In the advent of the Emancipation Day commemoration in Belize gone August 1, 2018, the most relevant question to be asked right now is what the hell happened to “The Justice & Reparations Convention” organized in Belize on October 10, 2014 at the University of Belize in Belmopan, Belize to address slavery and reparations for the injustices of slavery in Belize?

There has been a deafening silence since then, and it appears that this movement has not moved and advanced beyond since its celebratory formation in Belize four years ago. Why do we Belizeans start things that we never finish? Why does it appear that we keep on reinventing the wheel, so to speak, and just keep on going around and around in a circle without any just objective?

The Justice & Reparations movement became a reality through the catalyst of Belize’s late Ambassador of Trade, the Caribbean & Africa, Adalbert Tucker, who then lobbied internationally abroad for its support and won the compassion of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which, through its ambassador to Belize, assisted in its formation and materialized into the constructive attempt that these photos here pay special credence to.

Not only have these memorable photographs here underscored that if Belizeans want to organize any struggle that there is the will and the way to get it done. But they also show the resolutions that are outlined here that were reached through the unity forged of all of Belize’s indigenous peoples who came together and made it a reality.

It sent a unified and unanimous voice to Belize’s Barrow administration that the multicultural composites of Belize are serious about the impact of slavery in Belize, and that the institution of slavery in the Caribbean and Central America was every Belizean ethnic group’s business. The convention also sent another serious message to the Barrow administration of Belize that it must sign on to the international reparations movement and demand justice from the responsible colonial powers globally that reparations in whatever form and fashion must be paid to the descendants of African and indigenous peoples who have been obliterated by slavery of any kind.

But since then, there has been a deafening silence also from the present Belize government that appears unwilling to act, like all other calls for justice on behalf of the Belizean people who are oppressed and continue to be