Brian Lewis, the former president of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee and the Association of National Olympic Committees of the Caribbean (CANOC), has expressed that the Commonwealth Games Federation should establish a Reparations Fund to assist with financing the sports development of Commonwealth sports in the Caribbean.
Within the framework of the themes of the International Decade for People of African Descent: Recognition, Justice, and Development (proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 68/237 of December 2013) and being in the final year of the mentioned decade, Mr. Lewis called for the fulfillment of the parameters of Recognition, Justice, and Development for oppressed peoples. He also emphasized that slavery, an outrage and a crime against humanity, is the foundation of the enrichment and generational wealth of slave owners and plantation owners and their descendants.
Regarding the functions of the Commonwealth Games Federation (The CGF), in his view, it should be at the forefront of the dialogue on repairing the legacies of empire, imperialism, colonialism, and slavery.
The CGF has control and responsibility for the Commonwealth Games. To atone for and overcome its undeniable history, The CGF must lead in unraveling, freeing, and unlearning the legacies of slavery, colonialism, and empire. Those who benefited (and enriched themselves) from slavery and the system and its brutal and inhuman institutions that fostered transatlantic slave trade should now provide a framework for solutions. They have destroyed millions of lives and generations; now is the time to repair it.
The Commonwealth Games are a symbol and legacy of the colonialism of the British Empire. The CGF has control and responsibility for the Commonwealth Games; it must lead in unraveling, freeing, and unlearning the legacies of slavery, colonialism, and empire.
To achieve the goals of recognition and respect, justice and non-discrimination, and social, cultural, and economic development for people of African descent, enabling their full and active participation in society, a Reparations Fund should be established. This is a necessary and unavoidable step in the right direction.
Source: https://trinidadexpress.com/