Commentary: The future of the Garifuna race
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| Published on Saturday, November 28, 2009 |
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By Wellington C Ramos
As the Garinagu in Belize celebrate their 186th anniversary, they must look back at the years of struggles in the past and to develop effective ways and means to preserve this rich culture. Since their unjustified removal from their native homeland of Saint Vincent on March 11, 1796, and their arrival in Roatan, Honduras, on April 12, 1797, they have migrated to Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize and the United States.
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| Born in Dangriga Town, the cultural capital of Belize, Wellington Ramos has an MA in Urban Studies from Long Island University |
In their native homeland of Saint Vincent, most of them have lost their culture. After they were defeated by the British, laws and decrees were handed down that prohibited them from practicing their culture. The basic elements of a culture are: language, religion, customs, traditions, oral history, arts, crafts, music, etc. In order for the Garinagu people to maintain this culture, they must ensure that all these given elements remain intact at all times. As time goes on, we can see that some of these elements are fading.
I believe that it is the responsibility of every individual Garifuna to do something on his or her own to maintain the Garifuna culture. When I was growing up in Dangriga town as a little child, we use to go around the town with kerosene pans and knock them like drums to dance Jonkunu, Shakanare, Punta and the various types of Garifuna dances. We did not wait for the 19th celebrations to come up to do these things but almost everyday.
The Garifuna people in my town also had two vibrant associations, namely, CAC and CDS. Any Garifuna person could go there on a daily basis to seek guidance, counseling or any form of assistance they needed. After hurricane Hattie, these two buildings were destroyed and remained in shambles for many years.
Economically, the Garifuna people were rich because almost every family in Dangriga town had a home and a farm to produce their own food. This was also true for the other Garifuna communities like Hopkins, Seine Beight, Barranco and Punta Gorda town. Over the years due to eminent domain on the part of the government and the need for cash to survive, many families do not own the lands they once possessed.
Sometime in the mid 1800s, the British government did an economic analysis of Belize and found out that the southern part of Belize where the Garifuna people reside was the most industrious and largest agricultural base in Belize. That was because most Garifuna families had their farms and produced their own food. Today, that number has declined tremendously and you cannot get some young Garifuna children to go to farm because they have none. For those who have a farm to go to, they want you to move the farms into the town before they think about becoming farmers.
Garifunas in Honduras and Guatemala are still struggling for their basic human rights. Even though they were born and raised there, the governments of those two republics look at them with disdain and treat them as second class citizens. In Nicaragua, there are only a few Garifuna people residing there and most of them have lost their culture. Only the Garifuna people in Belize have excelled to the point where they are the only race of people to be granted a national holiday despite the fact that they makeup a small portion of the country’s population. The Garifuna people’s contribution to Belize in education, sports, crafts, culture, politics, language and other areas of Belize’s development is significant.
Over the years, the Garifuna people have been migrating to the United States in large numbers. The reasons for their migration are almost the same as most other people who leave their native homeland to go and live in America. Which are: to join their family members, to avoid being suppressed and oppressed by their repressive governments, to further their education and to seek better economic opportunities.
Today, there are more Garifunas living in the United States than Nicaragua, Belize and Guatemala combined. When the Garifuna people were removed from Saint Vincent they numbered about three thousand. Currently, there are about 650,000 Garifuna people in the entire world. This estimated figure is being recorded and could be more if our people were to say Garifuna when asked to identify their race or ethnicity on any document.
The question that most Garifuna people asked themselves in the past is: Why am I proud to be a Garifuna? That was a question of the past. The new question now should be: What contribution am I making to help preserve my Garifuna culture? If we do not start doing things individually to preserve the culture, then there will be nothing left for us to preserve. I am always proud of my ancestors for all the things they did to preserve this culture.
I am now questioning the Garifuna leadership to come forward and do fundamental things that are compatible to our past leaders. In my opinion, we have failed because if they could have done so much with very little, why can’t we do more with the vast amount of resources that are available to us in these modern times. We must not move away from our basic values of family and collectivism, to embrace individualism because together as a people we have always survived despite the obstacles. | | | | Reads : 976 | | | |
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