Global Courant 2023-05-04 13:00:06
No matter where you go in Kingston, the Jamaican capital, it seems that no one really cares about King Charles’s coronation.
The fact that he is even king of a country where hundreds of thousands were enslaved under centuries of British rule is seen by many as an affront to history.
“Why is the king still our head of state?” asked Jahmar Clarke, 32, during a game of dominoes with friends at a Kingston bar.
“We should move beyond monarchy… it’s time for us to take it on as a nation.”
That’s exactly what Jamaica is trying to do. The government says it will hold a nationwide referendum with the aim of ousting King Charles as head of state by 2025.
Prince Charles tours the historic town of Falmouth, Jamaica on March 13, 2008. He was on the last leg of a 10-day tour of the Caribbean. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
“We’re moving on,” Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness told Prince William and his wife Catherine during their widely criticized tour of Jamaica last year.
“We intend to … realize our true aspirations and destiny as an independent, developed, prosperous country.”
Jamaica’s leaders also want apologies and reparations – for all the suffering caused and all the wealth taken from the island.
LOOK | Jamaica cools off to King Charles as it tries to move away from monarchy:
Jamaica is ready to leave the monarchy as the coronation looms
The coronation of King Charles is a non-starter in Jamaica, which is working to oust him as head of state by 2025. It also pushes for reparations for the suffering the British inflicted during centuries of slavery. CBC’s Ellen Mauro went to Jamaica to meet those calling for change and reconciliation.
Calls for apologies
Invaded by the British in 1655, Jamaica quickly became one of the Empire’s most lucrative colonies. All that wealth was built on the backs of enslaved people forced to toil on sugar plantations all over the island.
And the The royal family was complicit in the brutality from the very beginning.
The Royal African Company, which towed dozens of African people to Jamaica, operated under a royal charter from King Charles II. Many of the enslaved people were branded with the letters “DY” for the then Duke of York who ran the company. That duke would later become King James II.
People calling for reparations for slavery protest outside the entrance to the British High Commission in Kingston, Jamaica, on March 22, 2022, during the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. (Ricardo Makyn/AFP/Getty Images)
“The Royal Family and many individuals in the British government, both past and present, have been heavily involved in the atrocity amassing wealth,” said Dave Gosse, director of the Institute of Caribbean Studies/Reggae Studies Unit. at the University of the West. India.
When emancipation came in 1834, slave owners were still benefiting from it.
Under the Slavery Compensation Act of 1837, the British government paid £20 million – nearly $30 billion Cdn today – to slave owners for their loss of human property. The enslaved people have nothing.
Dave Gosse is the director of the Institute of Caribbean Studies/Reggae Studies Unit at the University of the West Indies. He thinks the royal family should make a formal apology for the monarchy’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. (Ousama Farag/CBC)
In fact, even after emancipation came into effect, many were forced to work for their former owners another four years without pay as a so-called apprentice.
Experts have attributed many of Jamaica’s social challenges, and those throughout the Caribbean, are directly related to the legacy of slavery, including entrenched poverty, strong class divisions and lack of development.
“People now understand more about our history and the royal family’s role in that saga,” said Gosse. “What we really want is for someone to have the balls to apologize and say ‘we’re sorry’.”
Prince William and his wife Catherine will visit Jamaica on March 24, 2022. This military parade was intended to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth, who rode in the same jeep, but has been criticized as a reminder of British colonialism on the island. (Paul Edwards/Getty Images)
There were demands for Prince William to make that apology during his March 2022 visit to the country, including an open letter signed by dozens of prominent Jamaicans. But it didn’t come.
“I want to express my deep sorrow,” said William. “Slavery was abhorrent. It should never have happened.”
The tour was seen as an attempt at a charm offensive, with republican rumblings already rippling through Jamaica. Instead, it was riddled with problematic photo ops and criticized as tone-deaf. It seemingly only spurred Jamaica’s move.
This photo taken during last year’s royal tour of Jamaica was also criticized, with some commentators calling it “disastrous.” The tour was intended as a charm offensive, but it only seemed to spur Jamaica to cut ties with the monarchy. (Samir Hussein/WireImage)
‘A foreign king’
Jamaica has already established a Constitutional Reform Commission, responsible for a smooth transition from constitutional monarchy to republic. In the weeks before the coronation the government posted a video about the reform process, already referring to Charles as a ‘foreign king’.
The date of the referendum has not yet been announced, however poll from last year shows that a majority of Jamaicans support the severing of ties and that both major political parties support the move.
Jamaica would follow Barbados, which deposed the British monarch as head of state in 2021. Other Caribbean countries, such as Antigua and Barbuda, are having the same conversation.
“Our goal is to be truly independent from our colonial past and from those who enslaved us,” said Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports Minister Olivia Grange.
Culture Minister Olivia Grange oversees Jamaica’s Reparations Council. She says Jamaica intends to petition King Charles directly, calling on the United Kingdom and the royal family to “fix” the long-standing effects of slavery in Jamaica. (Ousama Farag/CBC)
But it’s not the only goal. Grange is the government minister responsible for Jamaica’s reparations efforts. A recent bill introduced in the Jamaican parliament states that the British government owes Jamaica at least £7.6bn ($12bn Cdn).
“Jamaica is one of those countries that continues to suffer from the slavery of our ancestors,” she said. “We ask that the wrong has been done – that they prepare for the damage.”
Grange said the government intends to petition King Charles directly.
“We’re looking at all options,” she says. “We’re not going to stop until we get justice.”
‘Metaphorical chains are broken’
While reparations are of great importance to many on the island, they are not the only thing that matters – abolishing the monarchy also has psychological and symbolic benefits for countless Jamaicans.
“Are we really emancipated if we still have a head of government who is a monarchy, which is really archaic in nature?” asked Toniann Pellington, 19, a graduating student at Immaculate Conception, an all-girls school in Kingston.
“Removing the king as head of state won’t exactly affect our daily lives, but it would mean breaking the metaphorical chains,” Pellington said. “We are no longer mentally enslaved.”
Pellington was with classmates Summer-Leigh Yapp, Jade Thomas and Dana-Kaye McPherson, all of whom are old enough to vote in the upcoming referendum. Each of them said they can’t wait to have a head of state that looks like them and truly reflects their country.
Dana McPherson, Jade Thomas, Summer-Leigh Yapp and Toniann Pellington say having a Jamaican head of state and removing King Charles from that role is important for their country’s future. (Ousama Farag/CBC)
They lamented the reminders of British colonialism that exist throughout Jamaica – the statues, the street names, parliamentary structures and the reverence some still hold for the royal family.
The students, and several others in Kingston, quoted Bob Marley’s famous Redemption Songwith the lyrics, “emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.”
“We would really like to have our own Caribbean identity and I feel like the presence of the monarchy really hinders that,” Yapp said. “It’s like we’re hovering over Jamaica… pulling back and holding us back from further progress.”
“There are so many Eurocentric ideals we have,” she added. “If we start separating from them, we can become very established as a people.”
A statue of Queen Victoria in Kingston, Jamaica. The island was a British colony for over 300 years. During that time, hundreds of thousands of enslaved people were dragged to the island, forced to toil on sugar plantations. (Ousama Farag/CBC)
