Homemakers! The double edged sword.
The concept was well intentioned...at least I believed it was. But in
practice it offered an out for the lazy VR Counselors, as well as for
the well intentioned but over worked VRC's.
Since Closures(26's) were the name of the VR game, according to the
orders from the Feds, putting a couple of pieces of equipment in the
hands of a client and declaring them a successful Home Maker Closure,
became the normal way to meet the numbers requirement.
Our agency removed the home maker category from the VR side, and put
it into a separate "Independent Living" category. But of course most
of the Federal dollars were earmarked for VR services, so IL became
the Poor Country Cousin. And so it has been ever since. For some
while the VR program had a field Rehab Teacher serving both VR and IL
clients. This meant that the IL clients received a wink and a nod.
After we moved the program into the separate IL Program, we were able
to provide a higher level of service, including several two week
training sessions for groups of older clients, and organizing of
support groups. The support groups were not funded, so we bootlegged
them in under the pretense of "Group presentations". But after
organizing the group, we had to attend at our own expense, which often
meant taking time away from personal activities or client needs.
Currently there are still five support groups functioning in a fairly
positive manner.
Of course moving the IL program to private contractors was a big step
in the wrong direction. Currently we have gone from poor supervision
and little monitoring, to none of the above. Contracts are so poorly
funded that the IL program eagerly accepts anyone who can pass the
background search, as a qualified Rehab Teacher.
I'm not certain what ever happened to the plan to fund the program and
staff it with OT's. There are two such OT's on the Olympic Peninsula.
One has worked with Cathy and myself, and has a good attitude toward
all of her elderly clients, blind and sighted alike. The other is a
Toad. She sells clients aids that we could provide at no cost, and
then sends them to us for "training".
The fact is, like the home care providers, the money is so limited
that it only attracts people unable to find better employment. Well,
there are a few like Cathy and myself, who use the contracts for extra
income. But even then, we should hang our heads for not doing more to
make this IL program a respected and well funded and well staffed part
of the Department.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/19/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Here's a story that I told to a friend the other day to explain what
happens
in agencies because she was saying things like, "But these are supposed to
be charitable agencies". When I first began working for what was then
called
The Industrial Home For The blind, later Helen Keller Services for the
Blind, as a social worker in 1962, the agency was providing services like
skills of daily living and braille lessons to newly blinded people of all
ages. Fred, my future husband, was the director of Rehab Teaching. Very
quickly, the federal government added a new category for its rehab clients
called, "homemaker" which meant that the agency could be reimbursed for
rehab services for the elderly if each case was properlly documented.
Services were provided in 13 week increments. And you could buy equipment
that would make it easier for older people to function in their homes,
equipment like large print or braille timers, electric brooms, all sorts of
things that fit into the teaching plan. Suddenly I H B no longer provided
braille lessons or skills of daily living for anyone of any age, unless
that
individual fit into one of the rehab categories that was reimbursed by the
federal and state governments. But the newly blinded older people did
receive as much individualized weekly service in their homes for as long as
they needed it and it could be justified. Then someone, maybe it was Fred,
maybe someone else in the agency, decided that it would be more efficient
to
have one teacher teach a group of clients in a model apartment in the
agency
rather than having individual teachers visiting homes every week. Perhaps
funds had been cut. I have no idea, but that may have been the case. It was
probably at the end of the 70's. So the model changed. The client was
visited once or twice at home to assess her needs, and then she was
transported to the agency where she was taught skills in an environment
that
was not her home environment. Then she received one or two lessons at home
at the end to be sure that she could apply what she had learned, in her
home. And it sounds good in theory, right? Except of course, things move
along. Personnel changes. Money disappears. I saw the program at work in
the
90's when Art came to live with me and was lured into the program. Those
group teaching sessions were more like socialization than teaching. Clients
were given these gifts like large print or talking watches. There were no
individual rehab plans with equipment chosen on the basis of individual
goals. Everyone went through the same program and received these material
rewards.
I should have remembered that history when I encountered Community
Medicaid.
But actdually,the stakes are much higher in this program because there are
so many more clients and, therefore, so much more money to be made. The
services offered are not based on a patient's or client's individual needs.
They are based on a preset menu of services and what the clients get,
depends on how they fit into the state's preset categories. Guildnet's
literature says that it has a long history of expertise with the blind
which
is interesting because the people who are involved in its Health care
agency, know nothing about blindness. But it may very possibly still be
receiving state and federal rehab funds for working age people to receive
service either at the old Lighthouse address or at The Guild address which
is now the official address for the new combined agency.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2016 7:01 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Off List
When we learn to put People First, our resources will be used to provide a
quality standard of life for all people.
But far too many of us have the Midas syndrome, wanting everything we touch
to turn to gold.
I walked out of more than one meeting over the years, when members began
turning away from people services, and began planning ways to make the
organization bigger and financially solid. This results in bigger, better
funded organizations that don't do much for the People they set out to
serve.
But every little organization follows the same path. Raise money, hire
executives, publish lots of slick advertisements and brochures, rather than
providing more services.
We are conditioned to think that bigger, and more money, are better.
Our entire culture is built upon this false premise. We need to develop a
new concept, one that is based on people actually rolling up their sleeves
and providing support to one another. This is the better answer. Coming
together to support one another will put an end to those who pry on those
who are less able to protect themselves.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/19/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well, I might have a slightly different interpretation if I can stepanalytically.
back from my personal nightmare and look at the situation more
old age.
First of all, our society does not honor age or the elderly. This is a
youth centric culture. Older people feel complinented when they are
told that they are young at heart, or that they look younger than
their years. Any value to age such as the accumulation of knowledge or
good judgment, or tolerance, are never mentioned. Additionally, old
people are a nuisance because they are, as anyone will tell you, set
in their ways, and usually unable to adapt to new situations or to,
"go with the flow", or to use the latest technology. And there's all
the adjustment that younger people are forced to make when they are
with the elderly like, perhaps, speaking in a louder voice, or more
slowly and clearly, walking more slowly, turning up the heat a notch,
turning down the music. And, although it is polite to ask things like,
"How are you doing?", no one really wants old people to answer that
question. Now the practical result of all of this is that our beloved
current President, talked in 2012, during his debate with Candidate
Romney, about making changes to Social Ssecurity. And the changes he
had in mind were to change the way in which the cost of living
allowance was figured so that it would be lower in the future. Aside
from the Republicans' plans for privatizing social security and
medicare, there is the Left's fantasy world about how wonderful our
present system of Medicare is. As people talk about a single payer
system, they call it, with great enthusiasm, Medicare For All. But no
one says out loud that our present Medicare system is inadequate to
care for the medical needs of the elderly which is why all of us are
purchasing supplemental Medicare plans which add phenomenal monthly
premiums to what we already pay for Medicare premiums, and no one
discusses how Medicare Part D is already, basically, a privatized plan
because it is administered solely through private insurance companies
and some of us are seeing huge percentages of our incomes going to
Part D premiums and copays.
There are, of course, some very lucky people who actually still
benefit from good pension plans and whose medical benefits have not
been significantly altered from what they were promised they would get
when they retired.
These
are the people who can afford quality assisted living facilities or
pay for private home at help. A lot of us aren't in that situation.
Each of us has his or her own individual story which explains why
we're where we are. But one of the reasons that I'm where I am, is
that for 30 or more years, I worked as an independent contractor, and
there were no fringe benefits attached to that. Another is that I
refused to invest my savings in stocks and bonds of corporations whom,
I suspected, were hurting people or the environment. So I stayed with
municipal bonds which seemed financially and ethically safe. They
were. But they didn't increase my total worth and provide good care in my
responsible.
And now we come to the system. When the Lighthouse for the Blind and
the Guild for the Jewish Blind decided to join forces about 10 years
ago, combine their boards, and set services to the blind at the margin
of their concern, it was because the big stream of money in New York
State was now most available for Medicaid recipients. Many years
previously, Helen Keller Sservices changed their focus from a
rehabilitation center to a center caring for developmentally disabled
blind people because there was a new and lucrative stream of money for
that kind of service. So in the New York metropolitan area, we now
have at least six, huge agencies providing several kinds of health
care plans to medicaid recipients. In order to do this, each agency
purchases services from a variety of health care providers including
huge home health care agencies. Allen, the home health care agencies
from which my aides came, has offices all over the New York metro
area, contracts with many of the big agencies that provide health care
programs, has a call center, and like the rest of the system, is
incredibly incompetent. The system is slow and bureaucratic and many
people get money from it. Its clients, many of whom desperately need
its services, have lots of rights on paper, but are powerless and
often, are served inadequately. Perhaps six or more years ago,
someone developed the idea of a pooled trust to be responsible for the
financial needs of developmentally disabled people who had money, but
were unabled to handle it. The trust in New York, CDR, charges $200 to
open an account, $10 for each bill it pays up to 4 a month, $20 for
every additional bill in that month, and $50 for an auditing fee each
year. It keeps whatever money is left in the account when the client
dies. Someone got the idea that this would be great for elderly
people, as a way to keep them in their homes, pay for their current
living style, and yet permit them to become medicaid recipients.
There's no look back period like there is for nursing homes. So then a
lot of elder care lawyers got into the business of doing medicaid
applications for the elderly and opening CDR accounts. One of the big
problems with CDR is that it doesn't pay bills on time. So after I
complained on Friday and a representative said, "We never promise to
pay bills on time", which is an absolute lie, I wrote a letter to my
state senator, suggesting that the legislative branch look into the
financial functioning of this organization because they are
responsible for the funds of mentally disabled and elderly people who
have entrusted them with their financial welfare and for whom they are
except poorer.
I could describe in detail, some of the insane things that I,
personally, have encountered during my 3 month experience with
Community Medicaid like being enrolled with an agency health care plan
when I never signed up with the agency and being charged by them for 2
months of service which I never received because 1 I didn't sign up
and 2 they're not supposed to charge me If my money is in a pooled
trust. My New Years present will be to be released from this hell.
Then I can go back to being where I was before I started all of this,
times.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2016 2:09 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Off List
Miriam,
I see in a later post that you did not intend to hang out your wash in
front of the entire world...well, however numerous we are here on
blind democracy.
But the dastardly deed has been done, and you are now exposed as "that
ungrateful old blind lady".
Just because some helpful agency is trying to spend down your money
before you are done with it, and just because the only people who
usually wind up taking the low paying, no benefit jobs as care givers
are forced to take, are not always the brightest or the most honest
folk, and just because those hard to find care givers often "forget"
to show up, all that and more does not entitle you, and others in
similar situations, the right to grumble. No indeed, you should be
thankful and grateful and even a bit contrite for all you do receive.
This is why God was invented. We who feel put upon can bow our heads
and be grateful for that which we do have. Just think of all those
folks out there under the overpasses. Think of the folks still living
in temporary housing after Katrina blew through...how many years ago?
Oh you ingrate! A pox upon your house. I'd tell you to get down on
your knees, but I tried that a while ago and I'm still trying to pull
myself back up.
Seriously, the hard part of what we are looking forward to, is that we
know so many folks, including ourselves, who will not live to see better
People just like yourself, who worked hard, lived by the laws, paidthe money is gone.
their taxes, looked after their children, and even went off to fight
to keep safe the interests of the giant oil corporations.
Once the Empire has wrung out our last drop of blood, and we have no
value to our corporate rulers, we are tossed on the heap of
"Unwanted", left to our own devices. Told to keep out of sight.
When the day comes that the sleeping working class giant awakens,
times will be better. But not in our short future. Even if we live
to 100, no way will it happen.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/18/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So my latest news, in case I didn't mention it, is that after having
screwed up my finances and spent more than $10,000 to get Community
Medicaid so I could have help at home, I've been spending this month,
well, ever since November 26, trying to become unentangled from the
whole damn mess. I would have used a stronger word than, "damn", but
I wouldn't want to shock your delicate sensibilities. I will most
probably be disenrolled by December 23 or December 31, depending upon
which official letter I choose to believe, or when the aide stops
showing up. It will take at least another month, probably longer, to
get financially disegtangled. The way to get Community Medicaid in
NY is to have no more than $845 income each month. The way around
that is to put your excess income each month, in a pooled trust
account. The one my lawyer recommended was New York Stsate agency,
The Center for Disability Rights. They charge $200 to open an account
for you, $10 to pay each of four bills a month and $20 for every bill
in excess of four each month, and $50 each year for an audit. They
also keep whatever money is left after you die. They say that It
takes one to ten days to process a check. I'm not sure what process
means because it takes a hell of a lot longer than that for them to
actully pay a bill. They've been late 3 times so far. On Friday, when
I called to complain, one of their representatives said to me, "We
never promise to pay bills on time". But if they don't get my
December surplus, the agency that has been providing the aides, does and
And, by the way, CDR hasn't yet, as of Friday night, taken the moneycorner.
for December for my checking account. The whole system is like this.
So, at some point, I'll be poorer, but free of it, have control of my
money, as my income dwindles and expenses increase, and I'll be back
where I was, physically disabled, blinder by the minute, and hard of
hearing, plus there's the short term memory loss wich is not a good
problem for a blind person to have. The quality of the aides does
leave something to be desired. The one I've had for the past few
weeks is very kind and not very bright. I've refused substitutes whom
are provided on weekends. They're completely impossible. So far, as
far as I can tell, a very large stainless steel mixing bowl is
missing. But I only used it for defrosting chicken legs in water.
Well, I don't escape into who done its, but I do escape into fiction.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl
Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2016 5:07 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: What Should Reparations For Slavery
Entail?
Funny you would feel that way, Miriam. Just because we're in a
hopeless bottomless pit. That's why I read adventure novels. Mostly
the good guys, after looking as if they would be tossed into the
burning pit, suddenly overcome the evil ones and win.
We just finished a story where the hero blundered into a trap. The
villain pulls a gun and is about to shoot the three folks huddled in
a
Suddenly there is a noise behind the villain. It's the tea kettlerest.
burbling and whistling. The villain whirls around...and you know the
Too bad we can't rely on some clever writer figuring a way out of oursay the least.
world-wide mess.
And to top it all off, after our truck stalling on the highway Friday
night, our generator just shut down about an hour ago. Cathy got it
running, but it is not charging the batteries. She did find the
switch that had shut off, reset it and we are able to run the house
directly from the generator.
But it will be a cold night when I shut off the generator. Hopefully
my call to the electrical folks at Double D will be able to come out
first thing in the morning.
Life is always full of little surprises.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/18/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I think that most people are, in factd, beaten down and confused.
They're just living their lives, making it from one day to the next.
I used to really like reading all of the articles that come to me in
my inbox. I liked to know what was happening and to read various
opinions and interpretations.
I find that my attitude has changed. I find it all very distressing.
I feel like we are being manipulated by forces beyond our control.
People do a lot of theorizing and interpreting and demonstrating.
They glory in the fact that a lot of people come to a demonstration,
or that they're able to delay a catastrophe. But look at Standing Rock.
Pipelines are being built all over America. It's an absolute
nightmare. And when Trump takes office, that pipeline in North
Dakota will most probably be revived. Right wing governments are
taking root in many european countries. Today I read an article in
The Atlantic about how China is becoming more repressive and
hostile. James Fallows knows China well, lived there, and has a lot
of friends there, so I'm sure what he writes is accurate, although I
suspect that one of the reasons for the change in China is that the
US has placed all these ships in the waters surrounding China. But
anyway, my point is that it is all very overwhelming and depressing.
I may surround myself with articles by writers whom I respect, but
the people whom I encounter are a sample of the white, Long Island
population and some of the views that they express, are distressing,
to
little whimper.us?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl
Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2016 10:10 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: What Should Reparations For Slavery
Entail?
Well, most of us know how we got into our current mess, and we know
what to do to bring dignity and respect to all People. So what's
stopping
How long are we going to allow ourselves to be ruled by Lust and Greed?
Has
the Ruling Class really conditioned us to think only as far as the
end of our own noses? Do we really enjoy being victimized?
Have we been so beaten down that we wander aimlessly about like
Zombies?
Spineless and frightened?
If we do not take charge of our own lives and determine our
collective future, we will all end this Human Experiment with a sad
criminals.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/18/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
What Should Reparations For Slavery Entail?infrastructure, not prisons.”
CREATE! CAPITALISM, REPARATIONS, SLAVERY By Ama Biney,
www.pambazuka.org December 17th, 2016
Powered by Translate
Above Photo: Aehnetwork
In the light of the former British Prime Minister’s dismissal of
reparations, activists must push the debate further by detailing
what reparations should entail. Fundamental to a reparations
programme must be the fact that we transform the system of
capitalism which slavery gave birth to.
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron’s insulting dismissal
of trans-Atlantic slavery and his opinion that Africans and people
of African descent should “move on from this painful legacy, and
continue to build for the future,” would never be audaciously
uttered to Jewish people by this arrogant warmonger who bombed
Libya and sought to bomb Syria, but the British House of Commons
voted against such action. As the African American actor Danny
Glover said, the Jamaican government should tell Britain to “keep
your prison, give us schools, give us
[1] In addition, the Jamaican government should ask Cameron to
return all the professional Jamaicans who are teachers, lecturers,
health workers, IT consultants, etc. to Jamaica – instead of the
reparations:Moreover, Cameron should then pay the salaries of these Jamaicanslavery and colonialism.
professionals whilst they develop the economy of Jamaica for the
almost 400 years that slavery lasted.
In short, we must confront the reality that one of the reasons why
there is a brain drain in the Caribbean and Africa is the lack of
decent and attractive salaries to retain African professionals.
Britain can foot the bill to address this inequality that sprung
from
It is necessary to advance the debate on whether Britain and the
West in general (i.e. all those slave trading nations such as
France, The Netherlands, Spain, the USA, Portugal, etc.) should pay
enslavement and colonialism.what should reparations entail?bodies and history do not matter.
Acknowledging the atrocity and enormity of this experience is
necessary in an official apology. Commentators have observed how
the Maoris received an apology from the British Queen in 1995.[2]
In
2008 the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised in
parliament to all Aborigines for laws and policies that “inflicted
profound grief, suffering and loss”.[3] It appears when it comes to
Africans our lives,
Racism will find various rationalisations (or excuses) to deny that
enslavement of Africans merits an apology and reparations. Yet, we
cannot erase the collective historical memory and experiences of
enslavement that was wrought on people of African descent and
continues with the covert and overt forms of racial discrimination
that they still experience in the 21stcentury. Notions of racial
supremacy and the inferiority of Black people are rooted in the
brutal killings of Black males by white police officers in both the
US and UK. Such notions stem from the legacy of slavery that gave
rise to racist stereotypes harboured by racist societies that have
institutionalised racism. Perhaps it should also be the case that
in a programme of reparatory justice, there should be legal redress
for the lives of the hundreds of Black men killed by racist police
officers, as well as the people of African descent unjustly
incarcerated in America’s prisons.
Whilst it is the case that no amount of financial compensation can
address the psychological and emotional scars of enslavement of
people of African descent, nor the horrors of the Middle Passage,
nor those who remain buried in the Atlantic Ocean as a consequence
of suicide, nor the 132 Africans deliberately thrown overboard in
1786 on the slave ship Zong -in order that the ship owners could
claim the insurance – a comprehensive economic package needs to
address the fact that the current economic and technological
underdevelopment of Africa and the Caribbean is symptomatic of the
impact of 400 years of enslavement. This enslavement was followed
by the brief but no less damaging interlude of colonialism and must
be recognised as central to any form of reparations.
There are those who refuse to accept the fact that the economic
wealth of Europe was built on the sweat, blood and toil of African
people to the detriment of Africa. Yet, let us be clear that the
trans-Atlantic slave trade was not a “trade”. The meaning of “trade”
supposes equal benefit to both parties. It was not “trade” but the
looting of Africa in which Europe benefitted at the expense of
Africa as Walter Rodney graphically illustrates in his acclaimed
book, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.” The consequence for
Africa was and remains that “the African economy taken as a whole
was diverted away from its previous line of development and became
distorted.”[4] Reparations is therefore a quest to repair the
economic damage of underdevelopment wrought by the process of
valid.Error!the youth.This
economic redress will be symbolic for it may run into trillions of
dollars, for one can never place an economic value on the millions
of Africans whose lives were lost in the slave raids, or as they
died in the long march to the forts on the coast. How many died on
such journeys? Can we account for those enslaved women who secretly
aborted or killed their child to prevent them from experiencing
slavery? And should we not include the medical experimentations
carried out on the bodies of enslaved African women graphically
documented in the books “From Midwives to Medicine” and “Medical
Apartheid”? [5] As for the psychological impact of enslavement,
that too is another site of struggle that people of African descent
must address through spiritual and psychological healing as well as
education in which they reconnect to understanding and learning
about their history prior to enslavement. For it is essential for
Africans and the world to know that Africans had a rich and complex
history prior to the holocaust of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Also, it is important for us to remember that on the ending of
slavery in the British colonies, the British government were able
to compensate the slave owners £20 million (£20 billion in today’s
money). There was no compensation for the former enslaved African
men and women. In the USA there were pledges to the freed men and
women of “forty acres and a mule” that never materialised across
the board.[6] Hence, we need to address the question: What should
reparations for slavery entail? It should address the following:
First, an apology to all continental Africans and people of African
descent for the immorality of slavery, for merely stating “regret”
– as the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair did in 2007 – is
mere cant.[7] The former Jamaican Prime Minister P. J. Patterson
stated recently in an open letter to David Cameron: “Contrary to
your view, the Caribbean people will never emerge completely from
the “long, dark shadow” of slavery until there is a full confession
of guilt by those who committed this evil atrocity.”[8] Second, we
must demand that all Western governments instruct Western museums
and citizens to hand over to African countries illicitly acquired
African artefacts languishing both publicly and privately in their
hidden vaults. They must also provide the training and facilities
for African countries to host, display and conserve these returned
items. This includes thousands of artefacts, among them being the
more famous and well known 400 Ethiopian treasures looted by
British soldiers during the
1868 Magdala expedition. [9] There are also the Benin bronzes
looted in the British invasion of the Nigerian kingdom of Benin in
1896.[10] Kwame Opoku has diligently written on the need for these
and many other African artefacts to be returned to African nations.
Third, as mentioned above, the brain drain of African and African
Caribbean professionals should be halted by offering these
professionals the same salaries to voluntarily return to Africa and
the Caribbean in order to assist in the building of new schools,
universities, hospitals and clinics that would be set up and
financed by a comprehensive reparations economic programme.
Fourth, cancellation of all debt incurred by the Caribbean and
African nations on the grounds that they are odious and were not
incurred by the ordinary citizens of Africa and the Caribbean but
rather their ruling classes. Cancellation would free up these
critical funds to address the real needs of African citizens.
Moreover, it is the case that Africa loses approximately $50
billion a year through illicit financial flows out of which are
draining foreign exchange reserves, reducing tax collection and
deepening poverty. This colossal amount may well be short of the
reality as accurate figures do not exist for all African countries.
However, it is approximately double the official development
assistance (ODA) that Africa receives.[11] In short, aid is simply
a paltry and ineffective band aid that keeps African economies in a
continued process of economic subordination to neoliberal
capitalism under the illusion that there will be “trickle down
growth.” Blocking the haemorrhaging of illicit financial flows and
tax dodging would ensure there are funds and resources to build
railways to connect African people and economies; invest in adult
education that is almost non-existent in Africa compared to
primary, secondary and university education; massively expand
electrification, greener energy forms for ordinary citizens and
provide employment for African people, particularly
Overall, a dialogue within progressive activist circles and among5120588487https://twitter.com/popresistancehttps://twitter.com/popre
progressive Europeans, genuinely committed to addressing the
profound inequities of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and
colonialism needs to begin.
Farmers, women’s groups, young people, people with disabilities,
LBGTI individuals, academics, professional people in the Caribbean
and Africa must be involved in this trans-Atlantic dialogue on what
reparations should entail, as well as, creating progressive
governments and leadership (compared to the current compliant
neo-colonial incumbents), to push for a reparations programme.
Ultimately, in addressing the issue of reparations, we must also
address transforming the system of capitalism which slavery gave
birth to. A rupture with this unequal and exploitative system is
fundamental in eliminating oppression that remains with us in the
twenty first century in reconfigured forms.
* Dr. Ama Biney is a historian and political scientist living in UK.
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What Should Reparations For Slavery Entail?
Create! Capitalism, Reparations, Slavery By Ama Biney,
www.pambazuka.org December 17th, 2016
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Above Photo: Aehnetwork
In the light of the former British Prime Minister’s dismissal of
reparations, activists must push the debate further by detailing
what reparations should entail. Fundamental to a reparations
programme must be the fact that we transform the system of
capitalism which slavery gave birth to.
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron’s insulting dismissal
of trans-Atlantic slavery and his opinion that Africans and people
of African descent should “move on from this painful legacy, and
continue to build for the future,” would never be audaciously
uttered to Jewish people by this arrogant warmonger who bombed
Libya and sought to bomb Syria, but the British House of Commons
voted against such action. As the African American actor Danny
Glover said, the Jamaican government should tell Britain to “keep
your prison, give us schools, give us
[1] In addition, the Jamaican government should ask Cameron to
return all the professional Jamaicans who are teachers, lecturers,
health workers, IT consultants, etc. to Jamaica – instead of the
reparations:Moreover, Cameron should then pay the salaries of these Jamaicanslavery and colonialism.
professionals whilst they develop the economy of Jamaica for the
almost 400 years that slavery lasted.
In short, we must confront the reality that one of the reasons why
there is a brain drain in the Caribbean and Africa is the lack of
decent and attractive salaries to retain African professionals.
Britain can foot the bill to address this inequality that sprung
from
It is necessary to advance the debate on whether Britain and the
West in general (i.e. all those slave trading nations such as
France, The Netherlands, Spain, the USA, Portugal, etc.) should pay
enslavement and colonialism.what should reparations entail?bodies and history do not matter.
Acknowledging the atrocity and enormity of this experience is
necessary in an official apology. Commentators have observed how
the Maoris received an apology from the British Queen in 1995.[2]
In
2008 the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised in
parliament to all Aborigines for laws and policies that “inflicted
profound grief, suffering and loss”.[3] It appears when it comes to
Africans our lives,
Racism will find various rationalisations (or excuses) to deny that
enslavement of Africans merits an apology and reparations. Yet, we
cannot erase the collective historical memory and experiences of
enslavement that was wrought on people of African descent and
continues with the covert and overt forms of racial discrimination
that they still experience in the 21stcentury. Notions of racial
supremacy and the inferiority of Black people are rooted in the
brutal killings of Black males by white police officers in both the
US and UK. Such notions stem from the legacy of slavery that gave
rise to racist stereotypes harboured by racist societies that have
institutionalised racism. Perhaps it should also be the case that
in a programme of reparatory justice, there should be legal redress
for the lives of the hundreds of Black men killed by racist police
officers, as well as the people of African descent unjustly
incarcerated in America’s prisons.
Whilst it is the case that no amount of financial compensation can
address the psychological and emotional scars of enslavement of
people of African descent, nor the horrors of the Middle Passage,
nor those who remain buried in the Atlantic Ocean as a consequence
of suicide, nor the 132 Africans deliberately thrown overboard in
1786 on the slave ship Zong -in order that the ship owners could
claim the insurance – a comprehensive economic package needs to
address the fact that the current economic and technological
underdevelopment of Africa and the Caribbean is symptomatic of the
impact of 400 years of enslavement. This enslavement was followed
by the brief but no less damaging interlude of colonialism and must
be recognised as central to any form of reparations.
There are those who refuse to accept the fact that the economic
wealth of Europe was built on the sweat, blood and toil of African
people to the detriment of Africa. Yet, let us be clear that the
trans-Atlantic slave trade was not a “trade”. The meaning of “trade”
supposes equal benefit to both parties. It was not “trade” but the
looting of Africa in which Europe benefitted at the expense of
Africa as Walter Rodney graphically illustrates in his acclaimed
book, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.” The consequence for
Africa was and remains that “the African economy taken as a whole
was diverted away from its previous line of development and became
distorted.”[4] Reparations is therefore a quest to repair the
economic damage of underdevelopment wrought by the process of
hidden vaults.This
economic redress will be symbolic for it may run into trillions of
dollars, for one can never place an economic value on the millions
of Africans whose lives were lost in the slave raids, or as they
died in the long march to the forts on the coast. How many died on
such journeys? Can we account for those enslaved women who secretly
aborted or killed their child to prevent them from experiencing
slavery? And should we not include the medical experimentations
carried out on the bodies of enslaved African women graphically
documented in the books “From Midwives to Medicine” and “Medical
Apartheid”? [5] As for the psychological impact of enslavement,
that too is another site of struggle that people of African descent
must address through spiritual and psychological healing as well as
education in which they reconnect to understanding and learning
about their history prior to enslavement. For it is essential for
Africans and the world to know that Africans had a rich and complex
history prior to the holocaust of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Also, it is important for us to remember that on the ending of
slavery in the British colonies, the British government were able
to compensate the slave owners £20 million (£20 billion in today’s
money). There was no compensation for the former enslaved African
men and women. In the USA there were pledges to the freed men and
women of “forty acres and a mule” that never materialised across
the board.[6] Hence, we need to address the question: What should
reparations for slavery entail? It should address the following:
First, an apology to all continental Africans and people of African
descent for the immorality of slavery, for merely stating “regret”
– as the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair did in 2007 – is
mere cant.[7] The former Jamaican Prime Minister P. J. Patterson
stated recently in an open letter to David Cameron: “Contrary to
your view, the Caribbean people will never emerge completely from
the “long, dark shadow” of slavery until there is a full confession
of guilt by those who committed this evil atrocity.”[8] Second, we
must demand that all Western governments instruct Western museums
and citizens to hand over to African countries illicitly acquired
African artefacts languishing both publicly and privately in their
the youth.They must also provide the training and facilities for African1868 Magdala expedition.
countries to host, display and conserve these returned items. This
includes thousands of artefacts, among them being the more famous
and well known 400 Ethiopian treasures looted by British soldiers
during the
[9]
There are also the Benin bronzes looted in the British invasion of
the Nigerian kingdom of Benin in 1896.[10] Kwame Opoku has
diligently written on the need for these and many other African
artefacts to be returned to African nations.
Third, as mentioned above, the brain drain of African and African
Caribbean professionals should be halted by offering these
professionals the same salaries to voluntarily return to Africa and
the Caribbean in order to assist in the building of new schools,
universities, hospitals and clinics that would be set up and
financed by a comprehensive reparations economic programme.
Fourth, cancellation of all debt incurred by the Caribbean and
African nations on the grounds that they are odious and were not
incurred by the ordinary citizens of Africa and the Caribbean but
rather their ruling classes. Cancellation would free up these
critical funds to address the real needs of African citizens.
Moreover, it is the case that Africa loses approximately $50
billion a year through illicit financial flows out of which are
draining foreign exchange reserves, reducing tax collection and
deepening poverty. This colossal amount may well be short of the
reality as accurate figures do not exist for all African countries.
However, it is approximately double the official development
assistance (ODA) that Africa receives.[11] In short, aid is simply
a paltry and ineffective band aid that keeps African economies in a
continued process of economic subordination to neoliberal
capitalism under the illusion that there will be “trickle down
growth.” Blocking the haemorrhaging of illicit financial flows and
tax dodging would ensure there are funds and resources to build
railways to connect African people and economies; invest in adult
education that is almost non-existent in Africa compared to
primary, secondary and university education; massively expand
electrification, greener energy forms for ordinary citizens and
provide employment for African people, particularly
Overall, a dialogue within progressive activist circles and among
progressive Europeans, genuinely committed to addressing the
profound inequities of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and
colonialism needs to begin.
Farmers, women’s groups, young people, people with disabilities,
LBGTI individuals, academics, professional people in the Caribbean
and Africa must be involved in this trans-Atlantic dialogue on what
reparations should entail, as well as, creating progressive
governments and leadership (compared to the current compliant
neo-colonial incumbents), to push for a reparations programme.
Ultimately, in addressing the issue of reparations, we must also
address transforming the system of capitalism which slavery gave
birth to. A rupture with this unequal and exploitative system is
fundamental in eliminating oppression that remains with us in the
twenty first century in reconfigured forms.
* Dr. Ama Biney is a historian and political scientist living in UK.
