ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that the devastating effects of slavery and colonialism cannot be addressed with the liberal democratic frameworks to which most countries of the hemisphere adhere. In most countries, the transition from slavery to freedom was one that led from the plantation to domestic servitude for Black women, and to joblessness, for Black men. To provide former enslaved people and their descendants in the Americas with a fair chance at succeeding in life and being able to compete with all those who have constructed their riches and secured their access to land and property by exploiting the enslaved and forced laborers, recognition, reparation and political autonomy are required. Political autonomy must be actively supported by the recognition of guilt of the evils inflicted by slavery and similar institutions–and it must be accompanied by the payment of reparations so that autonomous political communities become economically viable.