MICHAELLE JEAN CALLED TO MAKE REAL DIFFERENCE

MICHAELLE JEAN CALLED TO MAKE REAL DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD
British Crown to Pay Long Overdue Reparations by Jafrikayiti

http://www.jafrikayiti.com/

Ottawa, April 7, 2007

The invitation was launched in the following terms: "To mark the
Bicentenary of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, join the
Governor General's Forum and share your thoughts on strategies to
eliminate racial discrimination with Canadians from across the
country" http://www.citizenvoices.gg.ca/en/forums/13

One African, born and raised in Haiti, a fellow Canadian citizen, has
decided to take up Michaelle Jean on her offer.

In a letter titled "MICHAELLE JEAN CALLED TO MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE IN
THE WORLD: British Crown to Pay Long Overdue Reparations", Jafrikayiti
(Jean Saint-Vil) argues, with a wealth of references and
illustrations, that it is wrong to simply commemmorate the abolition
of racial slavery in the Americas.

"The British Crown must pay long overdue reparations to the native
peoples of Africa and of the Americas", he claims with conviction.

Jafrikayiti presents himself as well as Governor General Michaelle
Jean as members of a privileged few decendants of enslaved Africans
with a certain voice, and to whom it befalls to speak and act up in
favor of global justice and peace.

To achieve peace with justice, Jafrikayiti, proposes an alternative
that inevitably involves real efforts to REPAIR the damages of the
European trade in Africans and enslavement of native peoples
(1441-1888), colonization (1884-1978) and neo-colonial exploitation
(1960s to the present).

Denouncing what he considers the shameful trivialization of a human
disaster of gigantic proportions, Jafrikayiti writes:

"We both know that neither the appalling poverty found in Haiti nor
that which is faced by First Nations Peoples in Canada are recent
phenomena due to "bad governance", as is often posited by apologists
of the violent conquest of this continent. The endemic vulnerability
of the African and First Nations populations of the Americas stem from
500 years of inhumane colonial and neo-colonial policies.

The strategy consisting in throwing money and weapons, while patching
up a brick school, a dispensary and a few prisons in return for
shameless waving of a million Canadian flags - is no solution at all.

Even when some relatively successful initiatives are undertaken by
well-meaning foreigners working within the neo-colonial context, they
cannot bring sustainable solutions to the huge and profound problems
facing the impoverished native peoples (of Africa and of the
Americas).

Reversing the situation shall require us to adopt new policies and
approaches, rather than rehashing the same old practices inspired by
Rudyard Kipling's 'White man Burden'".

"Will this Canadian Governor General, whose personal coat of arms
bears the broken chain of the famed Unknown Maroon, become the Head of
State who convinces the British Crown to pay the long overdue
reparations to the native peoples of Africa and of the Americas?"
challenges the author who closes his letter with:

"Your faithful compatriot who dares hope that you shall indeed make
the opening for the first Grand Chief of Canada: a Nation at peace
with history, in harmony with its First Nations, and at peace with
humanity".

To read Jafrikayiti's letter (in full with references and
illustrations), go to http://www.jafrikayiti.com/ and click on:
MICHAELLE JEAN CALLED TO MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE.

.