate, empowering young individuals to actively participate in the movement for reparations.
The competition is a fundamental aspect of the CRR’s broader initiative to integrate reparatory justice education and advocacy into mainstream discussions. By involving youth in substantial dialogues about reparations and the history of Africa and the Caribbean, the CRR aims to inspire a new cohort of advocates who will continue the important work related to reparations in their communities.
To participate in the online launch, interested individuals can register online.
I will never forget this video of the former Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy shining a black guy’s shoes as some kind of symbolic gesture, but when the guy asked him about giving him some stock in Chick-Fil-A as a joke he just ignored him.
I think that video is a perfect representation of the whole reparations debate – just a bunch of talk and cringeworthy gestures but zero material results. Total waste of time!
Instead of wasting all this time, effort (and hopefully not money) on this fruitless endeavour why not teach afro-caribbean people how to become more prosperous on their own. Like getting into new industries and technology(crypto, AI etc), learning good habits that make people successful etc.
They have been “talking” about reparations for years and aside from a few rare cases nothing material has come from it. Just people making proclamations apologizing on behalf of their ancestors (which is crazy) but giving nothing back.
That’s because you are non-white, non-european that you are not considered for reparations.
Why complain when Japan got reparations we got Mazda, Nissan etc, so did France and England after Hitler’s b*mbing. We rebuilt them.
Remember the “Marshall Plan.” that’s what it was, reparations. Some of us are still there since the 1950s.
We didn’t get the same energy from you when Biden followed up and upgraded reparations for the euro j*ws in Israel making them a super power to contend with today. See this info link:
https://qz.com/1680558/for-slavery-reparations-the-us-can-look-to-post-holocaust-germany/
We must support reparations from slavery, it’s important, it’s a dept owed. Please support your own people, regardless! that’s what others do, and are successful.