Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has asked UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to meet with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to talk about the problems caused by British colonialism and the need for reparative justice.
Mitchell made the call after members of the wealthy Trevelyan family apologized to him for the role their ancestors played in enslaving more than 1,000 Africans on their six plantations.
“As a head of government, I want to take this chance to join a public request to my fellow head of government of the United Kingdom to accept our kind invitation to begin dialogue in an open, transparent, frank, and dignified way to talk about the need for reparative justice for the people of CARICOM,” he said.
“And to also use your good position as the organizer to get together with your European counterparts to talk about this problem, especially with your French and Spanish counterparts. I also want to talk about the Republic of Haiti. Because the Republic of Haiti is the only island where it is clear that reparative justice is needed.”
Mitchell’s call for a conversation with Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was similar to what Laura Trevelyan said when she and other members of her family apologized to Grenada.
Trevelyan said it was important to talk about how slavery hurt people so that work could start to heal the wounds of history.
