Charborough House, Charborough Park, Wareham, Dorset BH20 7EN
The CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC) is comprised of 12 member states in the Caribbean region. It is calling for reparations for genocide and for the enslavement of African people by former colonising powers. It also addresses this call to those who have profited from centuries of slavery.
“It is time to repair the harm and suffering that have resulted from crimes committed against enslaved and indentured peoples,” says the Commission: “This is a time for moral leadership. This is the moment of reparatory justice.
”We join forces with the CRC in their demand for reparations and ask you to address this call. The Drax family is prominent among British beneficiaries of transatlantic slavery. Drax Hall Estate in Barbados, still held by your family after more than 350 years, bears testimony to the genocide of Africans and to the trauma, pain and suffering of generations of African slaves and their descendants all over the world.
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Chair of the CRC, says: “Black life mattered only to make millionaires of English enslavers and the Drax family did it longer than any other elite family.” He adds: “The Drax family has done more harm and violence to the black people of Barbados than any other family. The Drax’s built and designed and structured slavery.
”It was one of your ancestors, James Drax, who pioneered the use of African slaves rather than white indentured servants to cultivate sugar. The use of African slaves for sugar cultivation and production yielded high profits and was immensely lucrative for plantation owners. This model was rolled out across the Caribbean and the Americas.
Your own wealth, Mr Drax, including your estate in Dorset today, is witness to this legacy of the enslavement of Africans in the Caribbean. Black Lives Matter – then and now. The time to effect reparatory justice is now, starting with the return of Drax Hall Estate in Barbados to the people of that nation, for the benefit of Barbadians and the people of the Caribbean region. This would represent a significant step in truly acknowledging the harm caused by the enslavement of Africans of which you and your family are direct beneficiaries. It will also be a significant recognition of the economic inequality between the Caribbean region and Britain: a direct consequence of the enslavement of Africans for the cultivation of sugar.
We, your constituents in South Dorset, together with elected representatives in the county, and community organisations, trade unions, political parties, faith groups and others ask you to make reparations to the people of the Caribbean region, without delay.
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