Cameron Ignorant’
He is known for his roles in iconic films such as the Lethal Weapon series and the Color Purple, but a little less-known fact about actor Danny Glover is his active involvement
in the reparations
movement.
Glover, who is visiting Jamaica at the invitation of chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission and vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Sir Hilary Beckles, stopped by the North Street offices of The Gleaner yesterday, where he expressed his passion for the black struggle and the cause for reparations.
It was against this backdrop that he declared as scandalous United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron’s call for Jamaica to move on from the painful legacy of slavery.
“To make such an outrageous statement is an insult … it’s outrageous … and it just shows his ignorance,” Glover said while addressing a Gleaner Editors’ Forum.
When asked if the call for reparations by people of African descent is futile, he said, “I’m not holding out for the reparations, but I think certainly that reparations provide an opportunity for us to organise in different ways around the question itself … . If you don’t bring up the issue, the brutality of it, you don’t get a discussion around it … . As always you are going to have people who take the most extreme position against it. They only take that position on it because they know it’s a viable discussion, discourse happening.”
As it relates to plans for Britain to build a prison in Jamaica, Glover said the Government should tell Britain to “keep your prison, give us schools, give us infrastructure, not prisons”.
Glover was joined in his sentiments by Don Rojas, a journalist and political commentator who works with Glover through the Institute of the Black World, and James Early, who is a former cultural director at the Smithsonian Institution in the United States.
“What Cameron said was an insult. It was an insult to the nation of Jamaica and it was an insult to the entire Caribbean and black people around the world,” Rojas said.
Drawing comparisons with the Jewish cause for reparations, Rojas argued that Cameron could not treat that issue with the same scant regard that he meted out to the Caribbean in regards to its calls for reparations.
“Think about if Cameron had said to a Jewish organisation, ‘Forget about the Holocaust, let’s get over the Holocaust … .’ It is Germany paying reparations, because of their crimes perpetrated against the Jewish people, that created the financial basis for the state of Israel to be established. Germany paid reparations to Israel for 10 years uninterrupted, billions and billions of dollars to establish today what is the most powerful and the most modern state in the Middle East,” he said.
Expressing his own disdain for Cameron’s statements, Early said: “Mr Cameron is ignorant … he is not reading the signs of the time.”
Met u have no information has to under what basis Portia accepted the money?? Causen say everybody all nation a talk bout it me de work n ppl fr Sri Lanka, India, Uk, Ca a say what a dumb move me shame me shame me shame – me just tell dem say a d money she n her fren dem want cause me no kno what else to say cause me caan come up wid a logical explanation as to y she tek d grant
desperation and election a come up
The white race has always insulted us. This isn’t new, and Mr. Glover is correct. We are BORN business men & women, carpenter, inventors, farmers, doctors, nurturers, and the list goes on. Our problem is that we don’t know how to deal with the insults that come our way. We have to learn them. Learn that the only way to crush them is through their pockets. They have no conscience. They aren’t built to have any. We are such powerful people but we often feel that the white man is our provider. We don’t understand the power that we possess and the white man knows this. He knows that we don’t support each other, which gives him the satisfaction to continue to divide and conquer. Met I extremely proud of your role and the platform in which you stand in trying to teach us. We are lost as a people but I do believe that this generation is fareless. I believe that they are willing to learn as long as they are taught. I’m not talking about the blind deaf and dumb, because they too will have no other choice. America and the rest of the world will not get away too much longer in how they treat our people.
:peluk
How do you give someone something and call it a gift when u are going to use it as much as they are? That is an insult and mi nuh care what nobody seh..u see dat woman portia …..she show how stupid she is with this deal. Cameron came not even for a full day and a never Jamaica alone him go so why announce this stupid deal? Him waa please the U.K?? Dem fi block every road in Jamaica until this M.O.U is destroyed because the people will not accept it.
The prisoners in Jamaica can be supervised into working fi build dem own prison…mi a wonder if dem ever think of that??
It is a damn stupid and quite frankly shows lack of education, leadership and business savy. Even if the prison is built by the prisoners, the funds that will be generated though tax payers to maintain the facility will be draining. The other day a school needed furniture for their school as classrooms were empty. With how many thousands of men and women in the penal system why aren’t processes put into place where they are building these items needed. No they are too busy on social media I guess. Our country lacks discipline.
But portia got 70mil the other day for education and we havent heard one word about where that money went. Jamaica’s prisons are old and they do need a new one…so instead of taking that money what they should do come up with a plan to put the present prison population to work and do that. Dem a run go tek on U.K prisoners and dem have their own whey need attending to.
That’s not a part of her agenda. That 70 million will not be spoken of and explained how it was spent. I often wonder how the hell do they live comfortable knowing the damage they have done to Jamaica and it’s citizens. I want to live long enough to watch them suffer and have to beg for mercy. We’ve lost all our resources and now we are at the level of a begging nation that takes handouts and grants at any means necessary.
Chronixx what happen I don’t hear any “WASTE MAN” talk from yuh, den mi realize is a white man suh yuh a guh more reserve.
We can live in a fool world all we want did u people see what they did to Greece (white on white) JAMAICA bruk a den GREECE put that in ur pipe MET and smoke it. It not really color these people reconiges powder.. If Englan decide tomorrow to send back all Jamaicans we cant do shit about that. Remember how the greece PM did a talk tuff and have to run back fi a worest deal. Note i didnt like the deal either because it set a really bad precedence but
You are a JACKASS!!! The Greek government boldly and clear cut said they are not paying back the IMF the entire amount of the bailout. The president of Greece is not even elected by the people but by the parliamentary deputies. The Greek government knows that they have the euro zone on lock because if the are removed from that did Euro zone they will fall back on their own currency and will no longer use euro which means exports will be cheaper, boost imports and leave the government without funds to pay. NOW England CANNOT under ANY circumstances return ALL Jamaicans imprisoned in the UK.
Really now !!! Luckily i dont need to resort to name calling to make my point . Greece population voted NO and the PM had to go back on him ass go sah YES. and took a worse deal
please ref to links
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/07/10/greece-proposes-deal-worse-than-it-could-have-got-two-weeks-ago/