海角大神

When I was reporting in Barbados in May, a visit to Drax Hall was a must-do. The sugar plantation has been in the same family鈥檚 hands for nearly four centuries, and the property hosts a 17th-century house made in the late English Renaissance Jacobean style. It鈥檚 believed to be the oldest building of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

A government source told me it was fine to stroll onto most plantations, but when I asked a local to join, she laughed: 鈥淣o way we can go there!鈥� The current owner, conservative British Member of Parliament Richard Drax, has refused to engage in conversations around reparations for slavery, even as momentum for reparative justice has grown in recent years. Those running the property don鈥檛 like the negative attention 鈥� and attempted visits 鈥� that have come with that.

Still, we gave it a try one evening, driving down a dirt road and parking outside the grand home with its rust-red-trimmed roof and green shutters. We took in the manicured lawns, the aged brickwork of the old windmill tower, and the vast fields of sugar cane, musing poignantly about all that the towering trees must have seen in their lifetimes.

While I furiously took notes, my companion sent selfies and messages to friends and family. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l never believe where I am,鈥� she said in a voice note.

Mr. Drax鈥檚 attitude contrasts with that of a new group called Heirs of Slavery. Founding members, profiled in today鈥檚 Daily, discovered their own ancestral ties to slavery and decided the solution was to take action. They hope that through making public apologies, writing books, making donations, and engaging with activists around the lasting damages of slavery, more people like them will see the power in shining a light on a historic wrong.

On this day, there was perhaps some small power in my friend feeling that even this corner of her island was not off-limits.