Apologies at Emancipation Jubilee

A hush fell over the Seville Heritage Park grounds in St. Ann as patrons at this year’s Emancipation Jubilee listened to the apologies of descendants of persons who were involved in chattel slavery on the island.

The event, held from July 31 into August 1 (Emancipation Day), is traditionally one of reflection, a celebration of culture and heritage, revelry in how far the island has come and charting a better future.

However, this year was a little different, as after the symbolic reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, there was the playing of several videos with apologies from families who are descendants of plantation owners and other persons who contributed in various ways to chattel slavery on the island and the transatlantic slave trade.

There was also an in-person apology from sisters Kate Thomas and Aidee Walker, who travelled from New Zealand to apologise to the people of Jamaica, which stood out.

The sisters are the descendants of slave owners, the Clan Malcolm of Argyll, who had an estate in St. Ann.

“We acknowledge the deep suffering and injustice inflicted on your ancestors by our forebears and we recognise the lasting impact of those atrocities in Jamaica. Chattel slavery was, and is a crime against humanity,” they said.

“We are grateful to the researchers and historians who have brought to light the full extent of [the] Clan Malcolm’s activities in Jamaica, specifically on Argyll estate [in St. Ann], which was owned by the Malcolms and is of great significance to the legacy of chattel enslavement in Jamaica,” the sisters added.

They referenced the Argyll Rebellion of 1824 that took place at Argyll and surrounding plantations in Golden Grove and Alexandria in the parish, which resulted in 12 men being executed for fighting for their freedom.

“We acknowledged the wealth created by our ancestors through chattel enslavement of your ancestors and the injustice of financial compensation paid by the British government to the enslavers. The enduring and damaging legacy of this injustice continues to the present day,” they outlined.

“We apologise most sincerely to the surviving descendants of the enslaved from Clan Malcolm plantations, for the continuing impact on their daily lives, their health and their well-being,” the sisters said.

They also pledged to lobby the government of New Zealand to acknowledge the Oceania region’s link to the injustices that took place in the Caribbean and to note the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 10-point plan for reparatory justice, which was created to address the impact of the transatlantic slave trade.

For her part, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Hon. Olivia Grange, accepted the apologies on behalf of the Government and people of Jamaica.

“One of the first steps to reparatory justice, as stated in the CARICOM 10-point agenda for reparations is the giving of a formal and sincere apology. While our various approaches to the United Kingdom government have, up to now, not brought the success that we desire, it has produced another result,” she said.

The Minister noted that over the past several months, many descendants of slave owners reached out to the Government looking for a chance to apologise to the people of Jamaica.

She added that Jamaica accepts the pledges made to work closely with the island to ensure that reparations are secured from the government of the United Kingdom, as reparatory justice provides an opportunity for the Government to do more for the citizens.

Also sending a video apology was Senior Editor of Diversity and Development at The Guardian newspaper, Joseph Harker, who apologised to the people of Jamaica for the link the founder of the publication had to the transatlantic slave trade.

“The Guardian has looked back into its history and discovered that its founder, John Edward Taylor and his backers had links to transatlantic slavery. One of those backers, Sir George Phillips, co-owned a sugar plantation in the parish of Hanover,” Mr. Harker said.

Last year, owners of The Guardian, the Scott Trust, apologised to the affected communities identified in research, as well as the surviving descendants of the enslaved, for the founder’s role in the crime against humanity, he said.

“Our goal is to strive to do all we can to atone for these historical injustices. We have committed ourselves to raising awareness of this brutal and dehumanising era and to creating a 10-year programme of restorative justice in full consultation with communities still affected by its legacies,” Mr. Harker informed.

Chattel slavery was the enslaving and owning of human beings and their offsprings as property, able to be bought, sold and forced to work without wages.

The Emancipation Jubilee was organised by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT), an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, and held under the theme ‘Feel di Spirit’.

This year’s Emancipation and Independence Day celebrations are being held under the theme ‘Jamaica 62: One Love…To the World’.