What does it mean to repair a wound that has never truly healed?

Essay on “Beyond Compensation: Reparatory Justice as a Structural Economic Imperative for Africa” by Cristina Duarte

Cristina Duarte’s article, “Beyond Compensation: Reparatory Justice as a Structural Economic Imperative for Africa” challenges me to rethink reparations not as a backward-looking payment but as a forward looking transformation. She argues that reparations cannot be reduced to financial debt, exposes how today’s economic systems still mirror colonial exploitation and calls for a vision of justice that secures dignity for the past, present and the future.

Her first contribution is the insistence that reparations must go beyond compensation. Framing justice purely as a monetary settlement risk making it holow. Without addressing the structures that continue to harm Africa today, financial transfers alone would amount to repairing the past with resources still being unjustly extracted from the continent.

Second, Duarte draws a direct line between yesterday’s crimes and today’s injustices. She shows how colonial systems of exploitation evolved into modern economic arrangements that still strip value from Africa. Ghana exports billions in gold yet retains only a fraction of its worth, the DRC produces most of the world’s cobalt but refines almost none of it, West Africa grows the majority of cacao but earns little from the global chocolate market. Combined with illicit financial flows, unfair debt systems, and exploitative trade, Africa paradoxically emerges as a net creditor to the world while its people remain among the poorest.

Her third contribution is the call for reparations as systemic transformation. Duarte argues that true reparations demand restructuring trade rules, financial systems and governance institutions so Africa can move from dependency to sovereignty. This means restitution for the past, dismantling exploitative structures in the present and securing Africa’s equal place in shaping the global future. Reparations, then, are not about charity they are about fairness and dignity.

Reading this article left me both inspired and unsettled. I admired Duarte’s courage in reframing reparations as a question of structuraljustice rather than compensation. Personally, I was struck by her examples of Africa’s resource exploitation, they reveal how slavery and colonialism did not end but transformed into today’s extractive systems. I also found myself reflecting on her warning that financial reparations without systemic reform would be meaningless, justice cannot be built on wealth still drained from Africa. For me, her vision is both a reminder of history’s unfinished business and a call to reshape the present.

In conclusion, Duarte’s article compels me to view reparations not as a backward-looking demand but as a forward looking necessity. By exposing structural injustices and calling for transformation, she challenge Africa and the world to pursue justice that repair yesterday while liberating tomorrow.