BABYLON SYSTEM STILL EXISTS!!

We refuse to be What you wanted us to be We are what we are That's the way it's going to be, if you don't know You can't educate I For no equal opportunity Talking about my freedom People freedom and liberty Yeah, we've been trodding on The winepress much too long Rebel, Rebel Babylon System is the Vampire Sucking the children day by day Me say the Babylon System is the Vampire Sucking the blood of the sufferers

Excerpt from “Babylon System” released in 1979 on the Bob Marley and the Wailers “Survival” album.

Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley was born in the parish of St. Ann, Jamaica on February 6, 1945 and transitioned in Miami on May 11, 1981. Marley was a Pan-Africanist whose life was influenced by Marcus Mosiah Garvey a Jamaican who was also born in St Ann’s parish and is considered the father of the modern Pan-African movement. The philosophies of Garvey who was born 58 years before Marley are frequently heard in the lyrics of Marley’s songs. Garvey advocated “Africa for Africans at home and abroad” and in his 1979 released “Africa Unite” Marley sang: “Africa unite ‘cause we moving right out of Babylon and we’re going to our father’s land. How good and how pleasant it would be before God and man to see the unification of all Africans.” Garvey in a July 1921 recorded speech said: “The great problem of the Negro for the last 500 years has been that of disunity. No one or no organization ever took the lead in uniting the Negro race, but within the last four years the Universal Negro Improvement Association has worked wonders in bringing together in one fold four million organized Negroes who are scattered in all parts of the world, being in the 48 states of the American union, all the West Indian Islands, and the countries of South and Central America and Africa.”

Marley makes reference to Babylon in “Africa Unite” and a few of his other songs even naming one of his albums “Babylon by bus.” The album released in 1978 is a compilation of live performances from the European leg of the June/July 1978 Kaya Tour recorded in Paris and London. Marley’s lyrics included references to Babylon because of the significance in Rastafari culture for the need to resist the evil of Babylon which is the system of oppression. Europe because of the involvement of Europeans in the enslavement of Africans and later the Scramble for Africa and colonization is considered Babylon. So it is not surprising that a tour of Europe would be seen by Rastafari as touring “Babylon by bus.” Rastafari since the inception has been a religion and culture of resistance to European domination of Africans including a rejection of the values held dear by the capitalist system which saw Europeans gain wealth by oppressing racialized people. In “Chanting Down Babylon: The Rastafari Reader” published in 1998 Nathaniel Samuel Murrell writes: “Rastafari therefore represents an important dimension of popular resistance to British colonialism, the plantation system, as well as the authority of British-oriented mulatto and black middle-class values. It has challenged the values not only of the privileged but also of the underprivileged who accept colonial values. The Rastafarian's "chanting down Babylon" is, therefore, directed at all segments of the Jamaican society that cradle and foster the beliefs that sustain black subordination.”

Marley and fellow Rastafari followed the teaching of Garvey who urged his followers to reject the image of the Europeans as one to worship and consider the epitome of beauty as had been taught to generations of Africans during the enslavement and colonization of Africans. In a recorded speech (published 1923 in the Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey edited by Amy Jacques-Garvey) Garvey said: “The Biblical injunction of Acts 17:26 reminds us that He created of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth and is most interested in brotherhood than with one’s own race. Because if Negroes are created in God's image, and Negroes are Black then God must in some sense be Black. If the White man has the idea of a white God let him worship his God as he desires. We have found a new ideal. Because God has No color, and yet it is human to see everything through one’s own spectacles, and since the white people have seen their god through their white spectacles, we have only now started to see our God through our own spectacles. But we believe in the God of Ethiopia, the everlasting God; God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy One, the one God of all the Ages; that is the God of whom we believe but we shall worship Him through the spectacles of Ethiopia.” Garvey also urged his followers to see the beauty in themselves as African people and not the European standard of beauty. He advised them to begin early by giving their children Black dolls “that look like them to cuddle and play with.” He established a doll factory to make those dolls for African American parents and to have access to such dolls.

In Marley’s “Babylon System” he exhorts: “Tell the children the truth come on and tell the children the truth. 'Cause we've been trodding on ya winepress much too long and we've been taken for granted much too long. From the very day we left the shores of our Father's land we've been trampled on." This truth would be about the history of the brutality and horror to which Africans were subjected during their enslavement which many of our youth know nothing about. One of the reasons why a young entertainer thought it was appropriate to say that the enslavement of his ancestors was a good thing for him and wanted to give a "shout out" to the slave masters. If wishes did come through he would be transported into the past as portrayed by the movie Django Unchained right into the scene of the “Mandingo fight” as one of the enslaved men forced to fight to the death as entertainment for White folks. Marley urges rebellion against the Babylon system. The enslaved Africans choose various ways to rebel from poisoning their owners to malingering when they had to perform the back breaking work that enriched the White slave holders. We can choose various ways to "rebel" including reading about our history and working to ensure that we leave this place better for the next generation. Since the 1980s Marley’s birthday has been recognized with a proclamation from City Hall by the Mayor of Toronto. Marley is one of the Africans who educated and edutained the world about African culture and history. February is African History/Heritage Month educate yourself about our history!

AFRICAN LIBERATION MONTH 2013

“When we consider the facts, certain chapters of American history will have to be reopened. Just as Black men were influential factors in the campaign against the slave trade, so they were among the earliest instigators of the abolition movement. Indeed there was a dangerous calm between the agitation for the suppression of the slave trade and the beginning of the campaign for emancipation. During that interval colored men were very influential in arousing the attention of public men who in turn aroused the conscience of the country. Continuously between 1808 and 1845, men like Prince Saunders, Peter Williams, Absalom Jones, Nathaniel Paul, and Bishops Varick and Richard Allen, the founders of the two wings of African Methodism, spoke out with force and initiative, and men like Denmark Vesey (1822), David Walker (1828) and Nat Turner (1831) advocated and organized schemes for direct action.”

Excerpt from essay “The Negro Digs Up His Past” written by Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (January 24, 1874- June 10, 1938) published in the March 1925 edition of Survey Graphic Magazine

African American historian Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was born on January 24, 1874 in Puerto Rico. His mother was an African Caribbean woman from St Croix in the Virgin Islands. Schomburg was reared by his mother in Puerto Rico during his early life and spent part of his childhood with his mother’s extended family in St Croix. In her published 1989 book “Arthur Alfonso Schomburg: Black Bibliophile & Collector : a Biography” Elinor Des Verney Sinnette writes: “At some point in Arturo’s childhood Mary Joseph perhaps unable to care for herself and Arturo adequately in Puerto Rico or perhaps just longing to be close to her parents left San Juan to settle in the Virgin Islands where Arturo became a member of the Nicholas Joseph family of St Croix.” According to available information Schomburg’s interest in African history was awakened by a White supremacist teacher who taught him in the 5th grade. The teacher taught that Africans had no history, no heroes and no great moments. The young Schomburg was inspired to spend his life “digging up” the history of Africans to prove his 5th grade teacher wrong.

In March 1925 Schomburg published his essay "The Negro Digs Up His Past" in an issue of the Survey Graphic Magazine devoted to the intellectual life of Harlem. The essay inspired African American historian John Henrik Clarke (January 1, 1915-July 16, 1998) who wrote that at 17 years old (1932) he left his home in Columbus, Georgia and travelled to Harlem, New York in search of Schomburg to further his studies in African history. In an interview with Civil Rights Journal Clarke spoke of his meeting with Schomburg who said to him: “Sit down, son. What you are calling African history and Negro history is nothing but the missing pages of world history. You will have to know general history to understand these specific aspects of history. You have to study your oppressor. That's where your history got lost." Clarke said that Schomburg “opened up my eyes to the fact that I came from an old people, older than slavery, older than the people who oppressed us.” Barely 17 years old Schomburg immigrated to the USA arriving in New York on April 17, 1891. He worked at various jobs for survival (including elevator operator, bellhop, printer and porter) while pursuing an education at night school. Schomburg experienced the White supremacist culture of America especially since the three women to whom he was married (at different periods of his life) were all African American women born in southern states. He travelled to those southern states to visit family during the dreadful period of African American voters suffering disenfranchisement through literacy tests and poll taxes plus the frequent lynching of African Americans (including Tulsa, Oklahoma May 1921 and Rosewood, Florida January 1923.) Schomburg was a man before his time in his calls for the inclusion of African history in the curriculum. In his published work of 1913 entitled “Racial integrity: A plea for the establishment of a chair of Negro history in our schools and colleges, etc. \” he advocates for educators to: "include the practical history of the Negro race from the dawn of civilization to the present time." He was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP,) a cofounder of the Negro Society for Historical Research and served as president of the American Negro Academy. In 1926, with a grant from the Carnegie Corporation, the New York Public Library purchased Schomburg's collection of books and artifacts on African history for $10,000. Schomburg was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee responsible for overseeing the collection which was officially named "The Arthur A. Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and Art."

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem, New York holds the largest collection of African American literature/information (documents and artifacts) which includes Schomburg’s collection. The Center houses a theatre, two galleries, a lecture hall, more than 125,000 books and a large collection of archived material documenting the history of Africans from the African continent and the Diaspora. From May 20, 1995 through April 28, 1996 to celebrate its 70th anniversary the Center featured an exhibition of the life and times of Schomburg entitled “Arturo Alfonso Schomburg: The Man and His Times.” On their website the Centre states: “The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the world's leading research facilities devoted to the preservation of materials on the global African and African diasporan experiences. A focal point of Harlem's cultural life, the Center also functions as the national research library in the field, providing free access to its wide-ranging noncirculating collections. It also sponsors programs and events that illuminate and illustrate the richness of black history and culture. The Center is generally recognized as one of the leading institutions of its kind in the world. For over 80 years the Center has collected, preserved, and provided access to materials documenting black life, and promoted the study and interpretation of the history and culture of peoples of African descent.”

We are almost at the end of January and it seems as if the year is moving very quickly with African Heritage Month just one week away. Although we are African (or whatever else we choose to name ourselves) it is during February that most people think about our history. February has been recognized as Black History Month, African Heritage Month, African Liberation Month for more than 40 years. Since 1976 it was expanded from a one week recognition of African history to a one month recognition. In February schools, business places and community organizations usually plan at least one activity to acknowledge the history and culture of Africans. Most of these events are nothing more than an excuse to trot out some Africans in African attire, sample some African food, drum and dance. We need to ensure that any event in our schools or the places where we are employed do more than provide entertainment in recognition of the month. At the very least include the history of Africans in Canada with a display of books and posters. There are bookstores in the city owned by African Canadians where the owners are extremely knowledgeable about appropriate books for a display. Like Schomburg and the man recognized as the founder of Negro History Week in 1926 (Crater Godwin Woodson) which eventually became Black History Month in 1976 and now African Heritage Month/African Liberation Month do more to spread the knowledge. Read a book about African history, read to your children, buy a book for your children or other people’s children. Starting now!

OBAMA IN THE WHITE HOUSE AGAIN!!

As African people at some point in our lives we must think like the popular African American spiritual: “My heart/soul looks back and wonder how I got over.” How did we as a people survive four hundred years of chattel slavery and the rabid racism to which we have been subjected since slavery was abolished? One of the many examples of how we are still marginalised is the portrayal of Africans in movies and even documentaries. The recent movie “Lincoln” which portrays Abraham Lincoln as the great emancipator also denigrates the role that enslaved Africans played in their emancipation. By omitting the work that Fredrick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and even the characters played by S. Epatha Merkerson (Lydia Hamilton Smith,) Gloria Rueben (Elizabeth Keckley) and Stephen Henderson (William Slade) did before and during the Civil War, Spielberg does a disservice to African Americans. Similar to the distortion of African American life in movies like “Gone with the Wind,” “Birth of a nation” and several Blaxploitation movies of the 70s Lincoln depicts the mistaken idea that many White Americans have about their African American compatriots. The movie misrepresents the lives of the three main African American characters who appear in it. Hamilton Smith, Keckley and Slade were not mere props to the lives of White people as they are portrayed in the movie they were movers and shakers in their community. African Americans both enslaved and free contributed mightily to the eventual freedom of all Africans in American from chattel slavery. So it is alarming that in this 21st century a movie like Lincoln is receiving the kind of rave reviews it is from some quarters.

In spite of the White supremacist culture of North American society Americans elected the first African American President to a second term. The first term was a turbulent four years during which it became very clear that America was not a post racial nation as some posited. Instead the White supremacist culture was very evident. They came out of the woodwork, the Donald Trumps and the Clint Eastwoods who really (as the elders of my youth would say) showed their cloven hooves. Regardless of the many criticisms of President Obama his re-election was not surprising when we consider who the Republican candidate was. White men and women of all types and stripes were vicious in their disrespect for the President of their country. Even Bush Jr as dim as he was never received the kind of vitriolic criticism incited by Obama’s Presidency. Obama has been criticized by some African Americans and Africans in the Diaspora for not being pro-active in dealing with African American unemployment and not addressing other problems that plague African Americans. For example the Black Agenda Report radio program and blog were vociferous in their criticism especially during the election campaign. Some of Obama’s severest critics were African Americans. They voiced their concerns in terms of what they saw as lacking in someone who garnered extraordinary support from the African American voting population. The White people on the other hand seemed bent on ensuring that Obama’s reputation would be destroyed. The level of contempt, disrespect and hatred towards him and his family was almost overwhelming. On January 25, 2012 the image of Jan Brewer Governor of Arizona pointing her finger in the President’s face as she appeared to be chastising him was an example of the contempt and disrespect. The Tea Party movement and other White Supremacist groups who sprouted seemingly overnight after the 2008 election is an example of the hate groups and individuals who hectored the President and his family for the entire four years. Beginning with the infamous “terrorist fist bump” remark by a Fox Television news reader which was exacerbated by the racist cartoon in the New Yorker magazine in their July 14, 2008 edition. Things went downhill from there including Marilyn Davenport’s (California Republican) racist e-mail depicting the President as the child of chimpanzees. White Americans have really showed their unwillingness to accept African Americans as their equal. On the other hand the African American groups and individuals who took Obama to task never sunk to those levels. On his blog the Black Agenda Report, Bruce A. Dixon posted this slogan: “Halting gentrification, reining in Big Oil or Wall Street? Rolling back the prison state or shrinking the drug war? Making underwater homeowners or student debtors whole? Bringing the troops home? Ending the drone wars? Will voting for this guy or Romney make any of these things more likely? Is it time to look outside the two establishment parties yet? Or is a black face in a high place all you really need?” After the election a group of 60 African American leaders met and formulated a very different Black Agenda to present to the President. The Reverend Al Sharpton who was a member of the group reportedly said: “It was a historic gathering of over sixty leaders from civil rights, faith-based, academic, social, and youth organizations, to put together the framework of an agenda for African Americans to present before the President and the Congress for the next four years. We must move beyond rhetoric to create results and from attacks to action.” In presenting their agenda the leaders wrote: “The plight of the African-American community underscores the urgency of our demand. The African-American community was disproportionately battered by the Great Recession, and has benefited the least from the fragile economy recovery. Unemployment remains unacceptably high; income inequality and the ever-widening wealth gap threaten to relegate the black community to perpetual underclass status. Those who wish to curtail investment education and career preparation further dim the prospects for upward mobility for our young people.” The problem now is to get the seemingly mean spirited Republican dominated House of Representatives to pay any attention to what African American leaders have set out as the Black Agenda even with an African American president.

The history books tell us that Lincoln was a Republican and his party supported emancipation. The Democrats who at the time were slave holders were naturally the enemies of African Americans. How things have changed! The two parties changed their politics beginning in the 1930s in reaction to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” policies. Today a majority of African Americans are Democrats as evidenced in last year’s election where the Democrats gained 93% of the African American votes and the first African American President elected to a second term is a Democrat. The second Obama inauguration ceremony will take place on the Martin Luther King Jr holiday January 21. There have been reports that the President will use Dr. King’s Bible during the oath. He is also supposed to be using Abraham Lincoln’s Bible (not sure how that will work) maybe he did not read Lerone Bennett’s “Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream.”

During the last inauguration ceremony many African Americans watched with emotional tears as they witnessed a sight none of us thought we would ever see in our lifetime; an African American family living in the White House. None of us could have imagined an African American President and President Obama in spite of criticism about what he has not done for African Americans has been a figure of inspiration for many. Regardless of whether or not Obama is just a “Black face in a high place” do people really think that anyone except rich White men and women would be better off with the other guy as President?

ABRAHAM AND MARTIN

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

Excerpt from “I Have A Dream” speech by Dr Martin Luther King Jr on August 28, 1963

On Monday, January 21, Americans will remember the birthday of Civil Rights activist Dr Martin Luther King Jr with a public holiday. King was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia a city infamous for its White supremacist culture and history. King would have been almost 11 years old on December 15, 1939 when the city of Atlanta hosted the film premiere of the White Supremacist movie “Gone with the Wind.” The movie was based on the best-selling novel of the same name which was written by Margaret Mitchell who was born in Atlanta 29 years before King. King gave his speech now popularly known as the “I Have A Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial following the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. He praised Abraham Lincoln as many had done before him as the man who was responsible for the emancipation of enslaved Africans. A recent movie about Lincoln’s final days as America’s 16th president also portrays him as the “Great Emancipator.”

In his 2000 published book “Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream” Lerone Bennett Jr wrote: “"[Lincoln} did everything he could to deport Blacks and to make America a Great White Place. If Lincoln had his way, Oprah Winfrey, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson, Sr., Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, and even Clarence Thomas would have been born in slavery. If Lincoln had his way, there would be no Blacks in America at all. None” Bennett was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi and grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. He attended the historically Black postsecondary institution (Dr King’s alma mater) Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

“Forced into Glory” was published by Johnson Publishing Company where Bennett served as executive editor of Ebony Magazine and wrote several articles on African-American history. In “Forced into Glory” Bennett addresses the myth of Lincoln freeing enslaved Africans with an emancipation proclamation: "What Lincoln did--and it was so clever that we ought to stop calling him honest Abe--was to 'free' slaves in Confederate-held territory where he couldn't free them and to leave them in slavery in Union-held territory where he could have freed them.” With meticulous research Bennett debunked the myth of Lincoln as a caring person who worked to free enslaved Africans in America. He first addressed the issue in an editorial published in Ebony Magazine’s February 1968 edition entitled “Was Lincoln a White Supremacist?” Bennett wrote that “Lincoln was an opportunist, not an idealist. There was not, in his view, enough room in America for Black and White people. “On August 14, 1862 he called a handpicked group of Black men to the White House and proposed a Black exodus. He told the Black men that it was their duty to leave.” Bennett writes that Lincoln’s rationalization for suggesting the exodus was: “you and we are different races.” Bennett also argued that “academics and media had been hiding the truth for 135 years and that Lincoln was not the great emancipator or the small emancipator or the economy-sized emancipator.”

According to Bennett in this recorded interview: (http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/158187-1/Lerone+Bennett.aspx) Lincoln made his own “I Have A Dream” speech where he called for “free White people everywhere” to immigrate to the USA to make the country a White country. Bennett whose biography in Ebony Magazine (April 2008) describes him as author, historian, lecturer and Ebony Magazine executive editor emeritus wrote that, "Unlike King, unlike Phillips, unlike Douglass, but like Jefferson, Lincoln dreamed of an all-White nation, governed by White people, only for White people." Since Bennett’s book was published almost 13 years ago there have been several reviews by White historians who agree that: “Lincoln did share the racial prejudices of his time and place. He did support the idea of colonizing Blacks abroad -- though he retreated from this notion after 1862 and moved toward a policy of assimilating the four million freed slaves as equal citizens. Lincoln did lag behind the abolitionists and the radical wing of his own party in supporting Emancipation and the enlistment of Black soldiers.” However these same reviewers/historians claim that Bennett has misinterpreted the recorded evidence that Lincoln was a White Supremacist who did not think that Africans were the equal of Whites, was a great fan of minstrel shows where White men in “blackface” degraded African culture, used the “N” word incessantly, was fond of making “darky” jokes and who voted in favour of the Fugitive Slave Laws. On August 27, 1858 at Freeport, Illinois during his second of seven debates with Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln is quoted as saying: “In regard to the Fugitive Slave Law, I have never hesitated to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of the United States, the people of the Southern States are entitled to a congressional Fugitive Slave Law.” Douglas, the Democratic candidate (incumbent elected 1847) and Lincoln, the Republican candidate (newcomer, relatively unknown) were campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat to represent Illinois. On September 18, 1858 in Charleston, Illinois, during the fourth debate with Douglas, Lincoln once again spoke on the hot topic of the day: “I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the White and Black races, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with White people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the White and Black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the White race.” Bennett wrote: “Lincoln was as active as any racist of his time in perpetuating Negro stereotypes. The words n___r, darky and colored boy came easily to his lips. It appears from the admittedly incomplete record that Lincoln used the N-word at least as often as the Mark Fuhrmans of today. He might have used it even more for, unlike Fuhrman, who tried to hide his hand on official occasions, Lincoln used the word openly on public platforms and in the Illinois State House and the White House.”

With all the recorded evidence available, Lincoln in the recent movie is portrayed as the great emancipator who fought to end the enslavement of Africans in America. Not surprisingly although the movie is premised on Lincoln’s effort to get the 13th amendment passed which would end chattel slavery in the USA all the African American characters had very peripheral roles. Like the movie “Gone with the wind” Africans are props for the White characters. There is no recognition of the roles that Africans played in ending slavery. Not a sign of Frederick Douglass or Harriet Tubman who worked as a scout, spy and nurse for the Union army during the Civil War. She organized a sophisticated information-gathering operation of scouts and spies and led several of the missions into enemy territory. In July of 1863, Harriet Tubman led troops under the command of Colonel James Montgomery in the Combahee River expedition, disrupting Southern supply lines by destroying bridges and railroads and freed more than 750 enslaved Africans. Tubman is credited with significant leadership responsibilities for the mission where she came under Confederate fire. General Saxton, who reported the raid to Secretary of War Stanton, said "This is the only military command in American history wherein a woman, Black or White, led the raid and under whose inspiration it was originated and conducted."

The movie was disappointing because even the three African American characters in this movie that addressed even marginally the abolition of chattel slavery in the United States did nothing but passively wait for White men to liberate them. It reinforced the assumption that history is the purview of White men who rescue racialized people. Elizabeth Keckley who published a memoir in 1868 “Behind the Scenes Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House” organized other African American women to raise money and donations of clothing and food for the African Americans who sought refuge in Washington during the Civil War. In the movie she was merely a prop for Mary Todd Lincoln. The character Slade followed Lincoln around the White House carrying Lincoln's hat when in reality Slade was a leader in the Social, Civil and Statistical Association (SCSA) an organization that tried to advance arguments for freedom and civil rights by collecting data on African American economic and social successes and met with Lincoln to discuss the issue of emigration (which they opposed) in August 1862. Both Keckley and Slade were active in the abolition movement but you would never know that by watching the movie. The character of Lydia Hamilton Smith who was Thaddeus Steven's African American housekeeper and his commonlaw wife for more than 23 years is shown at the end of the movie as an afterthought. There is no recognition of the influence she would have had on Steven's political stance, thoughts and behaviour.

As Americans prepare to recognize King with a public holiday and Africans in the Diaspora who admired King as a Civil Rights freedom fighter prepare to remember and honour his memory on Janauary 21, one has to wonder when those who own mainstream media will get the message. We can speak for ourselves and tell our stories. We know who our heroes and sheroes are and do not need anyone else to choose them for us. Lincoln is not a hero of African Americans who need to read "Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream" to know the real Abraham Lincoln and not the character from the movie "Lincoln."

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013

Happy New Year 2013! We are in a New Year and many of us are working on keeping up with those New Year’s resolutions that we made just a few days ago. I have not made any New Year’s resolution for 2013, still working on my New Year’s resolution from 2012 which was to learn more about the Village Movement in Guyana. The Village Movement is where the formerly enslaved Africans moved away from the plantations where they had been enslaved and pooling the money they had earned (grudgingly paid by their former enslavers) after the abolition of slavery they bought abandoned plantations. The first of those villages was Victoria Village on the East Coast of Demerara although Buxton is the most famous. By the time the British colonial government had managed to pass prohibitive laws to slow down and eventually stop the Village Movement, Africans had bought and established more than 100 of these villages. This is a part of Guyana’s history that sadly is not taught to students in Guyana today.

I spent the first few days of 2013 visiting relatives I had not seen for more than 30 years and some I had never met before. It had been at least 14 years since I made a flying visit to the town of McKenzie, Linden up the Demerara River. My first working experience happened in McKenzie when I was a student teacher many decades ago learning from some of the best; Jean Sampson, Ms. Ogle, Ms. Jordan etc., My best friend and colleague was Maylene Willis (later Campbell) we gravitated towards each other because we were from out of town, Maylene from Buxton and I from Stanleytown, Berbice. In December 1998 I spent two days in McKenzie attending my cousin Joanne McLeod’s wedding. Joanne and her family now live in the United Kingdom (UK.) On this occasion (2013) I was visiting Linden with more on my mind than family connections and fun. I was a woman on a serious mission. I was determined to speak with at least one elected official for the area and some of the citizens of a town that was once the economic driving force of the entire country. McKenzie used to be the place for any ambitious young (and not so young) Guyanese. They came from every part of Guyana; Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo. There were even people from several Caribbean countries reaping the benefits of mining bauxite in Linden. People from Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent etc., could be found living in McKenzie and working for the Canadian owned mining company Demerara Bauxite Company (DEMBA) which was owned by a subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of Canada (ALCAN) which was itself a subsidiary of the American bauxite giant Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA.) Some of the elders in the community claim that many of the workers from Caribbean countries had been stowaways on banana boats and made their way to a life very much more lucrative than they could ever have experienced in their countries of birth.

During my recent visit to McKenzie I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with one of the elected officials of Region 10 in Guyana. The McKenzie area is known as Region 10 and the Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon, Members of Parliament (MPs) Vanessa Kissoon and Pastor Rennis Morian are the elected officials. I had the distinct pleasure of chatting with Vanessa Kissoon. And talk about six degrees of separation; it turns out that Kissoon’s mother and I were young teachers at St John’s Primary School in Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara many decades ago. That was a surprise because I had no idea my former colleague had any children. It turns out she has four of whom the MP for Region 10 is her eldest daughter. Apart from the family connection with my former colleague I found that Kissoon was very gracious in the midst of her hectic schedule as she and the woman of a historic Guyanese organization prepared Christmas hampers for some residents of the area who are in need. Each Christmas hamper included household items as well as our famous Guyanese “black cake” beautifully decorated by PNC stalwart and elder Shirley Williams. This energetic elder baked all 25 cakes which will go to making several people celebrate a traditional Guyanese Christmas. The recipients include the mothers of the three men who were killed by police (as they participated in a peaceful protest) on July 18, 2012. The National Council of Women (NCW) was founded on October 5, 1957 and is the Women’s section of the former PNC now PNCR. Kissoon as chairperson of the Region 10 NCW is also one of the youngest MPs serving in the Guyana legislature and in her second term as a member of the opposition. The opposition “A Partnership for National Unity” (APNU) is an amalgamation of political parties that together hold a majority of seats. The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Guyana government is a minority government.

Kissoon who graduated from the Cyril Potter College of Education (a teacher training college in Guyana established in 1928) is a qualified teacher who taught secondary school before becoming involved in politics. She is the driving force (ably assisted by several women including Ann Archibald, Sandra Vantull, Fern McKoy and the indomitable elder Shirley Williams) behind much of the activism evident in the women’s movement in Region 10. The NCW of Region 10 which has been active since January 2012 organized a march against police brutality in September 2012. This march came in the wake of the murder of three African Guyanese men in Linden (Shemroy Bouyea 18, Allan Lewis 46 and Ron Somerset 18) plus the killing of Shaquille Grant in Agricola and Dameon Belgrave in Georgetown. Like the women of South Africa during the apartheid era who sang “now you have touched the women you have struck a rock” the women of the NCW were instrumental in organizing the protest in July of 2012 to protest the more than 100% rise in the cost of electricity in Linden. There was widespread support for the protest which saw police open fire on peaceful unarmed protestors on July 18, 2012. The murder of the three men in the Linden Massacre garnered worldwide attention and protests in support of the people of Linden as far away from Guyana as the USA, UK and Canada. Another group the Mothers of Linden came out of the protests where citizens blocked several bridges to bring attention to their plight. One of the blocked bridges prevented owners of concessions which includes many government ministers from accessing their business interests it them where it hurts in the pocket and that is the main reason why the police were sicced unto the peaceful protestors it had everything to do with the ministers making that extra money which is on top of the very generous salary they receive and all the perks. The University educated working person in Guyana earns the equivalent of $38.00 Canadian dollars a month while even junior government ministers receive the equivalent of $420.00 Canadian dollars a month. One Canadian dollar is worth $200.00 Guyana dollars. It has been reported that the former Guyanese President receives the equivalent of $1473.00 Canadian dollars a month as pension. The job of President of Guyana with such a generous pension must be a very sought after position. I am tempted to move back to Guyana and apply for the position. Maybe that should be my New Year’s resolution for 2013. Happy New Year 2013!

TERRORISIM IN THE RUPUNUNI JANUARY 2 1969

On January 2, 1969 when most Guyanese would have been recovering from the festivities of Old Year’s Night revelries and New Year’s Day overindulgences (food, partying, liming) a group of cowardly terrorists brought chaos and death to the Rupununi region and affected the entire country. These terrorists did not slink into the country from some neighbouring territory, no, they were all (traitorous albeit) Guyanese. It would seem that these (mostly descendants of Scottish immigrant Melville) disloyal Guyanese were not comfortable living within a country which had an African Guyanese as its leader. The conspiracy to secede from Guyana and form a separate nation was apparently planned by Valerie Hart who was married to one of the Melville descendants. She reportedly declared that the “Rupununi District had seceded from Guyana and that they would set up a Government of the ‘Republic of the Rupununi’.”

The devastating New Year’s news reached the citizens of the fledgling Guyanese nation which was barely 2 ½ years old. The Co-operative Republic of Guyana had gained its political independence from Britain on May, 26, 1966. The traumatic news was especially difficult for those of us who knew people on both sides of the conflict. It was devastating to hear that young men with whom we had attended school were involved in the terrorist attack and murder of policemen who had been my father’s colleagues. We realised that if our family had been living in Lethem on January 2, 1969 our father could have suffered the same fate as: Inspector Whittington Braithwaite #4412, Sergeant James Anderson #4590, Constables James McKenzie #5611, William Norton #5691 and Michael Kendall # 7178. Even more traumatised were the children of the slain police officers some of whom more than 40 years later find it difficult to speak about the murder of their fathers by a group of traitorous, disloyal Guyanese.

The reporting of the secession attempt named mostly the descendants of Harvey Prideaux Colin Melville as the ring leaders of the terrorist gang. In the 1960s the large Melville clan and their relatives seemed to think that they owned the Rupununi. Melville had apparently entered then British Guiana as a prospector sometime in the 1890s. He set up house with two Wapishiana sisters (Mamai Mary and Mamai Janet) and between the two women begat 10 children. The Melville clan expanded when those children became adults and had children. Melville’s eldest daughter Amy married American adventurer Basil Lawrence ‘Ben’ Hart who entered the Rupununi in 1913. Old Melville gave his daughter and son-in-law the Pirara Ranch and surrounding land and they begat six sons and one daughter. All ten of old Melville’s children begat several children and they were all given land and ranches. By the 1960s the Melville clan/descendants was spread across the Rupununi savannas and included Orellas, Gorinskys and Harts. Valerie Hart was one of Ben Hart’s daughters-in-law and named as the mastermind of the secession plot. She imagined herself a politician since she had been a candidate for the United Force (UF) political party in the Guyana general election of December 12, 1968. Her politician days were numbered however because 5 days after the terrorist attack (on January 7, 1969) she was expelled from the UF party because of her involvement and "for acting in a manner inimical to the territorial integrity of Guyana and the aims and objectives of the United Force." Hart fits the description of a traitor to her country of birth (one who betrays one's country, a cause, or a trust, especially one who commits treason) since she knew that there was some tension between Guyana and Venezuela over Guyanese territory and she exploited that tension for her own gain. Venezuela has claimed land in Guyana since the country was a British colony but they became aggressive after Guyana’s independence. Hart was very aware of this and it probably pleased her little traitorous heart. The people who she oversaw/directed and who would eventually attack the police station at Lethem and murder five policemen and two civilians received military training in Venezuela.

And there is more evidence to convict Valerie Hart of traitorous behaviour. It has been reported that at 8 am January 3, 1969 she contacted a US ham radio operator and made an appeal for help on behalf of “Guyanese rebels.” In a reported phone conversation with Jerimiah O'Leary, a reporter from the Washington Star she identified herself as President of the Association of Procedures and Representative of Free Peoples and the Free State of Essequibo, in revolt against the government of Guyana and the government of Burnham. She appealed for weapons, medical supplies and moral support and declared that she and her cohorts wanted to be free to rule themselves. She made several other broadcasts the same morning reiterating the appeal for US or any other foreign assistance. She and some of her supporters were eventually flown to Venezuela where they remained for many years before drifting back into Guyana for periods of time. No one has ever been convicted of this terrorist attack and certainly Valerie Hart has never been brought to justice for her part in the attack on the Lethem police station and the murder of seven people in that debacle.

If she is still alive cowering somewhere in Venezuela this woman should be brought to justice. Most likely she has been living the good life for the past 43 years hoping that everyone has forgotten the carnage for which she is partly responsible. It was a horrific sight as described by eye witnesses when early in the morning of January 2, 1969 the police station at Lethem was blown apart by bazooka attack. As the surprised police ran out of the disintegrating building they were mowed down by gun fire from the gang of cowardly terrorists.

As we look towards the USA which this year 2012 has had several domestic terrorist attacks and we see and listen to the grieving family members and friends I cannot help remembering December 2, 1969 and the murder of seven people in Lethem, Rupununi in the Guyana hinterland. As we come to the end of 2012 we need to give thanks that we have survived in spite of everything that has transpired. The children of the police officers who were murdered by Valerie Hart and her gang of terrorists survived and lived to adulthood. No one knows how they suffered after their fathers were killed. Humans have a great capacity for survival after suffering from traumatic events. Faith, family, friends and support systems help. Whatever higher power we believe in we can give thanks in our various ways and look forward to a time when we will not have to be reading about terrorist attacks from without or within any country. We are almost at the end of 2013 and look forward to a new year hopefully less traumatic than 2012. Happy New Year to all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2012

Mooma, Mooma would you like to join your sonny? I am over here, happy in the mother country Darling, for the Christmas, your son would be really jumping Listen to the chorus of what we all will be singing… Drink a rum and a punch a crema, drink a rum Is Christmas morning!

From “Drink a Rum” by Aldwyn “Lord Kitchener” Roberts (April 18, 1922 – February 11, 2000).

As an adult whenever I hear this song I cannot help wondering if Lord Kitchener was really encouraging his elderly mother to drink alcohol on Christmas morning. The calypso also brings back wonderful memories of spending Christmas with the McLeods (my aunt and her family) at 420 Mora Street in Mackenzie (Guyana.) I was about 8 years old the first time I spent Christmas visiting my mother’s older sister, her husband and daughter in Mackenzie. We travelled up the Demerara River on the steamer (SS) R.H Carr. The journey was too long for an 8 year old to stay awake so my father’s cousin who was staff on the R.H Carr lent us his bunk bed and I was asleep in no time while Papa disappeared with his cousin. When I woke up it was time for us to disembark at Sproston’s Wharf/Mackenzie Stelling. Some of those memories are dim after all this was several decades ago. However I do remember Lord Kitchener’s Drink A Rum blasting from Mr. Anthony’s (my aunt’s next door neighbour) jukebox early on Christmas morning. His neighbours (including the children) welcomed and enjoyed the music which signaled for us the beginning of the most enjoyable day of the year.

Our lives have certainly changed since those days. My mother and her five siblings have all transitioned and so have Mr. and Mrs. Anthony. My father and my Aunty Vilma Liverpool seem to be the only ones of that generation who are still with us. My aunt’s daughters (she eventually had four) have all immigrated to Europe and the USA and my siblings and I all live in Canada. We still try to replicate the Christmas of our childhood but that is impossible. We can cook the food we ate during Christmas but the ambiance of a Guyanese Christmas cannot be transferred to the foreign shores where we now dwell. Christmas in Guyanese households began with pepperpot for breakfast. Pepperpot is a uniquely Guyanese dish from the Native people of Guyana (Amerindians) but it has become the Christmas breakfast dish of choice for all Guyanese. Made with various meats seasoned with casareep (which is made by boiling bitter cassava) Guyanese pepperpot is best eaten with homemade bread. The casareep preserves the meat so pepperpot can be reheated and served over several days and could last through to Old Year’s night (New Year’s Eve.) Cook-up rice is the meal of choice for New Year’s Day so the pepperpot is most likely demolished before the New Year.

Many of us return to Guyana at Christmas time to relive those times and connect with relatives and friends who remained in Guyana and those who left to live elsewhere. There are those Guyanese who return home every year to visit and those who return once or twice after spending decades living outside of the country. The sights, sounds and smells of a Guyanese Christmas are unique. Children would wake up on Christmas morning to a seemingly new house where everything had been miraculously transformed overnight. The adults worked throughout the night to ensure that the beautiful wooden furniture were sanded and polished, there were new window curtains, the floors were sanded and polished, the walls were painted etc.,. It was almost like there had been elves at work because of all the work our elders put into making Christmas Day so special. We woke up on Christmas morning raring to open the presents that Father Christmas had mysteriously brought to our homes the night before. We really did believe all those gifts were from Father Christmas until we were about 11 or 12 years old. Not surprising since Father Christmas knew exactly what we wanted for Christmas. The presents he brought were mostly gender specific. There were usually water and cap guns, bats and other cricket paraphernalia for the boys. The girls mostly received dolls, dolls’ clothes, tea sets and kitchen gadgets. We all, boys and girls received books, clothes and shoes.

The Christmas cards from near and far (mostly from relatives and friends who lived Britain) were displayed and we had fun reading some of the greetings. We were also fascinated with the images of snow, snowmen and “real” Christmas trees growing in the snow. In Guyana there are no evergreen trees resembling what is considered the traditional Christmas tree but artificial trees were a part of the decoration, complete with fake snow. The food that is an important part of the festivities and on Christmas day all the adults were involved with the food preparation and the amazing smell of Christmas lunch and dinner added to that unique smell of a Guyanese Christmas. The dining table seemed to groan under the weight of the food on Christmas day. Lunch and dinner included roasted and baked chicken, garlic pork, pepperpot, roasted and baked duck, black cake, pickled onions, achar, ginger beer, mauby, sorrel and various types of liquor for the men. Family, friends, neighbours and even strangers were made welcome and invited to eat, drink and take food home when they visited on Christmas day.

During my recent visit to Guyana (December 2011) I realized that I have not lost my childhood fear of Mother Sally and the mad cow which are a traditional part of the Guyanese Christmas entertainment. Special entertainment was provided by the masquerade bands that travelled throughout the towns and villages. The fearsome mad cow and Mother Sally were terrifying figures to many children as they flounced and danced to the sound of the kittle, flute and drum. I was scared witless at the sight of Mother Sally and the mad cow and would hide indoors until they were out of sight. The men and boys who accompanied the masquerade bands would perform amazing acrobatic movements as they flounced and danced to pick up money that was placed on the ground. Some of the members of the masquerade bands would chant: “Christmas comes but once a year and everyman must have his share, except old brother Willy in the jail drinking sour ginger beer.” I could never get a satisfactory answer from any adults when I asked why “old brother Willy” was in jail every year at Christmas time.

In Guyana the celebration of Christmas is embraced by all Guyanese regardless of race, ethnicity and religion although the celebration began in the 1600s with the arrival of the Dutch, the first Europeans who settled in Guyana. The enslaved Africans probably embraced the celebration of Christmas because it was the one day of the year that their enslavers allowed them to have a respite from the backbreaking field work (the house slaves would have had to work as usual) after all the slaveholder families would not cook their own meals on Christmas Day or clean their homes themselves. Later generations of Africans who converted to Christianity celebrated the birth of Christ and attending church on Christmas Day was expected. The indentured labourers who arrived in Guyana from Madeira (May 3, 1835) were Catholics and added their Christmas traditions to those of the Africans who imitated the British. The indentured labourers who arrived from Asia (China - January 17, 1853 and India - May 5, 1838) arrived in then British Guiana with their religious beliefs intact but embraced Christmas and celebrated it as a secular holiday which included recognizing Father Christmas and the giving and receiving of gifts. In Canada Christmas is embraced by people of all religions as a secular holiday. Regardless of people’s religious beliefs they are out shopping and looking for bargains at this time of the year. Christmas as celebrated by Christians gets such short shrift that you will frequently hear people referring to Christmas trees as holiday trees and instead of Merry Christmas wishing Happy Holidays. If you are celebrating Christmas or want to wish someone Merry Christmas don’t be shy say it loud and clear: “Merry Christmas!”