Britain’s Royal African Company shipped more enslaved Africans to the Caribbean and South America than to anywhere else, and the royal family profited for centuries off enslaved people’s backs.
Now Jamaica, a country once the center of Britain’s colonial terror, just made a bold move.
It’s out with the queen! Jamaica is planning to remove Queen Elizabeth II as their formal Head Of State, just as Barbados did last November.
Many are demanding Britain apologize for their role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. They keep referring to enslavement as an “atrocity,” but have yet to formally take accountability.
Jamaicans are also calling for reparations. When Britain abolished slavery in 1834, the government compensated enslavers and forced Jamaica to take out a 26 million dollar loan that wasn’t paid off until 2015.
Yet descendants of enslaved people have never been compensated, and continue to face the effects of institutionalized racism daily.
Jamaica isn’t the only country looking to sever these white ties. The Bahamas also published an open letter with similar demands following royals William and Kate Middleton’s recent tour. For decades, many across the diaspora have been fighting for reparations, and that fight continues.
Like Jamaica, we must all realize we don’t need white colonial powers to prosper! The sooner we can be independent of white supremacy, the better we can build the futures we want for ourselves.