EXODUS #EDUCATE #ENLIGHTEN #EMPOWER

Issue #006

2001001

FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED

I Am an African

By: Wayne Visser 2005

I am an African

I am an African

Not because I was born there

For her wildness quenches my spirit

But because my heart beats with Africas

And brings me closer to the source of life

I am an African

When the music of Africa beats in the

wind

Not because my skin is black

But because my mind is engaged by
Africa

My blood pulses to its rhythm

I am an African
Not because I live on its soil

When the colours of Africa dazzle in the

sun

But because my soul is at home in Africa

My senses drink in its rainbow

When Africa weeps for her children

And I become the palette of nature

My cheeks are stained with tears

When the stories of Africa echo round the

fire

When Africa honours her elders

My head is bowed in respect
When Africa mourns for her victims
My hands are joined in prayer
When Africa celebrates her triumphs
My feet are alive with dancing
I am an African
For her blue skies take my breath away
And my hope for the future is bright
I am an African
For her people greet me as family
And teach me the meaning of community

DID YOU KNOW

And I become the essence of sound

My feet walk in its pathways

And I become the footprints of history
I am an African
Because she is the cradle of our birth
And nurtures an ancient wisdom
I am an African
Because she lives in the worlds shadow
And bursts with a radiant luminosity
I am an African
Because she is the land of tomorrow
And I recognise her gifts as sacred

The African Diaspora

Heritage Trail
In 2001, the Bermuda Department of Tourism
in colloboration with the international African
Diaspora created a trail tracing the legacy of
Bermuda's slavery and preserving the heritage
and culture of those belonging to the African
Diaspora.
There are several ADHT sites, including
monuments and museums, spread across the
island. All the sites in the trail are officially
designated as a part of the UNESCO Slave
Route Project. You will see a Bronze Plaque at
each site having this official heritage status
inscribed on it.
For more information, or to schedule a tour of
the African Diaspora Heritage Trail (Bermuda)
please call 236-2266

EXODUS #EDUCATE #ENLIGHTEN #EMPOWER | Issue #006

#FlashbackFriday

blacks in positions of authority, when confronting the issue of

institutionalised racism.

Paying homage to The Workers Voice*

The following excerpt is taken from the July 3rd, 1992 edition of The
Workers Voice in an article entitled We Must Stop Begging Whites
For Racial Equality written by Alvin Williams
Should black people abandon "racial integration" as the optimal course
of action to gain social and economic parity with the white community?
It has been some 30 years since the civil rights revolution swept America
and influenced race relations in countries like Bermuda. Yet today, even
though we talk about how far we have come in improving race relations,
we are still talking about how far we have to go.
The black communities in Bermuda and in the United States are still
talking about aneconomic and social crisis affecting black people, though
so called integration was supposed to hold all the answers to racial
problems and ensuing conflicts, as black people demanded their natural
rights. During this struggle,we some how seem to have forgotten what
we, as black people, were struggling for in the first place.
I think the Archibald Report hit the nail right on the head when it
comments on the state of Bermudas race relations. Bermuda may well
wish to consider dropping the word integration from the Islands
vocabulary, because it fails to identify accurately the fundamental
issues, namely, the importance of ensuring equal opportunity for all
regardless of skin color. I agree with this statement. I think that the
quest for so-called integration has, in fact, confused the real issues which
involve power and influence.
More than at any time in our history, we need to stop and ask ourselves,
what are we fighting for? Is it for racial harmony, as dictated by
integration? Or are we fighting for our natural rights as human beings
living on this planet? For a long time I believed it was the latter. However,
in the heat of the struggle, the real reasons for that struggle has become
obscured. [...]
We are hearing a lot from certain politicians in Bermuda today of the
late Martin Luther Kings desire to see racial peace. But we never hear
about his uncompromising commitment to confronting racism through
struggle and protest. I contend that the whole idea of so-called
integration is a perversion of what black people really fought for, not
only in America, but right here in Bermuda.
Because integration is bound up with racial harmony, it has had the
effect, especially in Bermuda, of disarming Black people, at a time when
we should have continued the resistance to racism. []
To challenge racism in Bermuda is to be branded as wanting to disrupt
so-called racial harmony. Is that not what the Premier and Mr. Quinton
Edness are alluding to when they chastise members of the political
Opposition when they bring up the question of race?
So we see people like Dr. Eva Hudson being called racists for daring to
speak out, and write on racial issues. And Mr. Julian Hall is suspended
from the House of Parliament for attacking the lack of backbone among

Recently, when called upon to explain why whites do not go around

black social functions, the UBP Minster of Cultural Affairs broached a
new description of social relations in Bermuda Multi culturalism. I
agree. The black community must stop begging the white community to
live up to this so-called integration. []
Am I talking separatism here? Rejecting so-called integration? Well yes,
but not in a fascist way; not with the desire to do to white people what
they have done to black people. I say that blacks would be in their rights
to tear up the social contract, as we have come to know it, in the era of
integration. I would support a black move for self-determination. I think
that we should save our own institutions rather than begging whites to
join them. I believe that only we can save the future of our children. And
that means everything, from fathers looking after their children, to not
supporting the political structure that does not look after our
interests.[]
In Bermuda it is not enough to say that we have come along way, but
have a long way to go. You know why? Because those who hold the
power will use that statement as an excuse to acknowledge an existing
problem, while in reality doing nothing to solve it. They will tell you not
to seek power for powers sake alone, but at the same time make no
apology for the power they hold.
I am calling for the redefinition of power and social relations in this
country; a relationship that this time defines the truth in the Bermuda
reality.
* The Workers Voice was started in 1971 by the Bermuda Industrial
Union as a bi-monthly newsletter. Modern issues are available at
www.biu.bm

EXODUS #EDUCATE #ENLIGHTEN #EMPOWER | Issue #006

Why Political Systems

Dont Work Part 1
Opinion by: Ras Mykkal

I was raised in a Christian home with

a good moral foundation that
instilled values that crime does not
pay, give and you shall receive and
that honesty is the best policy.
Outside of the house, the extended
family, auntie, uncles, grandparents
and the community at large, all had
more or less the same values. It did
not matter who was Christian,
Muslim or non-religious, for the
most part everybody had a well
rounder moral standard. We go to
school, work, church and home like good little robots.
As I entered my late teens and started to adventure out on my own, I got
a job, earning my own money and I started to discover things that
peaked my interest. Armed with the values of my home, church and
school, I was looking to find who I was and my place in the bigger world.
But I would always find these obstacles in my way if I tried to do anything
outside of some set boundaries. I did not even know that there were
boundaries. As a child we are taught that we can do anything that we put
our minds to, but once you pick up that challenge, you start to hear the
you cant do that phrase repeated regularly. I want to own my own
business No you cant do that, you must be an employee. I want to
be a professional athlete. No you cant do that, sports is just for
recreation. I want to be like Bob Marley. No you cant do that,
singing is not a job. I want to be like Denzel Washington. No you
cant do that, acting is just for the school play. You need an education so
you can get a good paying job.
It took me awhile to figure this out, but the educational system did not
work for me. I am a right brain person, an artist, a creative person; I
wanted to earn a living doing something that I was passionate about, but
the school curriculum was designed for left-brain people. People who
excel in academics, you know, the nine to fivers. School was trying to
prepare me for a place in the employment line. Affluent children that I
grew up with, some much younger than me are now mangers of their
family businesses, some are following their dreams in professional
athletics and many more have good jobs with good pay and they arent
even as knowledgeable or as educated as the people working under
them. They inherit the family business and there are no boundaries to
their opportunities.

Why is this? Why cant I be who I want to be?

For me, the answer started to unravel in a documentary called The
Greeks The crucible of civilization.. In this documentary two things
stood out; People were classified as commoners and aristocrats and the
birth of a political system called democracy.
A quick glance at Wikipedia on the internet to look up the word
Aristocrat dropped my jaw. Aristocrat is defined as members of the
clergy (The Church), leaders of the state (Politicians) and the merchants
(Businessmen). People of the ruling class who are obsessed with power
and control.
Common people, on the other hand, are defined as peasants, laborers,
workers and people who are restricted to a life of servitude. The vast
majority of us are classified as commoners, our only existence is at the
pleasure of the ruling class, and our dreams are limited to being
unrealistic, unobtainable or just unlikely to be achieved. As far as the
upper class in concerned, our only value is in our labor and since we are
limited to that, they believe we do not need much more than minimum
wage.
For the aristocrat, power and pleasure is their right and they have
hundreds of years of murderous and oppressive history to prove it. It is
an ideology that is constantly evolving. They are always moving the goal
post and the laws keep changing.
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that most laws are made in the
best interest of the economic power structure and to keep the
commoners in line. We just go with the flow, most of us comply with the
laws that they legislate for fear of punishment. We take our piece of
bread and thank God for it. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and
so many dreams are left unfulfilled. Some would give up their moral
teaching and turn to crime to try and realize their dreams and goals; own
a house, start a business, pursue their own artistic passions.
The prison system is full of frustrated talents, full of broken dreams.
Whether we are in prison or not, so many common people are
frustrated with the political system. We are so lost in this struggle; we
are not sure what we are fighting for anymore. Should someone take a
stand against the system to fight for equality for all, we leave them to
the mercy of the state, head to church and leave our troubles at the foot
of the cross.
This un-unified and compromised approached to the rule of the
aristocratic way of life is not new, but history has recorded the occasions
that when the commoners have had enough, revolt against the
aristocratic establishment in many countries has led to blood in the
streets.

EXODUS #EDUCATE #ENLIGHTEN #EMPOWER

Issue #006

2001001

On Being African:
The African Diaspora
Opinion By: Juanae Crockwell
I am a proud Bermudian. Anyone who knows me personally can attest
to the fact that I have been engaged in a passionate love affair with my
country for many years. I love Bermuda. I take pride in being
Bermudian and embracing every part of our exquisite history and
culture. It has been both my professional and personal mission to be a
part of the preservation of all that I love about my country.
Recently, this love of my cultural heritage has extended beyond being
Bermudian to the phenomenal fact that I am also African. The more I
study and learn about the history of blacks in Bermuda, the more I am
drawn to my African identity. Because if I can be honest, all black
people (whether we want to admit it or not) are descendants of the
great continent of Africa. Somewhere in our ancestry is an African.
Ive heard it said a number of times recently, that its not where we
were dropped off that matters, but where we were taken from. Sadly
this fact is something that many of our Black Bermudians shy away
from. The African is a part of our cultural identity that we do not wish to
acknowledge or preserve. But it is always there. It is in the melanin of
our skin, the breadth of our nose, the curve of our hips and the strength
of our spirit.

Over the years, there have been various manifestations that have been
associated with what we call the historical dimensions of the African
diaspora:

Back-to-African movement initiated by Garvey

Pan Africanism
Black Nationalism (60s and 70s)
Afrocentricity (80s & 90s)

The actual term: African diaspora, emerged in the 1950s and began to
be used in scholarly debates. Much of this early scholarship on the
African diaspora examined:

the dispersal of people of African descent,

their role in the transformation and creation of new cultures,
institutions, and ideas outside of Africa, and
the problems of building a Pan-African movement across the
globe

However, at its most basic level, the characteristics of the African

diaspora are based upon a number of things:

a notion of a common origin (and consciousness of that

origin)-from Africa common experiences of racial terror
(slavery, colonialism, racism,)
Global Black marginalization based on internationally held
racist ideologies of Black inferiority.
commonality of identification on the part of those presumed
to be part of the international community of Blacks.
In the formulation of the African diaspora, Africa serves as the
key symbol for the ROOTS of black identity globally.

There is great consciousness to be drawn from acknowledging our

African roots. There is strength and character to be harnessed and
appreciated. Our African identity is not something to conceal, it is
something to celebrate. For in times of great adversity, the people of
the African Diaspora can draw upon our collective history to overcome
and achieve.

We are part of the African Diaspora. That is a fact. Our role in it

depends on how much of our African heritage we choose to embrace.
We can either be actively African or passively African; but either way,
WE ARE AFRICAN! It is time for us as a community to learn about what
it means to be African, even if you dont live on the continent.
The following is a breakdown of what the African Diaspora is and how it
relates to us in Bermuda.*
The African diaspora is based upon a globalized notion of blackness.
The African diaspora as community and identity. Those who identity as
"black" and see a relation between themselves and others in the Black
diaspora.
"Diaspora" is a Greek word meaning "dispersal". African diaspora is a
label that is used to describe the dispersed people removed / exiled
from a common territorial/ geographic origin, in this case Africa

* Information adapted from the Pierre Africa Diaspora Lecture and

available at www.viginia.edu.