In fact, colonialism ushered in a new set of socio-economic constructs that still has the Black man and woman in the Caribbean barely a cut above that of chattel slavery even though significant progress have been made over the years of national independence. Without access to education to better themselves Blacks in the Caribbean, the direct descendents of African slaves, were soon working for starvation wages on plantations still owned by abscentee landlords growing sugar cane – just as their ancestors had done for hundreds of years.
So the next cardinal question is this: after 173 years of slavery and 90 years of indentured servitude are Blacks in the Caribbean really free?
Today, part of the answer to this question is the attitude of Caribbean governments when it comes to the issue of emancipation. In fact, the Caribbean only sat up and took note when Trinidad and Tobago led the way by declaring, since 1985, August 1, a national holiday. Prior to that no Caribbean nation even celebrated or remembered the day far less to attach any importance to it. This has placed young people in the Black Caribbean Diaspora without a basic understanding of their heritage.
Today so pervasive and deep-going was the slave experience and colonial indoctrination that immigrants from the Caribbean and indeed those living back home can recite dates and facts about the emancipation of American slaves, about American and English pirates, thieves and criminals like Christopher Columbus, Drake, Hawkins and Morgan but are utterly clueless about the emancipation of their enslaved ancestors.
Black youth of today know very little about the struggles of slave heroes like Jamaica’s Nanny, Grenada’s Julien Fedon, Guyana’s Cuffie or the exploits of Haiti’s Toussaint L’ouverture. Their problem is of one of historical omission that is now replaced by the cultural imperialism of American and British pop culture. Today, Black youths struggle to find their bearings and identity simply because they do not know or have any respect for their proud history.
So, in Nelson Mandela’s words just “how far we slaves have come?”
In the Caribbean the region’s political leaders have not broken the colonial shackles and chains placed on them by their former colonial masters even though they all proclaim the region’s independence. How can we be truly independent, emancipated even, if today, in 2007, our children still have to sing the British National Anthem and remember that “God Save The Queen?” How do we respect our emancipation from slavery when 30, 40 years after independence most Caribbean countries still have the Queen’s representative in the person of the governor general? Where the Queen’s Birthday is still celebrated but Jamaica’s Marcus Mosiah Garvey’s is not? Is it not time that we strike a blow against this self-hate and embrace the high emancipation principles of our own Black republics and destiny?
Physical emancipation is a given – today, 173 years later, there no Blacks walking around in shackles or sold on auction blocks while white people fondle their private parts and prod them with sticks and fingers to determine their ability to produce more slaves and access the quality of “the breeding stock.” But the chains are still there, invisible, tight and harsh in the recesses of the Black Mind. That will be exceedingly hard to break and, yes, emancipate. It’s going to take more than just a few holidays to drive home the significance and importance of emancipation or, in the case of the Caribbean, it simply will be another holiday to go to the beach, drink some rum, eat a good curry goat and rice…things that our Black African ancestors were never allowed to have.
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