Same Old, Same Old

A few months ago, a Haitian teenager was bound, beaten and hanged in a public square in the Dominican Republic. His crime? Allegedly stealing money won from gambling. The young man, known only as "Tulile", was reportedly a shoe shiner (yes, people still shine shoes), and police are denying that race was an issue in this crime. 

Haitians in DR scramble to produce documents or be deported.

Yet that conjecture does not seem far-fetched amid the escalating violence that has ensued against Haitian immigrants who are now being forced out of the Dominican Republic and back into a less-than-ecstatic and already-struggling Haiti (listen to a short NPR commentary on the history of Haitian naturalization in the Dominican Republic by clicking here). Skin colour, you see, is more than a physical attribute in many societies, some of which are right in our backyard. Says Azam Ahmed of the New York Times in an article about this deportation crisis:

"One reason for the relative diplomatic silence...is the troubled relationship many countries have with migrant workers who enter their borders illegally seeking employment..."

Aye but that "troubled relationship" really refers to child labour, slave labour, ridiculously low wages, unreasonable hours, or substandard working conditions for those immigrants, as well as ludicrous margins of profit for the corporations and people that abuse them. Why would any sensible politician complain about migrant workers who keep afloat the businesses owned by their most generous donors and puppeteers?

Of course, there is probably not a country in the world who can boast of having no illegal immigrants elsewhere. And we would do well to keep that in mind as our diaspora grows at a rate comparable to that of our population decline. Yes, I am specifically chastising those of us who mistreat Haitians in Dominica while envying or relying upon our relatives in the US and UK. We have too long considered ourselves, sometimes wordlessly, superior to those who have far better work ethics than many of us do.

Our young men bewail the lack of employment opportunities on island...yet I have never seen or heard of an unemployed Haitian man. Do we not all live in the same country? The menial labour we feel too beneath us, they gladly do and do superbly. And where they cannot find jobs, they create them. Notorious in some areas for craftsmanship and sewing, Haitian men in Dominica often supplement their "day jobs" with tailoring that equals the high quality we expect of our locals, among other odd jobs. Personal experience, however, shows that Dominican men lack that type of innovation and humility. A conversation overheard:

Man: "De country tight wi boy...."
Woman: "Yes wi. Five dollars cannot even buy nothing na!"
Man: "I telling you. I self just need a job and I set."
Woman: "Oh I hear they was looking for people to do construction?"
Man: "Who dat? I looking like a Haitian?"

This sort of unthinking presumption of racial superiority is not just deplorable and ignorant but a frightening echo of the slave system used by whites to portray Africans in a denigrating light. We should never, even unwittingly, create any resemblance between ourselves and the melanin-challenged proponents of black oppression and genocide.

/sarcasm

[Meanwhile, an outspoken Trumpet head feels entitled to make racist remarks about immigrants (watch a hilarious Daily Show excerpt from Vox by clicking here), overlooking the fact that those immigrants comprise a hefty portion of the underpaid labourers that drive his business ventures. Have a look at the surging pinata sensation springing up from this by clicking here and the list of corporations who have cut ties with him here.]

Hundreds of thousands of people of Haitian descent have been scuttling to provide documentation to prove to officials in the Dominican Republic that either: 1) they have a legal right to work there; or 2) they have at least one Dominican parent. Adam Raney of Aljazeera shares:

"In the Dominican Republic hundreds of thousands of people - not all of them migrants - live with the threat now of deportation. Maybe they were born here but can't prove one of their parents was Dominican. Maybe they came to work in the sugar fields. Maybe they fled the 2010 earthquake and since then have eked out a life here. All that matters to the government is that they prove they have a legal right to stay here. Not so easy, as many of these people were born in shacks and have no documents to speak of."

 Raney goes on to show how ironic the Dominican Republic's repugnance for illegal Haitian immigrants really is when, just a few decades ago, New York experienced an upsurge in illegal immigrants from - you guessed it - the Dominican Republic. (Read the rest of Raney's article here. Learn about Haitians in New Orleans here) So, our Spanish counterparts share our habit of slapping the less fortunate with one hand while begging Uncle Sam for scraps with the other. And the only thing preventing mass deportation of the Republic's Haitian population is the scrutiny of the rest of the world, which, as we know, will not last forever. While it is still a hot topic, some Caribbean organizations have called for boycotts against traveling to and buying products from the Dominican Republic. It is thus clear that other countries sympathize with the Haitian struggle, but the Republic holds a deep-seated contempt upon which it feels justified to act.

A Haitian mother broods after losing the means to support her children.

And that very attitude is reflected in our dear, sweet Dominica. Sharing the first name of the Hispaniola nation with which we are often mistaken, we also share its disdain for Haitians. I mean, the least we could do is to be fair and treat ALL of our immigrants with equal disdain, but you won't find any Spanish migrants receiving the types of insults to which Haitians are subjected. Oh no, some Spanish immigrants provide a different type of service with which no Dominican man is displeased (search comments for mention of Spanish women here), neither will he risk his reputation even if he were. Or perhaps we are inherently friendlier to persons with lighter complexions, as many dark-skinned ethnic Dominican Republic residents - who have been kicked past the border because their compatriots thought they were Haitians - will tell you.

We do indeed too quickly forget history's lessons. Many Haitians emigrated not out of mischief, boredom, or selfishness but after having managed to survive Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or the 7.0 magnitude earthquake of 2010 (and the tsunami that followed). They're not here to ruin our country; in fact, they bolster it tremendously. They came here because they were homeless or without livelihoods in a homeland reduced to ruins by horrific disasters. Hundreds were children who had lost their parents or vice versa. And most have since carved out decent lives for themselves on our shores, displaying modest gratitude for the basic necessities that we take for granted. And if anyone should know the devastation hurricanes and earthquakes can cause, it's us. If scenes from Hurricane David (also here, here, and here) and from our 2007 earthquake do not stir up any of the empathy we ought to have for those fleeing disaster zones, then we should be ashamed. THEY are just like US.

L - 2010 Haiti earthquake; R - 2007 Dominica earthquake

Why do we seem to ignore the histories of our nations? Is it too inconvenient for us to be likened, even in tragedy, to fellow West Indians who share our misfortunes both in natural disasters this millennium and in slavery the last? We can strive harder together towards mutual prosperity, or we can water down the past so as to not feel accountable for those seeking refuge in our beautiful country. And in case you were wondering where we might have gotten the latter from...

A whitewashed version of history is now also being taught to students in the USA, particularly in Texas. Social studies textbooks in that state are being criticized by notable historians because they conveniently omit Jim Crow laws, downplay key facts pertaining to racial segregation, and cite the right to slavery as a "secondary cause" of the Civil War (going so far as to praise biblical figure Moses for his contribution to the Founding documents), no doubt, one could easily argue, for the purpose of engendering a new generation of unwitting 'anti-racists' blatantly unaware of the unpleasant history of its nation. Similarly, we in Dominica seem to be reading intently from some imaginary narrative that paints Haitians as the same kind of sub-human creatures that white supremacists believe us to be. Besides the sheer hypocrisy, are we truly so quick to discriminate others for the same reason we are discriminated against and, incredulously so, on the basis of their doing precisely the jobs that we don't want to do? So many of us rake in attention on social media under the banner of the #BlackLivesMatter movement; we had better not be so foolish as to think Haitian lives don't matter as well or as much as ours.

The path to genuine and universal equality is arduous, the destination far away. So as we cheer small victories like the removal of the Confederate Flag from South Carolina statehouse grounds, let us not forget that the battle is not over. Bree Newsome may be our imprisoned heroine for now, but Trayvon, Freddie, Tamir, and countless others are still dead. One symbol of gross injustice may have come down from its mast but the ship of racial prejudice still sails, propelled by the tropical breezes of the Caribbean Sea.

L to R: Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice. May they rest in peace.

Love of Self Part IV: God-Given

RELIGION

To sway even one reader towards or away from his/her beliefs or lack thereof is far from the purpose of this piece of writing. After all, the world has been privileged with the knowledge shared by innumerable intellectuals of all sorts of backgrounds.

Some embraced religion:

This from Edmund Burke, an 'Irish statesman [...] author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher' (Wikipedia), in his book Reflections on the French Revolution.

 Others criticized it:

 This from Henry Louis Mencken, an 'American journalist, satirist, cultural critic and scholar' (Wikipedia), in his book Minority Report.

But what Irishmen and Americans think of religion, as you'll soon see, is of little significance to us in Dominica and to black people as a whole, recent arrivals - latecomers, I dare say - as they are to the realm of true spirituality. For if the black man is truly the father of human life on earth - and science agrees he is (though popular opinion may disagree) - then his beliefs long predate those of any other race of people on the planet.

The view of 1952 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Albert Schweitzer, a 'German—and later French—theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary in Africa, also known for his historical work on Jesus.' (Wikipedia)

As the first post in this series (Learning from our Mistakes) stated, it is believed that about 62% of African slaves brought to Dominica were from the Bight of Biafra, a region on the western coast of Africa bordering Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon. From this knowledge, the following quote from the introductory page of Michigan State University's (MSU) Exploring Africa curriculum becomes relevant:

"Africans are notoriously religious, and each people [society in Africa] has its own religious system with a set of beliefs and practices. Religion permeates into all the departments of life so it is not easy or possible to isolate it [from other aspects of African society and culture.] A study of these religious systems is, therefore a study of the peoples themselves in all the complexities of traditional and modern life." - John Mbiti

Mbiti did praiseworthy work in removing some stigmas and misconceptions about indigenous African religions. Both colonial Europeans in centuries past and traditional Christian onlookers in current times have associated religions native to Africa with witchcraft, evil, and heretical practices. Mbiti emphasized, however, that indigenous African religions and incoming Christian/Islamic ideologies were shaped and adapted by one another, though the two failed to understand each other completely. For example, while most Western religions refer to the Supreme Being as "God", the name varies with regions as well as religions in Africa but all refer nonetheless to the same Being, for the most part. African names for "God" may be found here.

83-year-old John Samuel Mbiti, "the father of contemporary African theology". (Dictionary of African Christian Biography, DACB)

Mbiti shared, from his years of research in Africa, that indigenous African religions transcend belief in the supernatural and actually pervade the faithful's "world-view", impacting all aspects of Africans' everyday lives. Additionally, he asserts, these religions "provide a system of morality that establishes right from wrong, good and appropriate from bad or inappropriate behavior". (Exploring Africa) Lastly, rituals form an integral part of the communication between humans and God for those who practice these indigenous religions (click here for pictures).

You can learn more about African spirituality from MSU by clicking on this link.

Similarly, in the Caribbean, our religions have been heavily influenced by the influx of Christian missionaries, and vice versa. Santeria (meaning "Way of the Saints"), for instance, is "an Afro-Caribbean religion based on Yoruba beliefs and traditions, with some Roman Catholic elements added. The religion is also known as La Regla Lucumi and the Rule of Osha." (BBC) To read about Santeria deities, Catholic influence, and holy books, click here. For Santeria and slavery, click here.

So how exactly did Christianity infiltrate African belief systems? It was the result of arguably the most significant encounter between the African and the European: SLAVERY.

Santeria is described as a syncretic religion with its roots in the Cuban slave trade. Christianity also made its way into the Caribbean, Dominica included, via slavery.

"Slavery...devastated traditional culture and religion among Africans. Slaves in the 18th century came from various African societies, cultures, and nations, such as the Igbo, Ashanti and Yoruba on the West African Coast. Consequently, slaves from differing ethnic groups displayed few commonalities. Africans were black, but did not experience a homogenous existence; they shared little of their traditional cultures and religions.
Ibo, Yoruba, and Ashanti religions did not survive the Middle Passage. The institution of slavery, and the influx of Christian conversions helped in eliminating traditional African religions in the United States." (Wikipedia)

An article by Jeffrey K. Padgett helps present one half of an interesting dualism regarding converting slaves to Christianity and says:

"The planters who opposed the conversion of their slaves feared the possibilities of a Christianized slave, and resented the idea of sharing their religion with a heathen. During the era of the slave trade, many whites claimed that slaves were not capable of understanding Christianity. However, many were afraid that if their slaves received education they would demand their rights as human beings. For slaves to be kept in bondage, they needed to be kept in ignorance." - The Christianization of Slaves in the West Indies

The other half is presented by the University of Richmond, which affirms that slavery was used as a "necessary evil" means by which African slaves could be freed (spare me such irony) to Christianity by Europeans:

"Slaveholders believed that slavery would liberate Africans from their savage-like ways, especially if they were infused with Christianity. As religion ran deep through slavery, white Christian slaveholders argued that slavery was a necessary evil because it would control the sinful, less humane, black race." - The History Engine at http://www.richmond.edu/.

Christianity was also a medium of justification for the practice of slavery. Several passages of biblical scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments seem to condone slavery, although many will point out that: a) the slavery referred to therein was more of a voluntary servitude; b) the Old Testament passages only applied to a certain group of people at a certain time, and c) there are as many verses condemning slavery as well. Some of the verses in question are given below (you may view the entire chapter to get a sense of context):

• Leviticus 25:44-46 - Pro-slavery
  ⁴⁴ "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. ⁴⁵ You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. ⁴⁶ You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly."
•  Galatians 3:28 - No slavery
  "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
• 1 Timothy 6:1-2 - Pro-slavery
  "All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. ² Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare^[a] of their slaves."
• 1 Corinthians 12:13 - No slavery
  "¹³ For we were all baptized by^[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink."

[All verses were taken from the Bible Gateway website, where parallels between the New International Version (NIV) and King James Version (KJV) may be read.]

To learn more about biblical stances on slavery, click here and here and here.

To read more on the relationship between Christianity and Afro-Caribbean slavery, click here.

For data on religious diversity and affiliation in the Caribbean, click here.

Finally, the attitudes of slaves towards conversion to Christianity - whether that conversion was forced or not - remains clear even to this day: its appeal rests in the promise of final justice after a lifetime of hardship.

"The most important aspect of Christianity for slaves was the promise of heaven. This idea preached the notion that for all the suffering that is done in the physical world, your soul will be preserved and experience a hardship-free spiritual life. What this did for the slaves was give them hope for the future. The converted slaves’ belief in heaven allowed some to passively resist their master and focus on the afterlife." - The Christianization of Slaves in the West Indies

Make no mistake about the presence of Christianity and Islam in Africa prior to slavery, however, albethey among the minority. The two intermingled with African belief systems in ways that may now be imperceptible to those who practice any of them. Says Laurie Maffly-Kipp of the National Humanities Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:

"Islam had also exerted a powerful presence in Africa for several centuries before the start of the slave trade...Catholicism had even established a presence in areas of Africa by the sixteenth century...

"...slaves mixed African beliefs and practices with Catholic rituals and theology, resulting in the formation of entirely new religions such as vaudou in Haiti (later referred to as "voodoo"), Santeria in Cuba, and Candomblé in Brazil." - African American Christianity Pt. I: To the Civil War.

 So, with so much intersectionality (definition on page 4) creating the inseparable nature of slavery, indigenous African religion, and Christianity in Dominica, how do we take this information and move forward? Simple: we must show some SELF-LOVE. No matter that the full-bodied story above mirrors that which took place on a larger scale in North America. No matter that our blend of religious expressions is far less interesting than that in Latin America. Are we responsible for the actions of our ancestors or our neighbours? That is for us to discuss and you to decide. However, these are our unarguable duties to them - to remember and respect their heritage, now ours, and their sacrifice, to credit their strength in bondage, their courage under cruelty, their beauty, and their very presence, which set the foundation for one vital freedom we enjoy today: to believe or not to believe.

Love of Self Part III: Words Have Power

LANGUAGE

For me, a typical first conversation with a foreigner soon finds itself heading down the rabbit hole of origins. My accent is clearly not Baltimorean, they immediately notice. And from there, it's usually all downhill.

"Where are you from?" is the inevitable question.

"Oh I'm from Dominica," I reply.

I can almost count to three before they follow with (one...two...th--) "The Dominican Republic?"(Almost.)

"No, it's a different island..." I clarify, wishing I could shout 'If I had meant the Republic, I would have said so!'

Like how this gem from avirtualDOMINICA.com said it.

"Ohhhh......" (cue awkward silence) "So what language do you guys speak over there?"

Listen, that's the least offensive question someone could ask. But it still irks me. Do people still equate the Caribbean with solely steel pans, coconut rum, and exotic gibberish chanted at late-night beach parties? Or am I overly sensitive?

"English," I respond, and I can tell my tone is harsher than I intended.

Their curiosity usually ends there, after a split-second look of disbelief.

One of these days, I'm going to drop some Kwéyòl on them or mutter something about how nice it is to wear clothes besides loincloths.

This is us, apparently.

Is it even fair to say that English is our language of choice, though? We can hardly make it through a sentence without a "kamem", a "oui", or an "ebeh weh". And we don't say "oh my god" - we say "bondyé" or "papa met". Kwéyòl is in our bones. Its lineage is clear: "Like the other Caribbean Creoles, Dominican French Creole combines syntax of African and Carib origin with a primarily French-derived vocabulary^. In addition, many expressions reflect the presence of an English Creole[,] and Spanish influences are also present in the language." (Wikipedia) Our form of Antillean Creole is just one of those aspects of our culture that both unifies us with the rest of the West Indies and sets us apart in this global society.

Language is, after all, the primary means of communication for most, and this fact transcends species. For us, it is a cornerstone of effective formal education, an unparalleled necessity in the world of work, and the basis of the best forms of entertainment. Even in its simplest expressions, language functions to convey information, evoke strong emotions, give instructions, etc. We would be insane to belittle the power of language...

...which brings up a local phenomenon that must be bemoaned: public radio. The misuse of language on Dominican radio broadcasts may not be majoritarian but it does occur often enough to warrant improvement. Do we even notice that numerous sponsors cannot "presents" an event? That "all is invited" does not hold when "all" refers to people? That "it has" is not a correct substitute for "there is/are"? We should notice, because our frequencies are transmitted and received internationally, and it is not in our interest for listeners to conclude that we're incapable of grasping basic grammatical concepts. In fact, that could be part of what feeds into the stereotyping that creates the 'origins dialogue' above. Listen, embracing the unique aspects of our vernacular is important, but unwittingly demeaning ourselves and undermining the education that we pay so dearly for, all while allowing our representatives in the media to look like fools, is not acceptable. So let's hold our journalism and dissemination of news to higher standards than are presently stomached.

That issue, by the way, must be kept separate from our efforts to preserve our Creole from extinction. Our dialect complements our music, dancing, cuisine, place names, and other cultural practices. I even wonder how useful it was to our slave ancestors. Reduced to a small population, those slaves surely incorporated their African languages with the Carib, French, and English words to which they were inevitably exposed. In fact,"The intricate process by which a language based on the convergence of other languages undergoes expansion in both use and form is called creolization," says Charles Joyner. (page 5) The first and obvious purpose of slaves "creolizing" the language of their owners would be to preserve what they could of their own heritage (maybe unconsciously); the soulful singing of black people even to this day can be at least partially attributed to the popularity of singing while slaves worked the fields. Secondly, it may have provided a way of covertly communicating amongst themselves - we know that they were stripped of their own cultures, so what may have seemed to the owner like poor attempts to speak his language may actually have been tiny messages, even plans for a revolt. And, of course, third is integration. Generations who lived after slavery ended in Dominica may have found themselves needing to communicate with imperial governors AND to their own people. Creole offers a chance to bridge a barrier to progress, in a sense.

Now, our Kwéyòl has its origins, you see, in a place of strength, beauty, necessity, and pride. Exactly how much do we incorporate it into our modern lives, then? Should we be teaching Kwéyòl in our schools, as former Mayor of Roseau, Cecil Joseph, once championed? Dominican author Trina John-Charles has already published books under her Kwéyòl 4 Kids project, hoping to share the basics of Kwéyòl literacy with the generations of children whose Dominican and St. Lucian parents and grandparents have permanent residences overseas or who simply are not exposed to Kwéyòl in a meaningful way. She recognized the value of Kwéyòl after a family friend criticized her inability to covertly communicate with her via Kwéyòl, as is conjectured above as being vital to our ancestors. This experience, she says, made her realize she was the only UK immigrant within her circle of friends who could not speak her "native tongue". Speaking to CaribDirect for a 2013 focus article, she also noted that "your ability to get a job [in Kwéyòl-speaking countries] is heavily increased if you can speak Kwéyòl fluently".

The cover of one book in a series by Trina John-Charles on Antillean Creole.

John-Charles claimed, in that article, that Kwéyòl is already taught at school in Dominica. It seems that my own high school experience therefore ended too early, and I am ashamed to share some of her aforementioned lack of fluency. Not to make excuses but English is perceived as such a universal language that emphasis is (rightly) placed on mastering that before and/or above a dialect inherent to only a few small islands in one small region of the world. That in itself could be the result of American and European influence on our lives or simply the need to exchange goods and services with a broader consumer market (and if that's the case, it's no wonder Chinese is now part of the Dominican curriculum at many schools as well). Still, we ought to show some SELF-LOVE and appreciate those beautiful peculiarities of 'Dominicanness' and not lose our unique flavour, so to speak, while interacting with the rest of the world.

I had to. #sorrynotsorry

Love of Self Part II: Money Talks - AN ASIDE

Even ignoring the four centuries of slavery, during which millions of Africans were not compensated for their involuntary labour, the United States still has a horrible and continuing track record of maintaining the disparity between white money and black money. The infamous and quite ridiculous Jim Crow laws made it nigh impossible for black people to commingle with white Americans, far more to own or earn any type of wealth or asset until their supposed abandonment in 1967, when the Supreme Court ruled that anti-miscegenation laws (which prohibited interracial marriage) were unconstitutional (see Loving v. Virginia).

So why is there still a disproportionate number of impoverished African-Americans in the United States? Why are our newsrooms overflowing with stories of poor colored people being victimized, brutalized, and marginalized by white people? After these laws were removed, one would hope that, at last on a level playing field, black people would pounce upon the opportunity to finally build productive communities for themselves and 'catch up' to the Caucasian majority who, only moments before, considered them disposable property. (They did pounce. But hold on. There's more.)

Firstly, one must understand that Jim Crow laws were a blatant form of racial discrimination wrapped up in legislature. Though they were officially removed from the law books, the mentalities of those who had instituted them did not vanish; indeed, they were merely incorporated into less conspicuous policies. For instance, financial institutions maintained strict policies concerning the approval and interest rates of loans and mortgages for black people, often preferring to borrow money and sell land/housing to poorer white people than richer black people, and this trend continues into the 21st century (see Wells Fargo, Associated Banks, etc.). The practice of racial segregation in the physical or obvious sense may have disappeared as 'Whites Only' signs were taken down, but the trend of separating communities based on race has continued without cessation throughout the States. Redlining continues to be a serious issue, as potential homeowners are denied loans and housing in predominantly white neighborhoods, forcing them to perpetuate overcrowding in poorer areas that quickly deteriorate into slums. In these ghettos, jobs are scarcer and pay lower wages, crime is higher, violence is common, policing is either too harsh or too remote, education is dying for lack of resources, and debts continue to pile as short-term loans (often marketed by paid black actors) charge outrageous amounts for late payments.

Sign in Montgomery, Alabama

Less affluent area in Baltimore.

Secondly, and in the same breath, do not for a second think that black Americans did not attempt to escape the system that switched its form of enslavement. If you've never heard of the Tulsa race riot or the MOVE bombing, I don't blame you. I hadn't heard of them myself until a few weeks ago. But I do urge you, Dominicans, to discover what happened, as no self-respecting history textbook is going to mention these events. These describe major terrorist events in America that certainly are not as renowned as the 9/11 attacks.

BLACK WALL STREET (15:38)
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, there existed a prosperous black community in the Greenwood area, home of several black multimillionaires. This 'Black Wall Street' consisted of "21 churches, 21 restaurants, 30 grocery stores and two movie theaters, plus a hospital, a bank, a post office, libraries, schools, law offices, a half-dozen private airplanes and a bus system". (Wikipedia) Predicated by outrage over a false 'black man rapes white woman' accusation (see lynching), a mob of white people descended upon the Greenwood community, setting fires and dragging non-compliant blacks behind vehicles. When the National Guard finally stepped in, they rounded up black people into detention centers while firebombs were being dropped from airplanes onto the black businesses. By the end of it all, 1471 homes had been destroyed, up to 300 black people had been killed, what amounts to $15 million worth of property had been lost, and the richest black community in America was gone forever. It is even said that Tulsa law-makers thereafter tried to prevent the Black Wall Street survivors from rebuilding on the land that had been burnt down. Black Wall Street has never been restored.

MOVE - LET THE FIRE BURN
The MOVE liberation group was a revolutionary commune that resided in West Philadelphia. Founded by John Africa, the group's members all adopted new names with the surname 'Africa', were opposed to technology and traditional religion, followed a strict diet, and kept to themselves, except for when they "staged bullhorn-amplified, profanity-laced demonstrations against institutions that they opposed". (Wikipedia) After living in a fortified compound on Osage Avenue for four years, they were met with several charges and indictments stemming from neighborhood complaints, leading to an armed standoff with the Philadelphia Police Department. Police ordered non-MOVE residents who lived nearby to evacuate their homes for the night but later dropped several bombs that resulted in the deaths of 11 MOVE members, including five (5) children, and the destruction of more than sixty (60) residential buildings (leaving approximately 250 people homeless). Firefighters, who had spent the afternoon trying to flood the building, were given the famous order to "let the fire burn". One MOVE survivor even stated that police fired shots at the people trying to exit the burning building.

Yes, indeedy. So far, every time African-Americans have attempted to cleave themselves from the system designed with their oppression in mind, those same oppressors lash out in a jealous rage, fearful that an independent, unified black race will cause their great country to collapse. THIS is the legacy that predates police shootings of unarmed black men and the prison-industrial complex that plagues America, which boasts the second highest incarceration rate per capita in the world. It is also a legend that sparks self-hatred and feeds into non-profitable habits, which is why the white-owned FOX network receives millions of dollars from its hit show Empire, popularized mainly by black people.

Love of Self Part II: Money Talks

MONEY

The East Caribbean Dollar is stabilized and maintained by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), governed by Sir Kenneth Dwight Vincent Venner, KBE SLC since 1989. In 1965, the EC dollar replaced the British West Indies dollar, which had been in circulation for thirty years.

Since neither the pound sterling nor the Euro is representative money, I presume the East Caribbean dollar is not either. It is, as far as I know, fiat money, meaning it is not backed by any precious metal but has its intrinsic value determined by government decree. In fact, the only currency in use that is significantly valued by gold is the Lebanese Pound, at present backing about 50% of the country's in-circulation currency.

Lebanese piastres.

The USA? It gave up its gold backing 44 years ago, thanks to President Richard Nixon. Right now, America is $18 trillion in debt, one trillion dollars higher than its current GDP (click here for a real-time USA debt-clock). If a cataclysmic event (say, another world war) were to destroy the economies of the largest developed countries in the world, thereby voiding the worth of their banknotes, leaving them in the same bracket as the paltry EC dollar, how many of you think they would be able to endure, as we have, living in a state of constant self-denial and deficiency? I have my doubts.

Things being as they are presently, however, we wordlessly submit to the superiority of the US dollar. Yet, before we can analyze the fate of the money in our nation's hands, you may want to briefly look at what America is doing with its own.

CLICK HERE. LINK OPENS IN NEW TAB.

In Dominica, we do not have white overseers around the corner to bomb us, set fire to our houses, or lynch us. What we DO have is a government-to-population relationship that is a breeding ground for corruption and inefficiency. And the results can be equally as devastating. I say again, our oppression is not rooted in race...but in politics. Until we address it, the divide between the rich and the poor will continue to expand at both ends until, perhaps, the greenery reclaims our island as it becomes civilly inhabitable.

The key to maintaining power over an oppressed people is depressingly simple: do not let them control their own money. The man who has his own money and uses it wisely seeks no validation from another, he fears no imprisonment, he cannot be easily enslaved, and he prospers without comparing himself to others. And some persons in high positions have exploited these facts.

According to the United Nations Development Programme, 40% of Dominica's general population lived in poverty as of 2003. This number dropped to 23% in 2009, says another source, but our population has stagnated (70, 058 to 70,996) during the same period of time. For more economic statistics, click here.

Meanwhile, the 2007 Caribbean Development Bank Annual Economic Report (CDB AER) highlighted agriculture as Dominica's most productive sector by far, more than tripling the gains from tourism. (page 148) Agricultural activity contributed to 34% of total domestic exports in 2004 and and averaged 9.24% of our GDP between 1994 and 2003 (an average of EC $601.37 million per year from 2000 to 2004, DAAS, see pp. 14-15), says the CARICOM Secretariat. (page 6) For more GDP stats, click here. However, agriculture has experienced a steady decline since the late 1970s (presumably due to Hurricane David) and has only risen to 17.7% in 2013.

Agriculture - value added (% of GDP) in Dominica

Tourism has been inconsistent in its recent contributions to national productivity, with negative growth in stay-over arrivals for almost half of the years between 2007 and 2013. (2013 CDB AER page 19) It contributed less than 28% of the labour force as of 2002, wavering between 19.4% and -7.40% real growth from 2005 to 2015 (see below or click here to choose country, variable, and measure). However, in 2013, it supplied EC $536 million to the GDP (38.7% of total GDP) and 9,700 jobs (13.5% of total population), says the World Travel & Tourism Council. And tourism has been on the rise in the past three years.

Now, let's take those two sets of data and compare them to the places where the government has been pumping its investments.

Our best friend China (who has a lot of other best friends) has 'given' us exorbitant gifts: $18 billion in 2013 for "community based projects and the construction of the new Princess Margaret Hospital" (DNO), $70 million for a Roseau hotel that same year (MercoPress), a "$100 million West Coast Road Rehabilitation Project" in 2010/2011, ironically signed by Hon. Rayburn Blackmoore - take that, Salisbury- (DNO), financial assistance with two phases of the Dominica Grammar School reconstruction, $33 million for the Windsor Park Stadium in 2005 (Wikipedia), and a Friendship Bridge to consummate our love for and commitment to the one-China policy. ["Beijing responded to Dominica's severing relations with the Republic of China [Taiwan] by giving them a $12 million aid package, which includes $6 million in budget support for the year 2004 and $1 million annually for six years." (Wikipedia) I wonder how our just-a-friend friend, the European Union, feels about all this.]

This feels like we are blindly shadowing the actions of the United States, who is $1.2 trillion in debt to China alone (but somehow manages to give China foreign aid to the order of tens of millions of dollars), as of March 2015. Political games are being played at the risk of our frail economy, but Dominicans seem more interested in being devout Labourites than devout labourers. The self-hate is palpable. (And is that Venezuelan giggling I hear from the back of the room? Ca-caw!)

Many have noted and criticized the Prime Minister's reluctance to divulge the details of the memoranda of understanding concerning these projects, but Hon. Skerrit has, for the most part, maintained that secrecy. Meanwhile, the Economic Citizenship Program (AKA buy one passport, get a second one half-off), the Bin-Gate scandal, and the Blaircourt Villas issues have put his own integrity in the spotlight. The cost of election campaigning has also skyrocketed in recent years, likening us yet again to the United States, where politicians are sponsored by corporations that could later influence government policies. A $27 million presidential state palace has been built with little public resistance to this gift from Shanghai, but pipe-borne water remains a luxury for some Dominicans (this fact made even more shameful in light of our 365 rivers).

Now ask yourself: how many of those projects have a direct, significant impact on our two most productive industries of tourism and agriculture? How profitable could it be to have such lavish resorts for a population under 80, 000 (most of whom cannot afford such accommodations anyway) and cruise arrival statistics that leave much to be desired? How much respectable priority has been given thus far to Salisbury farmers, seeing that agriculture dominates Dominica's labour force? Or, for that matter, to the members of the Public Works Corporation (PWC) and the Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU)? For all our infrastructural improvements, has the cost of living gone down? Have salaries been significantly raised? Has VAT, by some miracle of mathematics discernible only by idiots, lowered the cost of goods?

And ask yourself again: just how much of our nation's assets are tied up in China's hands? If they go to war, will we have to respond accordingly? Do these secret MOUs include forking over actual land? Is there anything preventing our Chinese population from overwhelming the locals demographically (since they already surpass us financially)? And will we continue to feed into their cheaper product market while they funnel the profits back to Asia?

Above all, are we creating a Yellow Wall Street in our own front yard, allowing our East Caribbean Dollar not to circulate on island but to flow uni-directionally OUT of our country's pockets in exchange for bigger buildings and slicker roads?

You tell me.

 

Love of Self Part I: Learning from our Mistakes

The more I observe the progression of civilization, particularly that in the USA, and juxtapose it with my country's reaction, the more I realize that we have a serious self-love problem. Is Dominica imitating - for better or worse - the political and socioeconomic actions of the United States?

Before we can answer that, we must put into context the substantial influence that colonization by the British and French has wrought upon us. Our educational systems, our currency, our dialects, our lineage, and even our religions have been marred by our transfer from the symbolic arms of these imperial states, among others. Had we not been so colonized, had we not been one destination among many along the slave trade route, the Dominica we know and supposedly love today may very well have remained an undiscovered tribal nation dominated by native Indians. The British gave and continue to give us a large part of the educational sequence we mandate for our children, the French undertones of our Creole patois, dance, and food are unmistakable, we still use the Queen's money, undoubtedly mixed and unmixed Negroes form the majority of our population because of the intermixing of slaves, Indians, and Europeans decades and even centuries before any of us were born, and we cannot deny that it was the Europeans who stripped our ancestors (Negro and Indian alike) of their own beliefs and "gave" them the Bible, which we uphold fastidiously. Conversely, I make no qualms about the immense good that colonization has done for Dominica. Without it, I no doubt would not be typing these words....if I would ever have been born, for that matter. This, therefore, is nothing more than an observation of how, despite being granted "freedom" and "prosperity" by (and from) European states, we look predominantly - and oftentimes unconsciously - to our westward neighbour for our developmental cues.

The Bight of Biafra, from which 62% of Dominican slaves are said to have been imported.

EDUCATION

Education has become a vital and, I dare say, overrated facet of life and what it means to be successful in Dominica. The British model treats formal education, in my opinion, as a privilege for those who are prepared to gain specialized knowledge in certain fields through extensive application and discipline. Its origins seem to reflect that aspect of education in ancient Greece, which distinguishes formal education (primarily for men, largely excluding women and labourers) from informal education (mostly skill-based, targeted at women, children, and slaves) but treats both as being indispensable to society as a whole. The British had embraced this and so had we in turn. An objective look at the shift in our national curriculum attests to this. You see, a college education is a comprehensive look into various areas of academic study that makes a graduate capable of understanding concepts that both show how 'socio-politically' refined he is and allow him to make intelligent personal decisions. To exclude informal education, however, is to create generations and scores of people who "know a lot of things but don't know how to do a lot of things".

Similarly, America has its educational background rooted in the reforms implemented by Whig party politician Horace Mann, who was himself inspired by the Prussian system of education and of whom it is said that "No one did more than he to establish in the minds of the American people the conception that education should be universal, non-sectarian, free, and that its aims should be social efficiency, civic virtue, and character, rather than mere learning or the advancement of sectarian ends." (Cubberley, 690) We in Dominica (and the rest of the Eastern Caribbean, it seems) have stopped reading past the word "universal" in this quote. In attempting to following the USA's footsteps, we have made education for our children into something that is so universal, it is mandatory, but it is neither non-sectarian nor free, and it does little, I assert, to promote any kind of efficiency, virtue, or character when those who are thrust through it are thereafter released into society.

Johann Julius Hecker memorial in Berlin

Not only does our small population not feasibly allow formal education to be free but it also does not give rise to a balanced society. The Prime Minister has expressed a vested interest in ensuring that every household in Dominica has a university graduate. Considering the fact that university-level degrees are not required for the majority of jobs actually available on island and that the average Dominican household consists of 3-4 individuals, this is a most unrealistic expectation. The importance of education and its correlation to long life and nationwide prosperity are beyond argument; however, the misconception that only formally educated persons make valuable contributions to society is going to be our downfall if we do not recognize and rectify it. Simply put, 1 out of every 4 Dominicans cannot be a lawyer or doctor  because 1) we do not have the resources to pay them, 2) that leaves too few patients or clients to justify their presence, and 3) (above all) there are other careers just as vitally needed in our country. Yet the majority of scholarships and educational opportunities offered to Dominicans lead to degrees in primarily the STEM, business, and law fields. The proverbial "brain drain" and the current unemployment/underemployment rates prove just how devastating this is.


Likewise, education in Dominica is far from non-sectarian, what with the normalized trend of children's school choices being based on their catchment area (another British tidbit), religious denomination, and certainly financial status. The ugly truth is that schools, due to private or government funding (or lack thereof), have varying degrees of access to resources that directly and strongly impact the quality of education of their students. This is partly why Catholic schools and schools near the capital city have better retention rates and performance outputs than smaller, public, or remote schools (for statistics, click here).

Logo of the DAAS, which speaks of the history of Island Scholars.

We have also seemingly abandoned our responsibility to carve out socially responsible young adults. Commerce and Civics have all but disappeared from Dominican curricula, technical subjects are both stigmatized and unregulated, and agricultural education is so frowned upon that those who have the natural skill for it are ashamed to pursue it. Have we forgotten our roots (pun intended)? Or are we pretending that all children are academically inclined? Some of the richest people in the world are not degree holders but savvy businesspeople. Not that higher education hurts, but it should complement informal education that teaches wisdom useful outside of classrooms, newsrooms, and polling booths. The fact is there are more Dominican youth who know how to solve quadratic equations than who can arrange cutlery for a formal place setting, more who know Pythagoras than who know how to file taxes, more who can write five-paragraph essays than are comfortable doing job interviews, and more who know to conjugate verbs in foreign languages than how to change a tire or sew a button back on.

Finally, the most outrageous sign of our departure from a well-rounded educational experience in an attempt to emulate the United States is the implementation of the National Assessment and Universal Secondary Education (USE) Act. Never has a system of institutions been so glaringly unprepared to deal with the ramifications of its own half-baked scheme. We saw that America allowed ALL of its children to attend college, regardless of their prior performance, chose to ignore how miserably their educational system is failing (especially for minorities) in spite of this, and still adopted for our 5-figure population a policy meant for a 10-figure population. Now, the graduation rate for US colleges hovers at around 50% for citizens, meaning about half of the people who put themselves into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt end up having nothing to show for it, except the loss of years of gainful employment they suffered while instead struggling with course-loads. Our high school and college retention rates tell a similar story. Children who are more inclined to practical, informal education that would facilitate their obtaining livelihoods to let them support themselves are instead forced - by law and expectant overseers - to ingest facts that do nothing at all for their futures. The National Assessment, coupled with USE, has resulted in such phenomena as:

• teachers having to manage classes consisting of students with widely varying capabilities and needs;
• remedial students feeling out of place, discouraged, misunderstood, and ostracized by their more capable peers;
• "smarter" students being held back as teachers take the time to help others "catch up";
• students lingering in the educational system for far longer than necessary (without exaggeration, some in high school in their twenties) as "promotion" becomes necessary to prevent crowding, even though learning milestones have not been met;
• comparative studies of remedial and non-remedial students becoming more convoluted and meaningless;
• national productivity declining as the number of qualified workers decreases while the number of under-qualified workers increases

...and I could go on and on. And all of this to what end? Contrary to the old adage, America is not going to be flattered by our imitation of its failing educational system, unaware as it is of our very existence.

If you have a story to tell, statistics to share, solutions to suggest, or just a different opinion to express, let it loose in the comments. We love to hear from you!

PROtests and CONtests

On May 11^th, several Salisbury citizens staged a huge protest against the state of neglect and dilapidation of the feeder roads leading to the farming areas of their agricultural workers. Junk metal, pallets, and scrapped appliances were used to block traffic on the main road, the E.O. LeBlanc Highway, while several people took to the streets (They perhaps were inspired by Dominica's last major protest or by the Baltimore uprising). This garnered the attention of Prime Minister Skerrit, Attorney General Levi Peter, and the Minister of National Security and Justice, Rayburn Blackmoore, all of whom strongly disapproved of the protest action, deeming it illegal and unnecessary. Salisbury constituents see it quite differently, claiming that they have been largely neglected, and some say that: 1) peaceful protest is allowed in the Constitution; and 2) the demonstration only turned violent due to police reaction with tear gas.



Following that, June 11^th saw the arrest of six individuals for their involvement in the initial protest, prompting mixed opinions from the Dominica Freedom Party, United Workers Party, and the Dominica Association of Industry and Commerce, among others. Dominica News Online has revealed the identities of these persons, and concerned Dominicans elsewhere are urging the people of Salisbury not to celebrate the fact that the six have been released on bail.

 The Panel asks for YOUR thoughts on the Salisbury protests. Have they served their purpose so far or are the people wasting their time? Were the arrests justified? Is protesting illegal under Dominica's laws? Should the church or other political parties get involved? What negative effects do you think these events are having on our national productivity and tourism industry?

Leave a comment or link below, blow up our social media platforms, or comment the link to your video responses on our YouTube page.

For more pictures, click here.