Dear Editor,
The two-day symposium held in Trinidad from April 17-18 is a necessary exercise for a particular racial-racial group (black) of a region that is commemorating its 530th anniversary in this year 2023 as a victim of Gun Violence and Crime from 1493-2023, at the same the racial-ethnic group (white) that is the perpetrator of the Gun Violence and Crime is presently engaged in wargames that will further perpetuate gun violence as public health issues resulting from their games. The time has come and we have the opportunity to address not only the symptoms but also the cause of the problems of gun violence and crime. The root cause stems from two main policies the “Doctrine of Discovery” and the “Slave Code Act”.
We are informed that the Vatican has recently repudiated the first, which is their “Doctrine of Discovery” of 1493 that gave the white racial group the false belief in God that they had permission to start the gun violence and crime in the Caribbean that has now since been affecting the world. That group is also having events to examine what is happening in their world of white superiority.
The second policy that needs to be addressed is the repudiation of the Slave Code Acts of 1661 that started in Barbados and affected the Caribbean region, setting a precedent of legal false justification of black inferiority before being adopted by the USA and subsequently impacting all ethnic groups of the wider world.
To adequately address both policies there is one particular action that needs to be taken that will bring both groups, white and non-white, to the consciousness that the world in which we live can be a better place. Such a proposal has been before the world since 1990 and before the government of Barbados and CARICOM in particular from 1995 for the tabling of a resolution to the United Nations (UN) that October 12 be designated a day for truth, justice, peace, healing, and reconciliation.
In 2013 the World Social Forum proclaimed the date October 12 as the International Day for Reparations, and in 2017 the CARICOM Reparations Commission proclaimed October 12 as Caribbean Holocaust Day. The resolution should now be from CARICOM to the UN for October 12 to be designated as the International Day for Reparations towards truth, justice, peace, healing, and reconciliation, and if we are serious about addressing gun violence and crime as a public health issue the resolution should be tabled to the UN before this October 2023.
Reverend Buddy Larrier
