Grange leading reparations delegation to the UK

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange is to leave the country to lead a delegation to the United Kingdom (UK) to advance Jamaica’s push for reparations for the African ancestors who suffered under hundreds of years of enslavement on the island. The minister’s visit is timed to coincide with the filing of a petition to King Charles on Monday. The petition asks the king, in his capacity as head of state of Jamaica, to refer three questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Jamaica’s highest court.

The three questions are specific to the transatlantic chattel enslavement of Africans in Jamaica. The petition is not a demand for payment. READ: Jamaica to petition King Charles on reparatory justice September 6 Grange said, “This novel legal approach is being taken after years of deliberations and is intended to ensure the long outstanding settlement for the hundreds of years of the most horrific abuse that our African ancestors endured — the gravest crime against humanity.” While in the United Kingdom, the minister will also participate in an ecumenical church service, focused on remembrance, justice and repair, at the New Park Road Baptist Church in South London on September 6.

On that date in 1781 the slave ship ‘Zong’ set sail from the African west coast towards Black River in Jamaica. We cannot forget the victims and the survivors who made it to Jamaica, nor how the crew of the Zong threw at least 132 enslaved Africans overboard in an act of mass murder that was representative of the horrors of the slave trade in Africans,” Grange said. The minister will lay a floral tribute in honour of the victims of the Zong massacre.

She will also meet with officials of the British Museum to advance discussions on the repatriation of artefacts that were taken from Jamaican soil and taken to the United Kingdom during the colonial era. “They are priceless, they are significant to the story of Jamaica, they belong to the people of Jamaica and we are working to bring them home,” she said. The delegation includes representatives of the Office of the Attorney General, the National Council on Reparations, as well as officers of Grange’s ministry.