Dear Editor,

Have you ever joined a game of Monopoly that's already begun? You get your $1,500 and you feel rich. You choose from among the pieces that are left, the one that best represents you (you convince yourself that the shoe or the iron has deep symbolic meaning and isn't in fact just the one that no one else wanted).

You are welcomed to the game as an equal player. There are rules that everyone has to follow and the objectives are clear, but the others have already been playing for an hour. They own the railroads, utilities and the best property.

You roll the dice and make your moves, but quickly find that with every play, you either end up paying rent or going to jail. Your money is quickly distributed to the people who own the property. Your cleverness means nothing because you never have an opportunity to use it.

No one is cheating. No one is forcing you to go to jail; according to the rules, that's where you belong. No one is saying that you cannot own property; you simply don't have the means or opportunity to acquire any. You cannot win.

Now imagine that the game has been played for 400 years, with the world as the board and us as the pieces - the tool by which the players acquired everything they have. For centuries they have played and within the last 50 years they have allowed us a seat at the table.

Who are we? We are black people living in the 21st century. We are people who have to be specifically reminded that we are capable of goodness, that we can be beautiful and that we can contribute to human achievement. We are people who have to create global movements in an effort to convince the world that we are worthy of existence (#blacklivesmatter, #bringbackourgirls). We are Africans who feel uncomfortable calling ourselves such because of the negativity associated with the word.

Who are the players? They are people whose wealth and power (or their opportunity to gain wealth and power) was created through the enslavement, torture and systematic debasement of our ancestors. They are people who learn of their greatness, beauty and creativity in school, in movies and in fairy tales. They are Europeans who can proudly trace their lineage using only their names.

Today, as free black people our inability to succeed, to own property, to become powerful nations or to stay out of jail, is our fault. We are completely responsible for our failures because now there is no bogey man. There is no evil white slave master tying a noble African to a tree and shredding his black skin with a whip.

The wicked slave masters have seen the error of their ways and have granted the poor savage the freedom to make it in the world. No apology or recompense given. After centuries of denying education, self-expression, or even the right to exist as human beings they removed the shackles and relinquished responsibility.

The white man is now the savior. He is the intelligent and kind creature who out of the goodness of his heart meets with the leaders of nations of black people and offers advice on how they can become just like him. Of course, no one mentions that he has become so rich and powerful through 400 years of rape, murder and theft. He simply lends us a fraction of the wealth he has amassed and then tells us how to spend it.

Without reparations for slavery, the independence movement of which we are so proud of is a still-born revolution. The global economic system which we are clamoring to be a part of is inextricably tied to slavery; it is the evolution of slavery. When we stand at the United Nations or sit with the International Monetary Fund and speak of self-determination, identity and respect, the profiteers of our enslavement smile and nod like parents in the audience of a school play.

Those lofty ideals will never be actualized in a world where global economics and politics are controlled by the systems of power which are the rewards of genocide and slavery.

After emancipation we resigned ourselves to perpetuating the society which existed. The inequality and unfairness was obvious, but it was all we knew.

After independence, we did the same thing. Given the freedom to steer ourselves in the direction of true freedom, we simply followed the chart laid out by the people who steered the slave ships.

We have been given our seat at the Monopoly table and we believe the lie that we are equal players. We try our best to compete and every time we end up in jail or needing a loan, we tell ourselves that it is because we are not smart enough or strong enough to win.

Continuing to play their game and follow their rules is nothing more than demanding the right to be further exploited and extorted.

When we demand reparations we are demanding the freedom to exist as a people whose identity and history do not begin with our enslavement.

When we demand reparations we are demanding the right to exist as co-owners of the planet, rather than as a herd of poor, ignorant sub-humans to be shuffled, caged, killed or colonized whenever the land upon which we sit is desired by someone who is convinced that they deserve it more than we do.

The fight for reparations begins within ourselves. Deciding that we are even worthy of having the discussion is the first step. Once we understand that everything we have learned to hate about ourselves is the result of a carefully manipulated myth created to justify our enslavement and continued exploitation, then we can begin to repair the damage.

- Keisha Ellis

Member, Bahamas National Reparations Committee

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