Well-known social justice advocate and long-time crusader for the Reparation movement, Mr. Randall Robinson, will visit Jamaica from October 18-21 as guest of the Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. Mr. Robinson will deliver a lecture on ‘Why Reparation Matters’ on Friday, October 19, 2007 at the Jamaica Conference Centre, Duke Street, Kingston at 10:00 am.

The lecture is geared towards explaining the case for reparation to young people in secondary schools, and is the first of four to be held across the island. It is open to the public.

This year marks the bicentenary of the abolition of the Transatlantic Trade in Africans and the JNHT, as part of its public education programme, is partnering with the JNBC in a number of activities to commemorate the milestone.

Part of the mandate of the Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee is to advance the cause of reparation and increase public awareness of the justification for pressing the Caribbean’s case for reparation for slavery and the trade in Africans, especially from Britain, which from the 17th to the 19th century participated in what many regard as the greatest crime against humanity. The JNBC is in the final stages of preparation of a discussion document on Jamaica’s case for reparation. While former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, the Anglican Church and others have variously expressed regret and apologies for their participation in the trans-Atlantic trade in Africans that relocated forcefully over 15 million Africans to the Americas, they have entered no serious discussions on reparation.

Born in Richmond, Virginia, Mr. Robinson is a graduate of Virginia Union University and Harvard Law School. He is the founder and former president of TransAfrica, the organization that spearheaded the movement to influence U.S. policies toward Africa and the Caribbean. He played a significant role in the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa and in the pro-democracy movement in Haiti. He is the author of several critically acclaimed books, including An Unbroken Agony, which explores the heroic and tragic history of Haiti; Defending the Spirit, an insider’s memoir of how Washington shapes policy toward the Black world, and The Debt, a compelling case for reparations, what the U.S. owes Blacks for American slavery. His latest book, The Reckoning, explores what Blacks owe each other.

The other lectures are:

• ‘The Legal Basis of Reparation’
  Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 10:00 am
  College of Agriculture, Portland
  Speaker: Lord Anthony Gifford Q.C.

• ‘The Trade in Africans & the Legacies of Slavery in Contemporary Jamaica’
  Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 10:00 am
  Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College Granville, St. James.
  Speaker: Professor Verene Shepherd

• ‘Haiti & the Ending of the Trade in Africans and slavery in the Caribbean’
  Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:00 am
  Northern Caribbean University Manchester
  Speaker: Dr. Clinton Hutton.

 
For more information, call the JNBC Secretariat at 970-4441 or the JNHT at 927-1287/8