CALM Publishing

REPARATIONS?
Reparations?
Imagine the emotion.
Look at the cover of Marley’s “Survival.”
See the drawing of the stowage compartment
Of a transatlantic slave ship –
Bodies side by side
Hundreds of brown logs chained down
Terror to be continued
Throughout their lives
Throughout their children’s lives
Throughout their grandchildren’s lives
Throughout their great-grandchildren’s lives . . .
Reparations?
How much has been received?
Who owes who?
Who decides?
Who pays?
What countries are involved?
Who benefitted?
Who are their descendants?
Who descended from civil war casualties?
Do we ever forget the past?
Can we ever start afresh –
As though no one needs to hate another –
As though no one blames another
For the sins of their great-great grandfather
For their situation today?
Sceptics point to history.
Optimists look to the future.
Where is the truth?
Is it in your individual life?
Public or private?
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