The Centre for Reparation Research (CRR), which commenced operation in March 2017 and which was officially launched in October 2017, was created to promote research on, and engage in advocacy around the legacies of the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans, African enslavement, Asian indentureship, colonialism and its legacies in the Caribbean; and help to bring justice and positive transformation to societies affected by these legacies.
As the Centre for Reparation Research goes into its fifth year, we commit to continue to research, write and disseminate information on what has become a Global Reparatory Justice Movement. The CRR, therefore, supports and contributes to the implementation of CARICOM’s Reparatory Justice Programme, which broadly seeks to foster public awareness around the lasting and adverse consequences of European invasion of Indigenous Peoples’ lands, African enslavement and colonialism in the Caribbean. The CRR also supports long-standing reparatory justice advocates, including Indigenous Peoples, Rastafari, civil society groups and individual academics, politicians and national reparation committees/councils/advisory groups locally, regionally and internationally. The Centre has embraced an additional responsibility – working with DISCUS at The UWI (for example, the P.J. Patterson Centre Africa-Caribbean Advocacy, and the Institute of Caribbean Studies) and other educational institutions, including Caribbean high schools, to promote education on colonial legacies and the need for justice and repair.
The CRR embodies the goals of The UWI’s Triple A Strategy 2017–2022: to advance learning, create knowledge and foster innovation for the positive transformation of the Caribbean through access, alignment and agility.
The CRR reflects Access by promoting research on: 1) the legacies of colonialism, native genocide, enslavement and indentureship in the Caribbean; and 2) how to bring justice and positive transformation to these legacies. The CRR continues to partner with the CARICOM Reparations Commission and the Saint Lucia National Reparations Committee to present a year-long Regional Schools Lecture Series which takes into consideration the CXC and CAPE curricula. The CRR also played a key role in the development of a joint Master’s programme with the University of Glasgow, to be taught starting September 2022.
The establishment of the CRR has already resulted in academic and industry partnerships and collaborations with corporations and institutions – nationally, regionally and internationally. The CRR continues to collaborate with advocates such as the National African-American Reparation Coalition, USA; Global African Congress, UK; and National Committees of the CARICOM countries. The CRR also has plans to formalise a relationship with the Ameena Gafoor Institute for the Study of Indentureship. This also fulfils another main goal of the CRR which is the promotion of advocacy for reparatory justice by the building of capacity for: consultancy to CARICOM, Caribbean states, the UN and other relevant institutions; raising public awareness; and supporting activism for reparatory and decolonial justice from grassroots to governments.
The establishment of the CRR has already resulted in academic and industry partnerships and collaborations with corporations and institutions – nationally, regionally and internationally. The CRR continues to collaborate with advocates such as the National African-American Reparation Coalition, USA; Global African Congress, UK; and National Committees of the CARICOM countries. The CRR also has plans to formalise a relationship with the Ameena Gafoor Institute for the Study of Indentureship. This also fulfils another main goal of the CRR which is the promotion of advocacy for reparatory justice by the building of capacity for: consultancy to CARICOM, Caribbean states, the UN and other relevant institutions; raising public awareness; and supporting activism for reparatory and decolonial justice from grassroots to governments.
The UWI will be implementing an operational plan dedicated exclusively to addressing its financial sustainability, which has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CRR, which was already on a path since 2017 to diversify its income stream, will continue, through institutional partnerships and application for grant-funding, to be a part of this initiative.
The CRR is directed by Social Historian and Vice-Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Professor Verene A. Shepherd, CD, who is also a Vice-Chair of the CARICOM Reparations Commission. In January, Professor Shepherd began a second four-year term on the CERD, and in April 2022 will assume the position of Chair for CERD.
Up to July 31, 2021, the core staff complement also included a Research Assistant, Ms. Gabrielle Hemmings, and an Administrative Assistant, Mr. Floyd Williams. We lost the services of the Project Officer, Mrs. Jonessa Wright-Baker. In addition to the core staff, the Centre also temporarily employed the services of two project-related Research Assistants, Ms. Dominique Doonquah and Mr. John Shorter, paid by funds raised from research initiatives. John, Gabrielle and Dominique have since gone on to graduate school and Floyd changed jobs. Floyd has been replaced by Mr. Mario Galbert, and Gabrielle has been replaced by Ms. Nattecia Bohardsingh.
The visiting students were attorney-at-law, Ms. Priscilla Robinson, graduate student at the University of West London; and Sadiyah Malcolm, graduate student at the University of Michigan.
The following is a sample of the virtual activities in which the Director and staff were involved since the last report.
May 20–21, 2021
Co-organised the Symposium, “Reparations Under International Law for Enslavement of African Persons in the Americas and the Caribbean”, with the American Society of International Lawyers (ASIL)
May 25, 2021
Participated in Jamaica’s Africa Day Symposium, moderated by the Director.
June 7, 2021
“Beyond the Human Rights Rhetoric on ‘Leaving No One Behind’: Concrete Policies and Actions to Eliminate Systemic Racism in Implementation of the SDGs”. Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) accredited to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, SPSSI’s High Level Political Forum Side Event. (Director)
June 15, 2021
“Reparatory Justice and Economic Equity for the African and Caribbean Diaspora”. AFUWI Virtual Roundtable Talk for Caribbean American Heritage Month. (Director)
July 4, 2021
“How Impactful Were the Global Black Lives Matter Protests in Providing an Opportunity to Dismantle Systemic Racism?” Heritage and Cultural Society of Africa (HACSA) Sankofa Summit 2021. (Director)
August 17, 2021
“Afrikan Unity – the Spinal Chord” Garvey Symposium organised by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment & Sport (Jamaica). (Director)
August 23, 2021
“The Caribbean and the Reparation Movement”. Presented to Casa de las Americas and the Cuban National Commission for UNESCO on the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. (Director)
August 31 – September 4, 2021
The Director participated in “La conmemoración del primer Día Internacional de los Afrodescendientes”, organised by Costa Rica.
September 20, 2021
Lecture on Reparation by the Director, Wesleyan College, USA. (Director)
September 22, 2021
High-Level Meeting at the United Nations, New York, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Durban Declaration & Programme of Action (DDPA). (Director)
September 24, 2021
Co-organiser with the P.J. Patterson Centre (PJPC) and the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport (MCGES) of the Webinar “Durban + 20: Reparation, Recognition, Justice, Development”.
September 26-28, 2021
“The Computer Must Have Gotten It Wrong”. Presented to the 2nd Artificial Intelligence for Information Accessibility (AI4IA) Conference. (Director)
October 1, 2021
"Reparation and Diversity: Building an Inclusive Movement in the Caribbean" Keynote Lecture at the “Confronting the Past, Re-imagining the Future” Conference, Jesus College. (Director)
October 4, 2021
“Leaving No One Behind: Gender, Reparation and Diversity”. Keynote Lecture, Open University. (Director)
October 14, 2021
Black History: What is that? – A View from the Caribbean”. Presented to the African and Caribbean Support Organisation (ASCONI), Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Director)
December 20, 2021
“Should Jamaica Become a Republic?” Gleaner webinar to celebrate the anniversary of the publication of the Gleaner in the UK. (Director)
The CRR remains committed to fulfilling The UWI’s Triple A Strategy and to contribute to its Revenue Revolution, as well as to carrying out the mandate of CARICOM to advance the movement for reparatory justice in the Caribbean.
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