Sonia Boyce at Greenwich

This follows on from my previous post about the event at the National Maritime Museum last night. Click here to read it.

Sonia Boyce started out by saying that it has been said that political subject matter can never make good art.

One of the two objects she chose was a ladies’ whip. This was clearly designed to be decorative yet functional, and had a silver-plated, carved handle. Boyce then screened a short film she had made, part of which included her reading from the slave narrative of Mary Prince, an enslaved African Caribbean woman.

Prince described how familiar she became with the different types of pain inflicted by each of the different instruments used on her by her mistress, including fists used on her face and head.

Boyce had a white woman on screen describing each of the objects and her own responses to them. The second object Boyce chose was an iron ring designed to be worn around the neck, with a long iron arm and hand to be worn in front of the face. This was to serve as a constant reminder to the enslaved person of his or her status of subjugation to the white master.

The film concluded with a dance performed by young people in Carnival-type costumes. The dance celebrated and commemorated resistance by enslaved African people. We must always remember that the enslavement of our ancestors was met with constant, continuous acts of resistance by our ancestors and that our creativity was and is part of that resistance.

There followed a long discussion about the collusion of African people in their own enslavement, i.e. we were sold by other African people. Bonnie Greer pointed out that the situation is very complex and needs to be addressed. She asked whether this was the moment to address it.

I feel that this situation has been addressed for many years, in ways that are not that helpful. People say ‘I ain’t no African, I am Jamaican’. We hear our contemporaries from the Continent refer to us as ‘sons of slaves’. Greer mentioned that Ekow Eshun had stated that the Fanti people of Ghana, his ancestors, were unhappy when the Transatlantic trade ended.

One person in the audience pointed out that among the complexities we need to address – and possibly a higher priority than addressing the complexities of African people’s complicity in our own enslavement – was the complexity of the ways in which we resisted our enslavement.

Clearly, greed and exploitation occur in every society. The Buddha taught that greed, hatred and delusion are part of each and every one of us. However, we need to discuss these issues in our history and address them in ways that are going to heal us, heal our communities, heal our people and heal our species. This ongoing culture of blaming is destructive and must end. And our creativity is one way in which we can heal ourselves and each other.

See also: Poem - The Blood

Kuumba-Survivors

Keywords: Black Arts, African creativity, African history, Transatlantic trade

Carnival – A Deeper Rhythm

The establishment, the Powers that Be, have long tried to control, curb, limit or eliminate Carnival. When the veil between past and present, the dead and the living, grows thin, the divide between Black and white, rich and poor, narrows. Carnival awakens energies which are beyond anyone’s control. The authorities are right to fear them. These forces linger from ancient times and come to life once a year.

The dancers dress up in fantasy costumes which allow them to take on altered personae. They evoke other worlds, other realms, and a deeper rhythm beats beneath their feet.

Calypsonians’ tongues lick the politicians with their observations and their wit. They mock and taunt those in authority, reminding all of who has fulfilled his responsibilities, and who has ripped off, exploited or deceived the people. Those in power may duck, dive and dance, but they cannot escape the sting in the tongue. Those in power are right to fear them.

In 1881, riots erupted in Trinidad when the colonial police attempted to clamp down on the festivities, particularly the Canboulay (canne broulee). The rioting continued for a further two years’ carnivals.

The Notting Hill Carnival began after the African Caribbean community was put under ongoing racist attack in 1958. The Carnival was seen as a way to unite local people across the cultural divide, and it has grown to become the largest street festival in Europe.

In 1976, it was the turn of the Notting Hill Carnival to be the scene of riots. It was reported that the police were attacked by African Caribbean youth after arresting a pickpocket.

For many years since then, the police have clamped down on Carnival and the authorities have repeatedly called for the celebrations to be moved from their traditional home. However, Notting Hill Carnival is a tradition which belongs to the local people and will remain local for the foreseeable future.

The organisers do everything to protect public safety. However, the forces and energies of Carnival are drawn from ancient times. Taken from their homes in distant lands, the ancestors were forced to labour, to toil and to die. Ripped from their families and loved ones beaten, raped, bled and worked to death.

At Carnival time, they were allowed briefly to remember who they were, that they were human beings, with all the creativity humans possess.

These energies lie dormant, but not dead. Once a year they are awakened. The costumes, the colours, the songs, the dances, wake the sleeping energies of the ancestors. If you dance with them, sing with them, play with them, they will bless you, protect you, or at least let you be.

Dance and sing with them, enjoy them, dress up, play mas, but do not try to control or contain them, for within them moves a powerful force. Like placing a lid on a volcano – try to contain it and it will explode, either around you or inside of you.

Click here to read an interview with Shabaka Thompson, Artistic Director of Yaa Asantewa Arts Centre.

Keywords: Carnival, Notting Hill, London, Caribbean culture

The event at the National Maritime Museum last night was excellent. Bonnie Greer chaired a panel of artists, each of whom had chosen two objects from the museum’s collection.

It is interesting to see artists engaging with these objects because they tend to see things in a way the rest of us don’t, and to bring out points we might otherwise miss.

One of the objects chosen by Keith Piper was a clock which, apparently, has been described as the most important clock in the world. It even has a name – H4. It was invented by John Harrison in 1761 and was used to solve the problem of longitude so that ships could work out where they were in the world, horizontally, as well as vertically. Vertical navigation, i.e. latitude, had been worked out by the Moors centuries before.

In 1714, the Crown offered a huge prize, the modern equivalent of which would have been around £20 million, to the person who could work out how to calculate longitude. Harrison was eventually awarded a smaller prize, in 1773.

Piper pointed out that the reason why the British were desperate to solve the problem of longitude was completely tied up with the so-called slave trade – the Transatlantic trade in African people. This is never mentioned with reference to H4, even though a book – Longitude by David Sobel – was written about it and a film has been made about it.

H4 made it much easier to transport enslaved African people because the ships’ navigation became much clear after H4’s invention. The clock was even tested on two ships – the first, the Deptford, sailed from London to Jamaica.

Piper presented a chart which showed the markup on the price of African people. At one time the markup had been 975 percent, and from 1688 to 1692, I was over 600 percent. Between 1703 and 1707 – the height of the Transatlantic trade – the markup dropped to 197 percent. After the invention of H4, the markup dropped still further.

I find it disturbing to think that my ancestors not only had prices on their heads, they had a markup. But of course they would have done, as they were considered to be goods for sale.

The evening was moving and challenging. More later.

See also: Kuumba-Survivors

Keywords: slave trade, Transatlantic trade, Black history, African heritage, arts, museum

Reparations + Slavery Remembrance Week

Black Britain today publishes an excellent interview with Esther Sanford who states that “What colonialism and enslavement did was to take away the African psyche and replace it with a European mindset.” Click here to read this article.

This clearly continues to have a powerful impact on us as African people, our self-image, self-esteem and creativity.

Artists have a great deal to contribute to this discussion and one of the events of Slavery Remembrance Week will be a Freedom debate to be held tomorrow night at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London. Click here to read more.

I am collecting interviews with artists on the subject of enslavement and emancipation. Click here to read some of them.

An African-Centred Success Story

An elementary school in Kansas City, Mo is using an African-centred approach to learning to support its students to achieve success.

Says Kevin Bullard, coordinator of African-centered education at several schools in the district. "With the African-centered model, we ... look at [slavery] as part of the context of our history and our struggle, but only a small piece." Their timeline includes the intellectual legacy of ancient African civilizations.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0608/p14s01-legn.html

Business guru René Carayol thinks we should be concentrating only 5% of our time on history, and 95% of our time on building our futures. He believes that concentrating on our history holds us back. You can read an interview with him in Black Success Stories Volume 1.

I agree with him to some extent: if we concentrate only on the history of enslavement, this may hold us back. It depends how it is taught, however. I was always taught the history of resistance alongside the history of enslavement, so I found my history very uplifting and inspiring, and I still do. My ancestors were survivors, heroes and sheroes, and I take inspiration from their example.

Of course, it is true that enslavement only forms a tiny part of our history as African people. But it is still having a devastating psychological, emotional and financial impact on us. In order to understand why we are in our current position in Western society, and why Africa is in its current state, we must understand the history of our enslavement.

Still, I agree that we also need to focus on building our future, starting from now.

Click here to order Black Success Stories Volume 1.

See also Kuumba-Survivors.

Buchi Emecheta Speaks of Women

London-based Nigerian novelist Buchi Emecheta OBE, author of over 20 novels including The Slave Girl and Second Class Citizen, talks to Zhana about her experience. Click here to read this interview.

See also:

International Slavery Remembrance Day

Course for Parents and Carers

The next Parents/Carers Personal Development event will be held on Saturday 12 August 2006 at Southwark Town Hall, from 11am - 3.30pm.

The event will include information on forming a focus group to influence policy and decision makers in:

• education,
• housing,
• race & crime,
• health,
• employment and
• poverty.

The organisers say state that "To effect change that our children will notice requires Vision, Intelligence and Courage to do what we know must be done. Come join us, together we can change the world".

See also: New Course for Black Parents;

African Caribbean Parents;

Black Success Stories

Henry Bonsu + African Identity

I have just been listening to Henry Bonsu on Colourful Radio. Of course, it is interesting listening to these things because one hears a whole range of different views, opinions and experiences.

One of Henry's guests is saying that we don't need to worry about our history or what happened 100 years ago. I completely disagree.

We need to have knowledge of our history and heritage as African people in order to be aware of our greatness and our potential. When we are clear about our identity, we know that that there are no limits to what we can achieve as people of African heritage. We live in a society in which we are constantly fed negative images of people of African heritage. Some of this conditioning is very subtle, but it is powerful all the same. It affects us and it affects our young people.

I have taught so many people in adult education who have told me that they 'can't' do such-and-such a thing because they have been fed these negative images all their lives, in the school system, through advertising, television programmes and so forth. This is why we need to celebrate our African role models and success stories.

We need to reinforce our own positive images. Our history tells us the truth about ourselves and the fact that we have contributed a huge amount to human civilisation in general, and to British society in particular, and we are continuing to do so.

Henry Bonsu is one of the interviewees in my new book, Black Success Stories.

Keywords: Henry Bonsu, Black Success Stories, African history, African heritage

How Does Buddhism Relate to the Black Man and Woman?

Check out these links to and about Black people and Buddhism.

I am going to be leading a meditation course specifically for people of African heritage, starting in September. Please join us - you don't even need to be interested in Buddhism to get the benefit of Buddhist meditation. Click here for more info.

I am also leading a workshop on Improving Relationships/ Improving Communication with our partners, children, friends, work colleagues. Again, you don't need to be interested in Buddhism, although I have found Creative Communication/NVC to be enormously beneficial to my life and my practice. Click here for more info.

Keywords: Meditation, Buddhism, Black people, African Caribbean, Creative Communication, Nonviolent Communication, NVC

African Caribbean Diversity

Still on the subject of me doing too much, on Wednesday night, I went to the launch of African Caribbean Diversity's new year. Every year, they take on a new intake of young people who will be mentored by people in major institutions such as the Bank of England.

The event was held at J.P. Morgan and, as usual, I arrived late. This is something I need to look at and probably tap on. Not just 'I arrive late', but also 'I feel guilty and ashamed'. Even though I arrive late, I deeply and completely accept myself.

For more about tapping, visit Emotional Freedom Technique.

When I arrived, Trevor Phillips OBE was speaking. He looked up and recognised me. This is starting to happen to me more and more - the person on the stage recognises me as I slip in. More guilt and shame.

He stressed the importance of the young people staying in touch with each other. He said, 'Yes, there will be rivalry among you. You will be upset because the other person got the job you wanted'. But, he said, it is important that you have a network of people who have been through the same experience you have had. Over the years, these friendships will be increasingly important to you.

Hearing him speak made me remember why I interviewed him for Black Success Stories. This is a man who cares deeply about the African Caribbean community, about our young people and about their future in this society.

He advised the young people to be grateful to their sponsors and mentors, 'but not too grateful', and he reminded them that they are doing these institutions a service. Every institution in the Western world is having to get used the fact that there are people working there who don't look like the Chairman. And these young people are helping them make this adjustment.

He said, 'You will learn things that nobody else knows. It will be like being a Martian'. And he reminded them that there will always be something they don't know, and that they should not be afraid to ask.

I may be doing too much, but I am getting loads of inspiration. I am having an amazing time.

One person in the audience asked why so few successful people are willing to share the secrets of their success. Trevor Phillips and Henry Bonsu, who presided over the evening, have both shared their secrets in my new book, Black Success Stories. For more information and to order your copy, click here.

Click here to visit African Caribbean Diversity

See also: Linton Kwesi Johnson

Keywords: Trevor Phillips, African Caribbean, Henry Bonsu, young people, Black Success Stories

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Having spent part of the day at a conference on HIV and sexual health in the Caribbean community, I went to the Arts Depot in North Finchley last night to see Linton Kwesi Johnson. North Finchley is so far away that, in the past, those of African American persuasion would have referred to it as 'North Hell'.

I first met LKJ at Brixton Art Gallery last year, where he was being interviewed by Henry Bonsu. LKJ informed me that he had once been on the Board of the gallery, which has now sadly closed. Lambeth Council suddenly raised the rents in Brixton Station Road to more than double their previous rate, and several small businesses, including the gallery, suffered. I think this is part of a government policy to raise these rents to 'commerical' rates. But I digress.

I got to the Arts Depot really late and felt very guilty and ashamed as I took my seat. Its Not My Fault!!! I kept silently reassuring myself. I had called a cab at 7 p.m. but it did not arrive until 7:40. The driver then told me he had been sitting around for two hours waiting for work.

It's not my fault!

I got home from the conference before six, plenty of time to get to North Hell for 8 p.m. But I decided to do something on the computer and it should only have taken five minutes, 15 minutes, etc., but it took far longer. Doesn't it always?

Of course, I kept saying 'I should switch off the computer and go now', but then my other voice would say 'This will only take another couple of minutes'. Yeah, right.

Okay, it is partly my fault. Serves me right for listening to the voices.

I know the real problem was that, having sat inside working all day when, outside, the sun was brightly shining, I just could not face the journey up to North Hell, so I distracted myself.

I am just doing too much these days.

I got there in time to here LKJ do three poems, including New Word Order, and to hear him say that the term 'ethnic cleansing' is 'very disturbing'. He made reference to Nelson Mandela, Chief Butelezi and the Holocaust, all in a few short minutes. That's a poet for you.

I spoke with him afterwards adn he remembered me from the gallery! Wow!

LKJ goes for quality, not quantity. Some say his output is small, but I say, who cares when his words have such power? Such weight? Such penetration? And he stands on the stage and delivers them - on an empty stage, just him and the podium - as if it takes no more effort than asking for a cup of tea.

Keywords: Linton Kwesi Johnson, poetry

African Health Forum

The African Health Forum is an African-led organisation of voluntary and public sector groups. Membership is steadily growing, facilitating effective networking, information sharing and partnership

We work in the area of health, particularly but not exclusively sexual health and HIV, amongst African people in Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham. We also promote research and evaluation which is leading to improved service provision and uptake amongst African communities.

Health workers in London are finding that HIV infection frequently occurs in Africa. The HIV-infected person comes or returns to the UK and is treated here. Therefore, as part of our work, we are liaising and working with workers within African countries to raise awareness around sexual health and prevention of HIV.

We provide opportunities for networking and information about funding and other resources.

If you are a healthcare worker based in Lambeth, Southwark or Lewisham, in the voluntary or statutory sector, you can join the African Health Forum. For more details, visit the African Health Forum or contact

Maria Loizou, Health Promotion Specialist - African Communities on 020 7188 2837 Ext. 82846

or Anna Aguma, Senior Health Promotion Specialist - African HIV and Sexual Health on 020 7188 2837 Ext. 82846

When We Ruled

When We Ruled is a new book by Robin Walker which has been described as by far "the best general work on the ancient and medieval history of Black people there has ever been".

The launch is tonight, 7.00 – 9.00 PM, at A.F.F.O.R.D., 31-33 Bondway, Vauxhall, SW8 1SJ, Vauxhall Tube (Victoria Line, Exit 2, 1 minute walk)

Call (07875) 186 695 or (07984) 759 506 to confirm that you are coming.

Meanwhile, Ligali's annual African Remembrance Day is next Saturday, 22nd July. Ligali remind us that "Whilst African history includes the injustice and travesty of enslavement, there are substantial and significant elements of our history that have occurred outside this era and it is essential and indeed respectful that the people and culture outside this element of history are also acknowledged and remembered".

Click here for more details and to register for this event.

See also: 2007 Commemoration

Keywords: African history, African heritage, Ligali, Robin Walker

African Caribbean Parents

We had several speakers at the Parents' Personal Development open day. A few of the many points they raised included:

Dr. Kimani Nehusi
The Importance of Identity: Problem and Solution

For us as Afrikan people to form alliances with other groups, we first need to be clear about our own identity. That way, we will know what will benefit us and our community. Only when we are clear about our identity can we effectively determine which groups we want to ally with, and on what basis to form these alliances.

When you have your identity, you know what is in your interests. You will unify with those people who share your values and your interests.

History is an engagement with our ancestors.

Ancestors are a storehouse of knowledge. We will continue to confront the same problems from a condition of ignorance because we refuse to learn from our ancestors and our elders.

Clarence Thompson
The Importance of Supplementary/Complementary Education

The campaigns against discrimination and for equal rights began in the African Caribbean community, amongst grassroots people and organisations.

We need to take over the regular schools, not just complementary education. Where our young people are in the majority, the community needs to take over the school and ensure a high quality of education.

We need to know our history in order to take pride in ourselves.

Dr. Lez Henry

Black children are failing because the educational system is not for them.

A qualification is a tool – that is all it is. It is certified by the dominant society.

Black self-empowerment, elevation and upliftment can be achieved by understanding how you can use knowledge to better your life chances.

Councillor Martin Seaton

The final speaker on the day was Councillor Martin Seaton, who related how he had become a school governor for a school situated across the street from where he lived. The school had poor test results, but he worked to improve the school’s performance and got other Black people to join as governors.

The school is now doing so well that they train governors at other schools. He is actively recruiting more Black people who have an interest in the community to become school governors.

He made the point that the Council and the education system believe that Black parents don’t care about their children’s education. They are surprised when they see us taking an active interest.

To join the Parent Personal Development Programme, contact:

Pamela Hamilton (020) 7525 5504 pamela.hamilton@southwark.gov.uk

See also: New Course for Black Parents

Black Community Criticizes Government's Plans for 2007 Memorial

Community groups met last Friday to discuss strategies to counter government plans for the 2007 Bicentenary, which are said to 'dishonour' the memory of African people who fought for their freedom and resisted enslavement.

Black Britain reports today that groups have branded the government's plans as "propaganda" and see them as an insult to the memory of our ancestors. Click here for more info.

They also pointed out that the Maafa, or enslavement, exploitation and mass murder of African people, has had long-term psychological effects on us and our community, and that what is needed now is healing and emanipation from mental enslavement. This is the same thing I have said in my work for many years.

However, I certainly do not agree with the assertion that "the [black] child from the age of six learns to understand that I was a slave and therefore being black means being inferior". I learned at a young age that my ancestors had been enslaved by white people, and I certainly did not and do not consider myself to be inferior. On the contrary, I have always been proud of my ancestors because they were survivors, and I have inherited their genes. My ancestors did not enslave and exploit African people, so what do I have to be ashamed of? It is the enslavers and their descendants who may wish to hang their heads in shame, not us.

The knowledge of the history of our enslavement helps us to understand why Africa is in the position it is in today - why the richest continent on earth is beset with poverty and disease.

As African people, we must take the initiative in deciding how the memory of enslavement and emancipation is commemorated. The British government and governments of other western countries which participated in the trade in African people fail to even begin to understand how to mark the anniversary of the end of the Transatlantic trade, and why this is important to us as African people in the Diaspora.

See also: poem - "The Blood"

Slavery Memorial Day

2007 Commemoration

Soul Survivors

Bristol Group Criticizes Slavery Memorial Plans

A Bristol-based organisation, The Consortium of Black Groups (COBG), have called for non-compliance with the City of Bristol's plans for commemorating the bicentenary of the UK abolition of slave trading.

Bristol was one of the UK's major centres for the trade in African people. The transatlantic trade in, and enslavement of, African people led to multi-billion-pound profits being made by UK and international shipping and other industries including the sugar trade of the Caribbean and the American cotton industry.

The UK's banking system was founded on profits of the trade in African people.

The COGB have condemned the City of Bristol's plans as a "PR exercise". Click here to read more.

See also: Slavery Memorial Day

2007 Commemoration

African Heritage Links

Slavery Memorial Day

Respected community activist Esther Stanford has spoken out against the proposed slavery memorial day.

She states that this would be a token gesture by government, and that the African community should choose a date which is relevant to us to commemorate our experience of enslavement, rather than a date which is relevant to the government, who wish to focus on William Wilberforce’s actions.

Click here to read more.

The reason why the trade ended was that it was no longer economically feasible for European ships to trade in African people. The insurance companies were refusing to pay when cargoes were lost, so this trade was no longer financially viable.

Remember that the ship captains often tossed their entire cargoes overboard in order to claim the insurance. The floor of the Atlantic is carpeted with the bones of African people.

Next year, we will mark the 200th anniversary of the ending of the Transatlantic trade in African people. This is obviously an important date for our community. But I agree with Esther - why should we focus on Wilberforce? Enslaved African people fought for their liberation continually. We should not be grateful to Wilberforce or any other white politician for stopping doing what they should not have done in the first place.

"The UN proclaimed August 23 of every year should be recognised as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. This date was chosen in reference to the War of Independence on the night of August 22-23 1791 in Saint-Domingue (today Haiti and Dominican Republic) which was to play a pivotal role in the abolition of chattel enslavement and the emancipation of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean." - Black Britain

Billions of dollars and pounds were made by Europeans from the trade in African people. African people want to mark the end of the trade in a way which reflects our experience, and which preserves our dignity and restores the dignity of our ancestors. We want an apology from Blair and from all of the governments of the countries that profited from our exploitation. More to the point, we want to be financially compensated for the atrocities commited against our ancestors.

See also: Maafa Photographs

2007 Commemoration

Bristol Group's Criticism

Soul Survivors

African Heritage Links

Keywords: Slavery, Enslavement, Slave Trade, Emancipation, African History, African Diaspora

Rene Carayol - Dedication and Motivation

This blog has moved to:
http://www.blacksuccess1.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=601423

Keywords: success, Black success, African Caribbean, UK, business, enterprise, achieve your goals

Afrikan Heritage in Latin America

Nubiart - Wed 5pm / Fri 10pm, Sound Radio 1503AM. Tel: 08700 414 606.

Also on the web at: www.soundradio.info

E-mail: Nubiart@soundradio.info or afrikanquest@hotmail.com

African Americans escaping enslavement in the United States were welcomed into Mexico.

The following is taken from the Nubiart Diary. Many thanks to Brotha K. for this research.

NUBIART EDITORIAL: Editorial Pt 1 Following Chief Lola Ayorinde repeating her view that Afrikans outside Afrika are no longer Afrikan, both Nubiart shows were dedicated to the Afrikan diaspora in places where it doesn’t get much coverage. In the first half of midweek Nubiart, we looked at the western diaspora and in the second half, at the eastern diaspora. Nubiart welcomes equally well-documented research that supports the stance of Chief Lola Ayorinde and her fellow travelers.

Mexico – We started with an article called ‘African Roots Stretch Deep in Mexico’ by Roberto Rodriquez and Patrisia Gozales. The article came with photos of a man and woman (who may be the authors) and confirms their Afrikan identity. This article supports ‘Mexico Welcomed Fugitive Slaves and African American Job-Seekers: New Perspectives On The Immigration Debate’ by Ron Wilkins of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition which we read out on the show a month ago.

Afrikans still live in Mexico, mainly in Veracruz and the Costa Chica in Guerrero and Oaxaca states. The groundbreaking scholar on this issue is Aguirre Beltran, who published ‘The Black Population of Mexico’ in 1946. Afrikans had first lived in Yucatan, Michoacan, Tlaxcala, Mexico, Chiapas, Veracruz, Guerrero and Oaxaca but moved around the country to work in mining, textiles, ranching, fishing and agriculture.

“The first documented slave rebellion in Mexico occurred in 1537; this was followed by the establishment of various runaway slave settlements called ‘palenques’…In 1608, Spaniards negotiated the establishment of a free black community with Yagna, a runaway rebel slave. Today that community in Veracruz bears its founder’s name.”

The Afrikan, Vicente Guerrero, Mexico’s second President, abolished slavery in 1822 (143 years before the US civil rights movement). “In the summer of 1850, the Mascogos, composed of runaway slaves and free blacks from Florida, along with the Seminoles and Kikapus, fled south from the United States, to the Mexican border state of Coahuila. Accompanying the Seminoles were also ‘Black Seminoles’ – slaves who had been freed by the tribe after battles against white settlers in Florida. The three groups eventually settled the town of El Nacimento, Coahuila, where many of their descendants remain.”

There are Afrikan instruments in Mexico that are played by the indigenous peoples. More information is available from: www.afromexico.org

Venezuela – Humberto Marquez wrote ‘Venezuela: 150 Years After Abolishment of Slavery, Racism Persists’, from Caracas on Mar 23, 2004. Mar 24 is marked in Venezuela as the abolition of slavery in 1854. At the time, there were 25,000 slaves in a population close to 1 million. It is estimated the free Afrikan population in Venezuela at that time was 400,000. Slaveholders were indemnified for their loss with 200 pesos for each slave. However, the total of 5 million pesos was more than the state budget of 3 million pesos and their claims were never paid as civil war broke out (1859-64).

The main centres of Afrikan population are Caracas, Maracay-Valencia and Maracaibo. The insults heaped on Hugo Chavez, who is of mixed Indian and Afrikan ancestry, give an idea of the general treatment and attitude of many Venezuelans to Afrikans. Many are spurred on by US racism and the media, which includes the notorious monkey noises which TV station Globovision made over footage of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe when he was in the country to attend a Group of 15 summit in February 2004. This brought a statement of protest from the Ambassadors of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, the Saharawi Republic (Western Sahara), Nigeria and South Afrika. The station’s managers justified their coverage by saying that the Afrikan ambassadors didn’t understand Venezuelan humour!!!

Colombia – On Tues night, we attended the Colombian Solidarity meeting with Jorge Isaac Aramburo Garcia & Maria Encina Valencia Córdoba, members of Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN - Black Communities Process), who have been visiting Europe for the last two months. Maria has been a teacher for 24 years and concentrates on giving advice and support and the promotion of culture. She believes that music and dance are central to the struggle. She kicked off the evening with a song of solidarity to stop children lamenting that their parents did not struggle for a better life. We have to answer to history.

Jorge Garcia claims Mandinke forebears from the west coast of Afrika and so wants to be called Naca Mandinka. Their forebears were dominated by imperialism and they are now dominated by the Colombian state. They want an autonomous state on Colombia’s Pacific coast to live their culture.

Afrikans make up 26% of Colombia’s 45 million people – 11 million. Colombia is third after Brazil and the US in terms of the size of its Afrikan community, yet their history and culture has never been properly documented or promoted. They were never allowed to return to Afrika and slavemasters separated those from the same region or language group to stop rebellions.This led to the loss of their language and culture so NM is frustrated that he cannot speak an Afrikan language.There are 83 groups in their network covering arts, students, farmers, politics and the environment. They areunited by the struggle for the right to their identity and also work with Mestizos. 4 million Afrikans are organised along these lines.They demand the right to self-determination and control of any project that affects them as part of their campaign for reparations for the crimes of slavery.

They helped the Creoles in their fight for freedom but when independence came, it only benefited the Creoles. European nations supplied Bolivar’s army but Haiti played the biggest part but when the independence celebrations came, Europeans were invited but not the Afrikan Haitians.

The 1991 Constitution said Colombia was a plural ethnic society and Afrikans are using this to gain recognition. But the Colombian state is promoting uniculture. “Every culture has its own concept of what is necessary for its evelopment.” They refuse to integrate in to the dominant culture. Discrimination has a double sense – that which is equal is treated differently and that which is different is treated equally. “A pig doesn’t eat dog food.”

Justice and reparations is a law of impunity, as people won’t find out the truth of what happened. In the past, there was the slave triangle, now there is the triangle of multinationals, paramilitaries and the multinational inland theft. He called for a human rights mission to report on the mistreatment of Afrikans and for groups in Europe to denounce attacks on them as Colombian media doesn’t do it as it is controlled by the state. In Durban 2000, they struggled to get slavery recognised as a crime against humanity, but the perpetrators left the room when reparations came up, showing their racist ideology.

MC said that education in Colombia has negated Afrikan-Colombian identity, making them out to be ugly and brutish. Afrikans mix with whites and mestizos, claiming they want to ‘improve the race’. PCN wants education that generates autonomy, equal pay, gender equality and justice. They stressed the importance of ending discrimination against women at home, school and work. Illiteracy is 40% in rural areas.

NM said the 1991 law legitimised what was already standard Afrikan-Colombian practice. Pacific lands are common lands, but this was interpreted as empty lands, allowing multinationals to move in and claim them. Afrikan-Colombians didn’t have an instrument to resist this, but Law 70 passed in 1993 should allow them some defence. They are also using International Labour Organisation Article 69 which promotes the rights of indigenous people.

Slavery still continues. In Choco, workers are not paid wages, but given vouchers that they can only use in the landowners' shops. Choco is the poorest region in Colombia but has the most Afrikans. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and sub-Saharan Afrika is the poorest region in the world. This is not because of divine providence but the institution of racism. The racism is also present in meetings they go to outside Colombia, where women and indigenous issues make it to the final recommendations but the Afrikans rights don’t get mentioned. He urged the left to be modern and accept that capitalism, while global, impacts and manifests differently at a local level.

They both stressed the importance of Afrikan links and would like to unite with other diaspora groups on projects in Afrika especially in the fields of education and medicine. In Colombia, healthcare is is provided by private agencies, so it is effectively privatised. PCN is setting up health collectives but, although they are recognised by central government, they do not have the resources to really make an impact. They will be looking to make links with Cuba and their Latin American School of Medicine although there are no Cuban doctors in Colombia at present. There are links between Colombia and Cuba’s Ministries of Education.

MC rounded off the talk with two songs about exploitation among workers and people who migrate from rural to urban areas only to find that life is harder there and so return to their home region.

See also: 2007 Commemoration; Maafa Photographs; Soul Survivors.

NUBIART PODCASTS NOW AVAILABLE: ‘What Is Beauty?’, looking at attitudes to hair, skin bleaching, relationships and Afrikan identity. You can downloadthis now at: www.soundradio1503.wordpress.com

NB: Nubiart Diary can also be read weekly at www.ligali.org and on the Afrikan Quest website.

Keywords: Afrikan identity; Afrikan heritage; Latin American; slavery; Black history

Happy Juneteenth Everyone

Juneteenth celebrates the day in 1865 when enslaved African Americans were informed that the Civil War had ended and with it, their enslavement.

On June 19, 1865, the Union General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas and announced the news. Texas was apparently the last part of the United States to be liberated, two and a half years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

Juneteenth is celebrated in many parts of the United States as well as other parts of the world, as the day when African Americans finally were free. Or rather, when the government finally got around to telling us we were free.

I ask myself, are we really free? Compared to our enslaved ancestors, of course we are. Reading Soul Survivors recently, I was reminded yet again of the daily brutality which the enslaved Africans faced and accepted as their lot.

Seeing the Maafa Photographs reminds me of the unspeakable conditions they endured when brought to the Americas as ships' cargo.

But remembering Stephen Lawrence, Rodney King, Cherry Groce, Cynthia Jarrett, Joy Gardner, and so many others, I have to ask, how free are we really? Too many white people in authority continue to want to treat us as objects, brutalise us and discourage us from enjoying the freedoms which are ours by right.

Last year, when I was verbally abused by a racist white man, the police did nothing to protect my freedom (see State of London – Policing).

I am reminded, too, of Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. After she had finally escaped and moved to the North, a white friend of hers bought her from her 'owners' in order to spare her any further harassment by them. But, she reports, although in enslavement she had sought her freedom, living in the North she came to realise that she was entitled to it - freedom was her birthright.

Soul Survivors also reminded me of the enslaved African people's determination to escape and to liberate their family members, whatever the cost.

We have never had an African President of the U.S.A. Many of our brothers and sisters on the Continent are living and dying in grinding poverty and losing their family members to preventable diseases. Many of us still deny that we are even Africans.

Next year, we shall commemorate the ending of the Transatlantic trade. What are we really celebrating? Is freedom not ours by right? And what do we need to do to really be free?

Juneteenth Resources:

http://afroamhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa061101a.htm

http://www.toptags.com/aama/events/jtenth.htm

http://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm

African Heritage Resources:

http://groups.msn.com/NurtureSuccess/blackhistorylinks.msnw


See also: 2007 Commemoration