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The pain of enlightenment: Discarding the colonial mask
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Diigo/FurlPublished On:Monday, March 15, 2010
By NOELLE NICOLLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
nnicolls@tribunemedia.net
MANY times in life we are confronted with the truth that ignorance is bliss..
But less we become too blind to our own self-destructive ways, let us not forget that "when you're dumb, you're dangerous".
A truth all too uncomfortable to accept is the fact that neither the abolition of slavery, majority rule, independence, civil rights, nor Christianization, restored the humanity, identity, position of power or culture of African people, now dispersed around the globe.
In the Bahamas, immigration officers regularly conduct raids on the Haitian community at job sites in the early morning, or bus stops in the mid afternoon. When a Haitian child returns home from school to a vandalized and empty house, what sort of humanity is there to speak of for that child? This is the unspoken reality of disempowered African people, in this instance Haitians in the Bahamas. Parents deported to Haiti with no consideration for their children. Children abandoned by the State, many times left to wonder the streets until a relative or community member absorbs them into the family.
African people, a classification for all people of African descent, have been so far removed from themselves they have virtually lost the ability to progress, to unify, to function at an optimum level, to move forward as a people. Almost every day this is played out, not in history class, but in headline news.
Atlanta, Georgia billboard: "Black children are an endangered species".
Voice of America: "UN Calls for Action to Prevent Spread of HIV/AIDS in Haiti". Jamaica Observer: "Jamaican government failing crime fight".
National Press Review:" Genital herpes hits black women hardest".
Seven-Sided Cube: "Deadly massacre in Nigeria didn't even spare infants".
Seattle Local: "Rate of black men's imprisonment rising".
Freeport News: "Chilling crime statistics".
Far from progress, the African community is on the path to self destruction..
This is no secret, examples abound, and this is no coincidence, but who really wants to look at the real reasons why. Reasons exist - rap music, no respect for elders, violent video games, drugs, homosexuality, the devil - but most are little more than symptoms, fantasies, illusions or white lies.
What of the deep wounds, festering below the surface, starving the African of vitality, depriving the African of self-knowledge, making the African prone to participate in his own demise?
Having been emasculated by the dehumanising experience of the Maafa, or centuries of suffering through slavery, imperialism, colonialisation, post-colonialism, and Willie Lynch inspired behaviour, most Africans are zombies to their own condition.
Many people tire to hear African people speak about slavery and its associated conditions because they lack an appreciation for the fact that colonial narratives persist today to the great detriment of African people.
Many people encourage the African community to forgive and forget, to move on, and to see modern society as a post-racial society, only because they lack an understanding of the lies, damned lies and the lying liars that perpetuate the myths.
I recall an elder advising me on dealing with someone who had done me wrong, forgive, but don't forget. I recall an African American civil rights activist saying, what we seek is not post-racial; because the racial identify of the African community is important culturally and spiritually.
The movement is for integration not assimilation, and in some instances, the desire is for separate but equal institutions.
The highest order of resistance is needed in the African community to push back, to challenge the thinking that slavery does not matter. Slavery is not just about physical barriers, many of which have been removed, or mental chains, many of which have been theorised, slavery is a symbol for the real and tangible loss of identity, loss of power and loss of culture, continually corroding the foundations on which African communities try to build.
The perpetuation of slavery-derived colonial narratives occur to the detriment of African people, most powerfully because it deprives African people of self-knowledge. These narratives will never be challenged or changed by the ruling minority class, the dominant culture, deniers of their existence, by assimilationists, or other races for which they have no negative impact. The African community will only be restored when it restores its own sense of "Nyon Nyor Nyan", which means "Who are we?" in the Grand Dakar Wolof language of West Africa.
Anyone educated in the formal education system, under established institutional structures, will be hard pressed to understand these perspectives. Anyone engaged in self-discovery - tantamount to awakening one's African consciousness at some level - might share a glimmer of understanding. Sadly, many who participate in this journey reach only as far as intellectual engagement, stopping just short of applying their knowledge to restore their way of life, stopping just short of where their real power lies.
My family is a living testament of this. Most Bahamian families do not contemplate the question: should we send the children to church? That is a given. To be a good Christian in a Christian nation, children must go to church. So I was surprised to hear my father recount the story about his argument with my mother over whether or not my brother and I should be sent to church.
My father was never sold on the idea of Church, thinking Sunday was the day for the family to spend together on the beach, and share Sunday dinner. Beyond that, he had fundamental problems with religion. Although he grew up grounded in a Church going family, Western religion never satisfied his spiritual needs. In the end, he gave in to my mother's wishes, for the sake of peace making. In the case of my mother, she knew of no alternative to satisfy the family's spiritual needs, so church was it.
Why all the scepticism of that which is so called holy? I completely understand my father's sentiments today, because African people have suffered greatly from the destructive colonial narratives about African history, culture and identity; from lies, dammed lies, and lying liars, the biggest of which have been perpetuated by Christians.
Christians, particularly Christian missionaries, are responsible for some of the greatest atrocities to the African race and they continue to wield their power to the death of the African spirit. It would serve African people well never to forget this fact, particularly as they seek to restore some semblance of order to their communities.
Unfortunately, there is little spiritual or intellectual freedom in the Bahamas to critically examine the Christianization of African people, without being oppressed, ostracized, or damned to hell. This process is important not to bash Christianity, or instruct Christians on how to be Christians, but for African people to take back rights to their own spirituality.
The Haitian case study is a clear example of how colonial narratives work their magic, a type of magic far worse than the 'black magic' of Hollywood's invention, Vodou portrayed in images of sorcery, zombies, bad spells and evil spirits. The seeds of intolerance, self-hate and division planted to turn Vodou into Satan and all things evil are the same seeds sewn to blind African people of their traditional African cultural practices. Many of these practices are retained in the West today, and they have the potential to be sources of great pride and vehicles for strengthening the African community.
Last month news emerged out of Haiti of Christian Evangelicals violently disrupting a Vodou ceremony being conducted for deceased earthquake victims..
According to Haitian police, protesters were responding to calls from their pastor, who urged his followers to attack the ceremony. The evangelicals threw rocks at practitioners, urinated on their Vévé, or sacred religious symbols, and vandalised their altars that contained offerings of food and rum for the ancestors.
Around the same time news emerged that Christian missionary groups were discriminating against Vodou practitioners in the distribution of relief supplies, using the aid as bargaining chips for buying souls. Some Vodou practitioners reportedly converted to Christianity out of fear they might lose the opportunity to receive badly needed supplies.
Since the January 12 earthquake, Catholics, Baptists, Scientologists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and other missionaries flocked to Haiti. The presence of Christian missionaries in Haiti is nothing new. Over the years, the army of Christian aid organisations have grown so large they virtually run Haiti's social services.
The relationship is not strictly benevolent, because for hundreds of years Christian missionaries have tried to entrench the colonial narrative equating Vodou with devil worship. Their efforts suffered a major blow in 2003, when Haiti's Catholic President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide declared Vodou an official religion of Haiti, setting out regulations for Vodou ceremonies, such as marriage, to have equal status to Christian ones.
It was no surprise then to hear Christian evangelical Pat Robertson speak of Haiti's pact with the devil. This is how the lie goes. A black witch doctor slave named Boukman and a Vodou priestess Cecile Fatiman presided over a pagan ritual on 14 August 1791 in which participants sacrificed a pig and drank its blood in order to form a pack with the devil in exchange for freedom from the French. On August 22, 1791, the Africans entered into a rebellion that persisted - not without setbacks - until Haiti declared itself free: the first free African republic.
As convenient a lie the 'pact with the devil' story may be, this colonial narrative, invented originally by Christian missionaries to demonize African liberationists and Vodou practitioners, is a corruption of actual historic events that should be a source of pride and strength for the African community. Instead, it is a source of shame and scandal; a mechanism to deny African people knowledge of one of the most important meetings and ceremonies perhaps to the entire emancipation and independence movement.
The story of the meeting at Bwa Kayiman in the northern mountains of Haiti some say is an amalgamation of two historical meetings: one a planning meeting, the other a Vodou ceremony. Whether it was one or two, the basis of the meeting was to unify the various African groups originating from different places in Africa, speaking different languages, and living on different plantations in Haiti. The Africans summoned the sacred energies of the universe and the power of the ancestors to support them on their mission to launch the liberation war. There was likely the ritual sacrificing of an animal and spilling of blood which is not only common in African tradition, but in secular and sacred rituals across the globe.
As a child, you learn one of the most sacred pacts two friends and make is to prick the hand of the other and exchange a handshake of blood. Christians ritually use blood in the Holy Communion. The ritual use of blood is not unique to traditional African culture.
There is a famous prayer, widely believed in Haiti to have been delivered by Boukman at the ceremony: "The god who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light. The god who holds up the ocean; who makes the thunder roar. Our God who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds; who watch us from where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer.
The white man's god asks him to commit crimes. But the god within us wants to do good. Our god, who is so good, so just, He orders us to revenge our wrongs. It's He who will direct our arms and bring us the victory. It's He who will assist us. We all should throw away the image of the white men's god who is so pitiless. Listen to the voice for liberty that speaks in all our hearts."
This information is the basis on which Christian missionaries and colonizers believed Haiti made a pact with the devil. This is the basis on which the myth continues to be perpetuated. This is just one example of the countless lies, dammed lies and lying liars.
Clearly, there was no pact with the devil; this was a highly spiritual initiation ceremony calling on the spirit of God to prepare the African warriors for the ensuing battle. If Christians believe this to be a "pact with the devil" then sobeit; this simply reveals their lack of knowledge and perspective, and their linear way of thinking.
If in order to elevate African people out of poverty; liberate African people from mental slavery; and restore the functioning of the traditional African community, the cost were a so called "pack with the devil", that deal would be signed, sealed and delivered. I certainly would book myself on a one-way ticket to the eternal inferno.
The Christianisation project has rendered African people an impotent lot, with most African people living in hell on earth already, consoled only by a great faith in eternal life after death. With this thought I am always reminded of the 'great prophet' Jimmy Cliff, who said: "Well, they tell me of a pie up in the sky, waiting for me when I die, but between the day you're born and when you die, they never seem to hear even your cry. So as sure as the sun will shine, I'm gonna get my share now, what's mine."
The impact of colonial narratives is not just born out in the lies themselves, but also in the lies of omission implicit in the telling of these stories. This became apparent to me when I realized that although I rejected the colonial image of Vodou, I had no understanding of what the real Vodou was.
Recently, my level of understanding evolved. Where I would have once spoken about Voodoo, I now speak about Vodou, because Vodou, spelt as such, is considered the most correct phonetic English translation from the Fon language word "Vodun", which means sacred energies, and Voodoo too readily conjures up the invented Hollywood image.
"Haitian deities are living entities, living energies in nature. The energies in Vodun are not perfect like the Catholic Saints. No. They mirror the imperfect world and are found always in the universe and may be elevated or not. In Vodun, there are no middlemen between you and what is good, sacred and divine. Your highest self is in you, or you may allow the mass consciousness to take you over," writes Marguerite Laurent, an award winning playwright, performance poet, political and social commentator, author and human rights attorney, in her essay on counter-colonial narratives on Vodun.
Vodun, as you will find is consistent with many traditional spiritual practices, is very unlike modern religions, in that it has no prescribed doctrine. There is a priestly order, but these community leaders are often keepers of the secrets of the community, keepers of the community's oral history, and vehicles for the community to govern itself and elevate its sacred values.
"It's an African tradition, a way of life, a psychology, philosophy, art, mythology for taping into and understanding and controlling human nature; it's the use of herbs, prescient dreams, a healing way of being, of excavating the unconscious and bringing forth the sacred energies that we all are essentially a part of," writes Ms Laurent.
The Hollywood version of 'Voodoo' is far removed from the real practice of Vodou, just as the truth of 'Haiti's pack with the devil' is far removed from the truth of the events giving birth to Haiti's 13-year liberation war.
Narrative
Although I always suspected and at some point knew the colonial narrative of Vodou was false, I had no idea what the truth was, or where the source of unfiltered truth resided. The only frame of reference I had to approach Vodou was still the negative perspective shaped by the colonial view I rejected. I realized the same was true with my understanding of traditional African culture.
The colonial narrative instructs me that Africans had no history, Africans had no inventors, Africans had no advanced medical technologies, Africans had no religion or valid world views, Africans worshiped many gods, Africans were primitive in this that and the next. I knew the colonial narratives were false, but I had no concept of what the unfiltered truth was. I suspect that was the same problem my father faced when he had to contemplate the question: should the children go to church.
I came to learn that in the area of religion and spirituality, there is a rich African culture that is perhaps becoming increasingly more relevant in modern times. The Bahamas has its very own African religious retention, Obeah, but this practice is merely written off as devil worship or black magic. Very little work has been done in the study of Obeah towards its recognition as a valid, albeit endangered, African retention in the Bahamas.
The Bahamas is even lagging in the Caribbean, where places like Jamaica, have elevated religious retentions like Revivalism and Kumina, even if only at a ceremonial level.
Although Obeah, in its present day form, does not retain the type of structure, with collective rituals found in Haitian Vodou or Afro-Cuban Lucumi tradition, or Trinidadian Shouter Baptists, it is still has a valid story to tell of "Nyon Nyor Nyan".
The knowledge that other living African traditions have to share with us is vast. In contrast to the colonial narrative about life and death, heaven and hell, which is based on a linear model, the Bantu-Kongo cosmology of the Kikongo people teach us about the coil of life on which past, present and future exist on an unbroken continuum. Life has no beginning or end; it merely constitutes a cycle of unending change. This gives birth to the central importance of ancestors, because the energy of a person never truly dies. Below the invisible wall between the physical and spiritual world lies the ancestral realm. The physical world is capable of interacting with the spiritual world, because the continuum is fluid.
The primacy of the ancestors is consistent in all traditional African religions, and based on this world view the failure of African people to cultivate a relationship with their ancestors could be a source of their demise. Dr Fu-Kiau Bunseki, a traditional Bantu healer, suggests that each living human being is a seed of a seed of a seed of a seed of a seed of a seed of a seed of a seed. There is a perpetual transfer of form and energy from one seed or generation or ancestor to another.
Ancestor
The inclination to remember and the desire to reconnect is deeply rooted in African tradition. In African culture the genesis of each individual flows from the original ancestor who was given life from the hands of the Creator, not the parents from which one was born. The honouring of one's ancestors is a recognition of that continuation, a recognition of the shoulders upon which each person stands.
The Dagara people of present day Burkina Faso teach us about the relationship between the ancestors and community. "For the Dagara people, death results in simply a different form of belonging to the community. It is a lesson from nature that change is the norm, that the world is defined by eternal cycles of decline and regeneration. Death is not a separation but a different form of communion, a higher form of connectedness with the community," writes Malidoma Some in "The Healing Wisdom of Africa".
African cultures have a systems approach to living, unlike the compartmentalized worldview typically found in the West. In African culture, the individual is an integral part of the community, just as each part of the body is essential to the functioning of the whole. This notion of the part to the whole is related to the concept of destiny.
Yoruba culture has something important to teach us about destiny. In the order for the community or the whole to function properly, each part has to be aligned with its purpose. A person's individual destiny is discovered in Yoruba culture through divination. Divination is based on binary code, which is the basic language the modern computer operates on. This ancient African technology is used to intuit the patterns of creation which contain the physical and spiritual DNA of a person. These dimensions are inseparable, as the physical aspect of a person is simply the manifestation of the spirit.
A visit to the career counselor is insufficient to determine one's true destiny.
The condition of the West is chaotic in the Yoruba world view, because individuals primarily determine their roles in society based on the pursuit of a personal passions or consumerist wants. Destiny helps to bring the individual into alignment with the community, with nature, with the universe and with themselves.
The Rastafari community provides an interesting case study for the impact embracing African culture can have on African men, who bear the brunt of the criticism for societal ills.
While the Rastafari community is not a homogenous group, consisting of various liturgical and non-liturgical orders, there are various elements that unify the way of life of the Rasta man, which are all deeply rooted in African tradition.
The fact that Rastafari is a relatively modern practice does not take away from its grounding. Rastafari men are respectful, enterprising, self-sufficient, family-oriented, and highly spiritual.
This is the model of the man for which the wider society elusively seeks. Perhaps we have much to learn from them.
This discussion of African spiritual traditions is in no way exhaustive.
Rather, it serves to shed a ray of light on an entire system of knowledge that most African people are not exposed to because of the omissions symptomatic of colonial narratives.
The limited exposure that is gained is so heavily influenced by these colonial narratives that their point of view is invariably distorted. African spiritual traditions are not evil, devilish, pagan, or polytheistic.
On the contrary, they are an essential part of who we are and keys to restoring the African community.
This acknowledgement can only come with the discarding of the colonial mask.
If African people would give up the pleasure of basking in the bliss of ignorance, and suffer through the pain of their own enlightenment, they might just discover the reality of "Nyon Nyor Nyan".
Reader Comments - 18 Total
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Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 4/23/2010
Title: @Noelle
Noelle said, "Although I disagree with much his online commentary, he and I are aligned on this issue."
Curious to know what commentary you disagree with?
I can be emailed at erasmusfolly.bahamas@gmail.com
I would enjoy discussing those points of disagreement as it is the disagreements of educated people that allow for true learning and growth. ;-)
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 4/3/2010
Title: Agreed
Agreed, we need to reach the point where people have the maturity to recognize that a rights based democracy ensures and guarantees your right to your 'orthodox' religion as much as it protects and guarantees the rights of other people's less orthodox beliefs, by Bahamian standards. If other people want to do voodoo, fine by me. I have no time for superstition, but it isn't effecting me, really, one way or the other. People need to learn to live and let live. Just because someone is different doesn't mean that you have to make fun of them or denigrate them in order to affirm your own standing or position. Just ignore them if you don't agree with them. Go about your life. That is the maturity I am hoping for in this country - it is sorely, sorely needed. That can only be achieved by massively reforming education and stressing the value of 'learning' as a cultural phenomenon. We actually praise stupidity in this culture by 'honouring' thug life, ghetto life and willful ignorance in all its guises. Sad.
Posted By: Rev. Cleveland W. Eneas III - Qubtic Church Of The Black Messiah: Journey Home Group International On: 3/30/2010
Title: @Erasmus Folly
I agree with you. When I speak of colonial masters I'm speaking of just what you pointed out, the fact that our leaders have taken on the mindset of the original colonial masters and now parade around as them, while being worshiped by society while at the same time allowing our Haitians brothers and sisters, and anyone that doesn't hold a traditional religious point of view, to be slandered and accused of devil worship or whateva they wanna call it!
I'm not saying I'm into Voodoo, but I am into minding MY business and leading by example:-)
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 3/29/2010
Title: @Rev Cleveland
Irony here is that the people that accuse Haitians of devil worship are, for the most part, their black Bahamian 'brethren', in the modern day, not the 'colonialist' forces as it was historically. The 'colonialist' forces let go of their 'colonies'. The 'new elite' adopted the 'old mentality' of the colonialist forces, including their Christianity. The irony is lost on most Bahamians who are eagerly awaiting the 'rapture' or so it seems... In my lifetime alone, the end of the world has been predicted to occur 3 times. It hasn't happened yet. If you go back and look at it historically, people are always predicting the end of the world and it doesn't happen. Mother earth will be just fine either way. In our narcissism we refer to 'the end of the world' but we are really just talking about 'the end of humanity'. The Earth will be just fine, if not delighted to see the back of us... I wouldn't hold my breath though. Humanity is far too viral to be snuffed out so easily.
When you speak of colonial masters, are you referring to them historically or are you trying to say they are alive and well today?
Posted By: Rev. Cleveland W. Eneas III - Qubtic Church Of The Black Messiah: Journey Home Group International On: 3/27/2010
Title: Bahamians Are Already Devil Worshipers!
Your article does much to conjure up a discussion that is so apparently taboo in our society, based on some of the negative comments that came up in response to this beautiful article. We as a people are so happy watching the “massa’s” house on one hand, but then are alarmed when we come to the realization that we have no actual control of what goes on in it. How sinful is that?
Your article has introduced many, including myself, to the source of the rumor mill of Haiti’s great sovereign beginnings and hopefully it will go further in bringing about a National Discussion on the effects of colonial rule and its present residual tools of persecutions.
Furthermore, to my beloved brothers and sisters in ignorance, to call something devil worship means that you first must have a devil, the meaning of which is “to accuse, or slander” (Don’t be afraid to look it up…it won’t bewitch you).
This definition then points to our colonial “masters”, and their minions, as the devils, the ones that would ACCUSE & SLANDER an oppressed people for wanting their own way of life, a life that would rip Africans from the clutches of a society that is ALREADY engrossed in DEVIL WORSHIP (The Worship Of Our Colonial “Masters”…and their minions)
Posted By: Slavery made me On: 3/26/2010
Title: Slavery, a work of GOD!
I thank God for slavery! Had it not been for slavery the world might not be to the stage of development that it is. I might not be in this wonderful country of the Bahamas. And I thank God that my ancestors stayed in Massa's house long enough to learn how to run it properly when Massa left. The Haitians drove Massa out of his house too early and didn't properly learn how to exist in the New World. Lesson to be learnt: Nothing before its time!
Posted By: Please...indeed! On: 3/24/2010
Title: @Erasmus, I love it!!
"If only I could block out 'thinking', then maybe I could be smart like the rest of these Bahamians."
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 3/23/2010
Title: Thinking vs Orthodoxy
In this country, an educated opinion is apparently 'devil' worship while an ignorant opinion is 'holy'. Amen! Hallelujah and praise the Lord etc etc! Dismissing well written thoughts with one liners about devil worship is an excellent argument. Too bad the logic is lost on us ignorant idiots who read books... man. If only I could block out 'thinking', then maybe I could be smart like the rest of these Bahamians. ;-)
Posted By: Please... On: 3/22/2010
Title: Read between the lines
The only thing i see coming out of this article was the justification of devil worship ( voodoo practice) and the plea to forget all of our immigration laws and be 'christian like' by allowing all Haitians here illegally breaking our laws to stay here and carry on with their lives. Read between the lines. I am not moved.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 3/18/2010
Title:
And my comments answered to that point. My point was, it isn't necessary to denigrate the European in order to 'uplift' the African heritage of the Bahamas. We can discuss the positive elements of African heritage without putting down another culture. On intelligent minds, this discussion can happen, but if you aren't responsible with your comments, then uneducated minds, which the Bahamas is saturated with will simply walk away with the 'new negative' rather than affirming or even understanding the positive message. Don't you get that? The way an intelligent, educated person reads this article is very, very different from the way an unintelligent or, better put, uneducated mind does. That was my point. No one is taking away form the very valid points the initial writer made. Reread my initial post and you can see that. I would also remind all readers, we are all children of Africa in the long run anyway. It is our myopic view of history that doesn't allow us to CELEBRATE this unity of the human race. Instead, we are stuck in petty differences. All of our ancestors learned to walk upright, hunt and gather in Africa. We fanned out form there and we ALL colonized the world. Humanity, on every continent other than Africa is an invasive species. The sooner we reach a higher level of understanding and place our 'differences' in proper perspective, the better. No one is seeking to deny history here. However, it is historically inaccurate to say that 'all whites' were slave owners. That would be like saying that 'all blacks' were slaves. Both statements are simply false. That doesn't take away from the original author's point at all. It would be a great thing that black Bahamians educate themselves about their heritage, but heritage is a dangerous thing if you get stuck living in the past. That was all I was trying to say. If in reigniting a 'black renaissance' of education in this country, the black community decided that they are the only 'real Bahamians', then that would be a path of ignorance and not of enlightenment. Education is always a good thing, but living in the past is not. In 2010, there are no slave owners in the Bahamas and the Bahamas current problems have a lot more to do with the choices that its 'majority rule' leaders have made in the last 40 years, than the previous 400 years of history. Yes, history is important for 'perspective', but it can be a trap as well and an ignorant mind doesn't process 'all of history', it just latches on to one or two historical 'facts' that it finds 'convenient' and runs with them in a new modern political context - that doesn't do any Bahamian any good in 2010. I am always for education and knowledge, but taking a 'slice of history' and running with it is as bad as taking a 'quote' out of context and thinking you read the book. Be careful how less educated minds interpret your thoughts - it doesn't happen the same way. We have a lot of angry, uneducated people here and it has a lot more to do with the drug trade and choices that LOP made than anything else.
Posted By: Wake up people! On: 3/18/2010
Title: Get to the point.
Did i miss something? The comments would suggest the article was about race, who was responsible for slavery and all of the other distractions being discussed. The article was about African people restoring the humanity, identity, position of power and culture of African people. Yall are missing the point.
There may indeed been slavery in other places, or at other times, against other people. Who cares if it was a majority of whites physically owning slaves or not. That is not the point. It is undeniable that European/white people were responsible for the transatlantic slave trade and the colonisation of Africa. It is undeniable that Christianity and Islam (as @grb rightly noted) were essential weapons in the slavery and colonisation exercise. These things have been extensively researched and studied in much more intelligent ways than anyone has so far commented on in response to this article.
(I mean @Anthony Taylor: "When Christianity comes to a culture, it doesn't mean that culture dies. Christianity transcends culture, it respects it but also purifies it, redeems it". Are you serious? Do you honestly believe that? Just sad the koolaid we drink these days.)
The funny thing about history, or HIS-story rather, is that it is not neutral. The hunter and the hunted have two different stories to tell. So do the trees and the other animals observing the hunt.
The opportunity here is for African people to look at what traditional African spiritual and cultural practices (those existing centuries before Christianity or Islam) have to offer African people today towards their restoration as a people. Let's take a stab at analyzing that.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 3/18/2010
Title: Identity and Human Nature
Definitely not my intention to mask or 'deny' anything. Just pointing out that nothing is simply 'black' and 'white' or 'simple'. There were whites, blacks and Arabs all involved in the slave trade. Did white demand exponentially expand slavery? Absolutely. Were all whites at the time involved or even benefiting from slavery? Absolutely not. The previous writer attempted to paint all whites with one brush. That is a complete misrepresentation of history. The % of slave owning whites in the world was very, very small. Furthermore, slavery has been and continues to be a universal human experience, sadly. There are slaves in every corner of the world, even today. Haitians are sold for sexual slavery right under our very noses in the Bahamas, as The Tribune pointed out only last week and the US Embassy confirmed. Where was the public outrage? Oh right, they are 'just' Haitians. I am sure some of those same white slave owners back in the day used to say, oh, they are 'just' Africans. It is the mentality of 'objectification' of 'rendering other' that creates the rank of 'less than human' of 'slave'. Bahamians are doing that to Haitians all the time, but they can't see the similarity of the slippery slope. It is like the Jews with the Palestinians. They are doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis were doing to them - the irony of it all, but they just can't see it. Again, I reiterate, there is no 'white' human nature and 'black' human nature. We are all human and to the extent that we 'objectify' each other - we dehumanize each other. When you think of your identity, what is the first component that you 'build' upon? If your answer is your race, then sadly, we haven't progressed very far. We are all capable of infinite good and infinite evil - the choices are ours to make on a personal level everyday. I hope we make the right choices as a small island nation, because I for one, am sick of living in the past. We have too many issues that we need to work together on and solve to fix this country and make it the best little place in the world. We need to get over ourselves, so we can think practically and sensibly about our problems without all the emotional nonsense that passes for 'politics' in this country.
Posted By: grb On: 3/17/2010
Title: Reading the entire article
I know there are going to be some people out there that would point out that slavery was a problem in West Africa prior to the Europeans expanding it the massive scale which it eventually expanded. I would partially agree; but be careful not to be misinformed by this. If we are to be honest we would point out that the first major group to take Africans as slaves were Arabs from the Middle East and North Africa. In fact this is still happening today in the northern parts of Sudan. So to be honest, those that practice Islam also should lament the role their religion has played in this affront to humanity. And another thing that get me upsets are those that try to down play the destructive effect that slavery and racism has and is playing in the lives of people of African descent. If you deny a whole sector of your society knowledge of their ENTIRE history, that particular section of society will lack respect for themselves and not feel as if they have anything worthwhile to contribute.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 3/17/2010
Title: Point Demonstrated = QED
And that completes my point about minds with limited education latching on to the most negative aspects of your message and running with it...
"I don't see anything wrong with the writer suggesting that majority of early post-colonial whites were slave owners. Just take a look of the aftermath of slavery along with class structure created by religoin, especially the discrimination against women." Is this even coherent? Early post-colonial whites were slave owners? Fascinating. What of the starving Irish at the hands of the English? What, pray tell, motivated millions of Irish, Italians, Poles, Germans and other European groups to leave everything behind and emigrate to New York in the 1800's? I guess they left all their slaves in Poland, Italy and Ireland when they sailed over with nothing... Come on, the ignorance here is laughable! Did you read any history at all? Or is that 'white' history for you too? If you think the discrimination against women is a 'white' phenomenon, that too is laughable. It is only in the western world that women have rights to begin with, ie those areas that were 'enlightened' by the Europeans. Go check out women's rights in Africa today and see how silly your statement is!
"I'm not completely against Christianity but we do understand what it can do to a warrior-like culture. It weakens you and makes one lose his or her sense of security and identity." I actually think this might be your one sensible sentence. I too share this thought. However, you quickly fall back into error.
"When the Europeans were "slapping" my ancestors they hardly fought back because somewhere in the Holy Bible God said turn the other cheeks. And so everybody (warrior, hunters,priests, medicin doctors etc) was getting "slapped" voluntarily. The white didn't need much men power to control a whole island because the africans truly believed in the Holy Book. Especally those africans who were quick to give up their religion because the whitemen had a better God. On the other hand, French colonialistt had a tougher time controlling africans (mullatoes, darkskinned,pale skinned) in Haiti because those africans had already believed in something else and sumething to die for. Hence, controlling their mind and predicting their actions was impossible." This is simply historically inaccurate and false. First things first, the whites controlled the coasts of Africa. They bought slaves from the Arab and African traders who made an industry of capturing and trafficking the 'lesser tribes'. There were kingdoms, rivalries and power plays at work in Africa long before the white man arrived. Slavery was practiced then - black on black. Did slavery grow exponentially when white demand for African labour went through the roof? Yes. The point is that a few Europeans exploded the slave trade when carting slaves to the New World became profitable. African Kings and Queens in the powerful kingdoms on the coast were more than happy to oblige them with captured Africans in exchange for guns and other European manufactured goods. Holding your eyes closed to this reality doesn't change the fact. People need to understand that human nature is HUMAN nature. There is no 'white' human nature, or 'black' human nature. We are all capable of being angels or demons. Also, those Africans initially captured were not Christian - their conversion happened later - in the New World, if at all. More than likely their descendants - the children - were indoctrinated. It is very, very difficult to get a grown person to alter their religious beliefs. Don't be so naive.
Also, in this country, if you don't realize by now that a great many people contribute unbelievable sums of money and give unbelievable amounts of their time to helping the less fortunate - both in the black community and in the white community, then you are very sadly out of touch with the reality of day to day life in the Bahamas. From your assertion, it sounds like you think all 'whites' are greedy, self-interested, uncaring, dispassionate, disloyal and essentially un-Bahamian. If you think that, well, the depth of your ignorance may not warrant a real conversation, sadly.
I don't believe that to be the case, but you imply that. I stand to be corrected, but don't misrepresent history so casually. Make sure to get your facts straight first.
Posted By: Dark Angel On: 3/17/2010
Title: THE DEVIL IS A HATER
Culture I think means a way of life whether its political social or religous. My question is how does christianity transcend culture when its purpose is to change
a way of life that already existed? Im sure if we really could interact with our ancestors they would warn us about letting strangers in our homes, particularly the white men with colonialist ideas (machaivelli) of how to control other races. The indians who were forced to deny their gods and culture,I don't think, were too happy with the outcome. Christopher Columbus "who discovered" the new world I believed must have been an early christian, along with the Kings and Queens of Spain. These Europeans were highly religous so whatever they did were in relation to the God they worshipped. In other words, they were "missionaries" on a mission for "God" which were blessed by the Popes. I don't see anything wrong with the writer suggesting that majority of early post-colonial whites were slave owners. Just take a look of the aftermath of slavery along with class structure created by religoin, especially the discrimination against women. Point is whether whitemen were slave owners by choice,culture, or intergenerational wealth they STILL WERE. I mean just take a look at the KKK, these guys were local terrirosts boys, but there was no war declared against them by the US government. You know Why?? They didnt target the white-owned world trade center.
I don't know how white officials would have defined the KKK, but they surely aren't FREEDOM FIGHTERS. Point is white culture is elevated over black ones. When Abraham had Issac on the alter to slaughter him, he wasn't psychotic or crazy. God told him to do it.
I'm not completely against Christianity but we do understand what it can do to a warrior-like culture. It weakens you and makes one lose his or her sense of security and identity. When the Europeans were "slapping" my ancestors they hardly fought back because somewhere in the Holy Bible God said turn the other cheeks. And so everybody (warrior, hunters,priests, medicin doctors etc) was getting "slapped" voluntarily. The white didn't need much men power to control a whole island because the africans truly believed in the Holy Book. Especally those africans who were quick to give up their religion because the whitemen had a better God. On the other hand, French colonialistt had a tougher time controlling africans (mullatoes, darkskinned,pale skinned) in Haiti because those africans had already believed in something else and sumething to die for. Hence, controlling their mind and predicting their actions was impossible. This is precisely why the ceremony at Bwa Kaiman was a succesful one. Not because the Africans were some how war experts but because it was the unexpected. If the white men were lookin for africans in hut-like churches, they would have been in the moutains talking to the ancestors. If they were raiding local bakery and wine shops, they would have been at the butcher's place buying a pig. And the importance of the sacrifice , to me, is not solely spiritual but it is of normative value. I doubt that white colonialist were giving african pigs to roast during those days. " A dog will follow whoever it fears and feeds it." In this case, the Africans in Haiti didn'tnot fear Napoleon, one of French greatest commanders, while the pig resembled hope for better life. "We can eat better without colonist ideas invented and institutonalized by who...
I understand critics saying that they dont support hating white people, but my question is how do you propose that we elevate black self esteem. I don't advocate hate, but I do know that success brings jealousy. In otherwords, if you are going to hate because I want to do something constructive for my race then I suggest you demise quick because If I don't do it noone else willl. My white brothers aint really my keeper if they look out only for their best interest. It is no longer a communion. It is a separation. One of the principles of going to church is not church itself but some of the values it teaches. One of them is sharing. When we share the same food, it means we are becoming one with our brothers who are figutively refered to as Jesus, the son of woman (no where in the Bible was Joseph's name mentioned significantly). Church is more then just religious. I believe it is the first psychological institutions. it may be used to elevate or abase our minds. However that decision falls on who owns the church and who the pastors are. When I am in church I pray forgiveness, then I dont have the to consider suicide because I know my sins are forgiven. I can give to help my community in times of natural disaster ...earthquake in Haiti.
To finish off, I understand the dehumanizing of haitian Vodou because its one thing that can't be emperialised and capitalize on a global scale.
Posted By: Anthony Taylor On: 3/17/2010
Title: Christianity transcends the Culture
When Christianity comes to a culture, it doesn't mean that culture dies. Historically there may be problems as far as this is concerned. Just how much would probably be something to be studied rather than to come to quick conclusions. But Christianity is a universal transport that transcends mere culture. That is the claim. It can go with any culture and perfects the culture. So you can have the Ancestor culture go together with the Christian religion. ..No doubt there are historical problems with that, however the truth is that Christianity transcends culture, it respects it but also purifies it, redeems it. Just because a culture exists doesn't mean that everything is right in that culture. So the message of Redemption in Christianity is also to redeem culture. To redeem it, not to destroy it. ..P.S. I agree with Erasmus.
Posted By: Erasmus Folly On: 3/16/2010
Title: Cautionary tale...
This is a very well written piece. I would just warn the writer, in affirming the African, it is easy to fall into the trap of 'hating' the European to 'affirm' the African - this would be equally a path of ignorance. And it is neither positive nor constructive, as a message, especially when dealing with minds that have very limited education. A mind that has limited education is quick to grasp on the 'new negative' while completely missing the affirmation and the importance of the positive - ie African heritage and its relationship to the Bahamian experience in this case. If you transmit this message to the average, ignorant (as in uneducated = D-) Bahamian mind, you simply end up with a lot of hatred of whites and/or Europeans and/or European history/culture, as opposed to an embracing and understanding of the positives of African heritage. Is that the message you are really trying to convey - hatred? I don't think so. I think your approach is very well written and very well thought out and I think you are genuinely striving for a 'new positive' idea of 'blackness' in the Bahamas - that, in and of itself is praiseworthy and more than needed. We have a bizarre hybrid of the worst of LOP's delusions of grandeur, American hip-hop ghetto culture, Jamaican rasta 'vibes' and uber bizarre Methodist/Baptist/Evangelical Christianity that defines 'blackness' culturally here - all very unfortunate when taken to their extreme 'realization'. I fully support the 'affirmation' of heritage - real heritage - from whatever roots one has to drawn from, but I cannot praise an attempt at making one thing negative, so as to uphold another. I don't think that is what you were attempting to do, but be careful how you construct the message. A nuanced and educated mind mulls things over; an ignorant mind latches on to the 'easiest' chunks of information to process - in this case = white is bad and it has made black bad. I don't think you believe that really, do you? 400 years ago, my ancestors were in serfdom to the Lords in Europe - they weren't free either. They certainly didn't own any slaves. The % of Europeans actually involved in the ownership, transshipment and sustenance of the slave trade was minute. Most Europeans, well until the 1800's, were tied to whatever limited land the nobleman allowed them to farm. To hate 'the European' for slavery is to hate a very small circle of nobles who literally ran the world at the time. They mistreated everyone, serf, slave etc. I am by no means equating serfdom with slavery. They were different in important ways, but the institution of 'slavery' was not 'owned' by ALL Europeans and that is a very important distinction to remember. When talking about slave owners, one is referring to a tiny % of people in the world. The way your article is written, it would imply that all of the whites throughout the world owned slaves - that is patently false. Furthermore, it ignores the universal historic experience of slavery in all cultures at one time or another. The largest slave population to ever exist in the world were people of all colours, including whites, probably even mostly whites at the time - the subjugated classes of the Roman Empire. The Jews were made into slaves of the Third Reich. Slavery is not unique to the black experience is my point - it is sadly a universal HUMAN experience that all people can understand, if they took the time, and thus hope to avoid. Current Bahamian attitudes towards Haitians, for example, in my mind, border on the kind of mentality that can lead to slavery and subjugation of another people eventually. Bahamians genuinely talk, think and act as if they are 'innately' superior to Haitians. This is a horrible fact, but it is a fact. The point is, you can objectify any human being - it is precisely in the objectification of the person that the humanity is lost. If you 'objectify' and generalize the white European race as 'slave owners', then you are equally guilty of dehumanizing and leading all of us, collectively, down another path where one group is subjugated to another. The point of all this is to reach a higher plane of understanding - not to simply start the vicious circle anew. Thoughts?
Posted By: Tenniel On: 3/16/2010
Title: Thoroughly enjoyed
The rich culture and ancestral history of the Bahamas is not normally met with a large enough audience for there to be an appreciation of our connection to our Caribbean brothers and sisters. It can probably explain why so many Bahamians do not feel a sense of national pride and desire to be a part of the North American culture. It seems we lack, as a people, a strong sense of self and ties to our homeland this is evidenced by the short amount of time it takes for many of our people to assimilate in countries to which they emigrate. I would like to see more of this, where can I get more information?
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