A candlelight vigil at Fort James Beach in Antigua honoured enslaved Africans and renewed calls for reparatory justice during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The Repair Campaign said the Nov. 2 memorial remembered more than 140,000 enslaved Africans forcibly shipped to Antigua and Barbuda between 1677 and 1815, including an estimated 22,000 who died during the Middle Passage.
The Rev. Dr. Bonnie Smith delivered a prayer of remembrance. Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, British MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Jacqui McKenzie and Dr. Anne C. Bailey offered remarks honouring the ancestors and urging participants to carry their memory forward to future generations.
The campaign also reported on a discussion held on the sidelines of CHOGM titled “From Samoa to St. John’s: Britain, the Commonwealth and the Road to Reparatory Justice.”
The session examined what Commonwealth countries are seeking from Britain, changing attitudes there and how current discussions could lead to lasting progress.
Participants included Ribeiro-Addy, chair of the British Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations; Denis O’Brien and Gonsalves of the Repair Campaign; Jasmine Mickens of the Global Africa Reparations and Restitution Fund; Dorbrene O’Marde, chairman of the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission; and professor Sir Hilary Beckles.
According to the campaign, the discussion reinforced the need for a unified approach to securing meaningful engagement with the British government on reparatory justice.
Source: Antigua News Room Antigua vigil remembers enslaved Africans as campaigners press for reparatory justice.