September 29, 2026
Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley in her speech to the United Nations General Assembly this past week is making headlines worldwide for her bold and direct call again for fairness for the descendants of enslaved Africans in the Western Hemisphere.
Leaning in heavily on the former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, Mottley threw down the gauntlet to former colonisers by saying “If we want a UN that truly delivers for everyone, then at its core, we must treat every human being as having equal value and deserving respect.”
Equal rights and justice for all is what people of African descent want was the meat and potatoes of her speech.
He courage, on the largest stage, is breathtakingly refreshing.
However, how much would it do remains to be seen.
This magazine has misgivings on reparations being handed out blindly just because Caribbean and African leaders have run a guilt trip on the descendants of the colonisers.
For example, if money is given out in the billions, where will it go? Not very many of these government’s are trustworthy. Just look at how they administer what they have now? Corruption , debt and underperformance can be said across the board in the Caribbean and Africa.
Secondly, the talk of reparations causes us to neglect the problems we have now that we are not facing, like corruption, high debt and underperformance.
We need to be honest with ourselves and be sensible on reparations and where the money and development support will go.