Kristen Gyles | It is useless ‘regretoric’

As children, I am sure we all had at least one experience where we were forced to apologise for something we did not want to apologise for. The classic non-apology apology – oh, how many we’ve rendered. The exchange of forced apologies would usually happen right after a fight or quarrel when Miss is too tired to care about who was actually at fault. Soon after the transaction, she makes you and your combatant give each other a big hug.

I always wondered what exactly was the point.

Maybe the protesters who demonstrated in front of the British High Commission earlier this week can help me out. Is it that a fake apology must be better than none? Because, at this point, if Prince William and Kate are touring the Caribbean in celebration of the Queen’s 70th year on the throne, somehow I doubt they are torn up in sorrow about the events which have resulted in their ‘rule’.

Then again, this is nothing new. We go through these motions every time a politician transgresses both the unwritten code of expectations we write and the written laws they write. We also do it when pastors and other holies do things we thought were beneath them. We demand an apology, they recite a cute, well-rehearsed speech and then they go back to finding some other more unexpected way of disappointing us all over again.

It reminds me of a politician who apologised last year for flagrant Disaster Risk Management Act breaches. “He sounds so sorry,” they said. “His apology was so heartfelt,” they said. And then he shows up at Shenseea’s album launch, perhaps ready to pick up where he left off in September. Is it the act of breaching the DRMA that made him sorry or the fact that these pesky photographers won’t keep their pictures and videos to themselves?

But, I digress. The question here is why do we keep demanding apologies? People usually know when their actions are out of line. And they also know how to make amends. They don’t need to be forced into apologising. If they are sorry, they will say so. Similarly, in the case of the royals, if an actual apology is still outstanding, it’s because maybe no one is sorry for anything. Face it sooner rather than later.

COUNT AS APOLOGY?

Nevertheless, Prince William has expressed ‘profound sorrow’ for slavery and said “Slavery was abhorrent, and it should never have happened.” Does that count as an apology or should the Prince consider entering politics?

In any case, it’s hard to ignore the context in which such an expression of sorrow has come. The couple would have faced rejection in Belize, and would have also faced the vexation of angry and agitated protesters in Jamaica – all demanding their apology. Any apology at this point is therefore hardly anything more than appeasement.

A verbal ‘apology’ for the slave trade means nothing to me, personally. A return of the wealth generated from it, on the other hand, does. An improved and upgraded education system does. A robust prison rehabilitation system does. Upgraded healthcare facilities do.

One lady standing amid the protesters on Trafalgar Road earlier this week had a sign which read “Apologi$e”. Now, if we’re asking for the royal family to apologi$e then I definitely get it. But if we’re asking for them to simply apologise, you all can sit around waiting on the ‘regretoric’, while I get going with my life.

So what if the Prince does say he is sorry on behalf of the monarchy? What if he even goes on his knees and starts to cry? Then, what? Such a performance will affect what I eat for dinner tonight and the outfit I wear tomorrow even less than his visit to Jamaica. Perhaps we should direct our attention where it matters, and an apology from the royal family just doesn’t matter unless it’s being done in cash.

SIMPLY DON’T CARE

With that said, while I want to be really hopeful that the push for reparations could materialise into something, I have to say sadly, that I realise a trend. Many people simply don’t care and I think maybe more and more persons are adopting a “let bygones be bygones” mentality. I hope I’m wrong, since my conclusion has been drawn from rather anecdotal evidence, but many conversations I have had regarding reparations have turned into nothing more than a lecture on how long ago slavery was (and therefore how long ago we should have ‘moved on’) or about how important it is to forgive.

Either way, it is clear to me that many Jamaicans are uninterested with the topic of reparations and for that reason, I won’t hold my breath waiting for us to get what we can’t even agree to ask for. A handful of militant Jamaicans demanding reparations won’t achieve much if they are not backed by the general public and, even worse, if they are not backed by the Government.

Kristen Gyles is a free-thinking public affairs opinionator. Send feedback to kristengyles@gmail.com.