In Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract One final objection to reparations must be faced: it is all very well to press the case for reparations for the Caribbean, so it is said, but there could be many other claims made against the UK with its long and troubled colonial engagements. The UK couldn’t possible settle all such claims without being bankrupted. The advocate of reparations, used to being told that the case for reparations is without merit, may be pleased to have reached the point where the objection is not that the claim is bad, but that there are too many good ones. The answer to this point, however, is to recognize that wrongs come in many shapes and sizes, but that though there may be wider call for recompense and reparations, the wrongs of transatlantic slavery demand our attention first of all. This is not just because the claim has been articulated by CARICOM, but because of the extent and character of the wrongs which were done and because of the continuing legacy of those wrongs for present generations in the Caribbean.