The claim sounds plausible because it rests on real phenomena that deserve to be taken seriously.
The destruction of African cultural identity during slavery was systematic and deliberate. Enslaved people were separated from family members, prohibited from practising their religions and speaking their languages, and denied literacy. The cultural rupture was severe and documented. It is reasonable to ask whether that rupture has long-term consequences.
The health data is real. Caribbean populations do have higher rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than many other populations. CARICOM cites these figures in its ten-point plan. The claim that these conditions have historical roots is not invented.
The concept of intergenerational trauma has genuine scientific support in some contexts. Research on Holocaust survivors and their children has found elevated cortisol responses and other physiological markers. The idea that severe collective trauma leaves generational marks is not pseudoscience.
The political and economic exclusion of Caribbean populations during the colonial period that followed formal abolition is also documented. Freed enslaved people were denied land, political representation, and economic opportunity. The structural disadvantages created during this period were real.
