“Evan X Hyde’s life is a counterpoint to that of George Price. Both men attended St. John’s College (SJC), but Hyde’s Creole view of the Jesuit orthodoxy has been at odds with the habitual faithfulness of Price. … One man emerged as the most influential politician of Belize; the other emerged as the most influential writer.
“ … Hyde had more of his words digested by more Belizeans than anyone, including the novelist Zee Edgell or the historian Emory King. The disarming quality of his writing has a great deal to do with Amandala’s continued popularity.”
– pg. 163, UNDERSTANDING BELIZE: A Historical Guide, by Alan Twigg, Harbour Publishing, British Columbia, Canada, 2006
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On Tuesday, February 9, 2010, which was the 41st anniversary of UBAD, KREM Radio personality, J.C. Arzu, read over the air the article on UBAD which is listed in the Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia. The Wikipedia article has several errors, the most serious of which is that “UNIA chair, Robert Livingston, stopped renting UBAD Liberty Hall in August 1969 under pressure from the government.”
That error is a major one, because the late Robert “Rasta” Livingston is a ranking UBAD hero and legend. Livingston was secretary-general of the Belize branch of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) when he interrupted my march/demonstration on New Year’s night, January 1, 1969. I was a part of a demonstration against a Vietnam War propaganda film being shown at the Eden Theatre on North Front Street. The organization holding the demonstration was the “Ad Hoc Committee for the Truth about Vietnam,” led by Assad Shoman and Said Musa. Livingston said I should begin lecturing at Liberty Hall. I took his advice, which was almost in the form of a directive.
The Ad Hoc Committee demonstration, which lasted for several nights, was packaged in a “political” manner. By that I mean that it was intended to be acceptable and palatable to the people. Amongst the demonstrators were such lawyers as the aforementioned Shoman and Musa, and Derek Courtenay, and such senior public officers as Ronald Clarke and Lionel del Valle. This is all I know about the demonstration, because, to repeat, I was interrupted on the very first night, and I did not return.
Within a few days, I lectured for the first time at Liberty Hall, owned by Marcus Garvey’s UNIA. The Belize UNIA president was Percy Innis, a shoemaker on George Street. UNIA members included Nurse Vivian Seay, Nurse Cleopatra White, and NIP activist Elfreda Reyes. It was Percy Innis, a supporter of the then PUP Deputy Premier, C. L. B. Rogers, who stopped UBAD from using Liberty Hall. Previous to that, Livingston had flown to New York City to seek expert medical attention for a damaged hip. He remained in New York for many years, where he inspired such New York residents as Norman “Imamu” Fairweather, who returned to Belize in early 1971 and was almost immediately elected UBAD secretary-general.
Before UBAD, Robert Livingston had become, to the best of my knowledge, Belize’s first Rastafarian. He had traveled to Jamaica seeking medical attention – for that same damaged hip, and I believe he was in Jamaica for Haile Selassie I’s historic visit to Kingston in 1966. Whether that is so or not, it is for sure that he came in contact with Rastafarians in Jamaica, and he brought the Rasta greeting, “Peace and love,” to UBAD at its foundation. Livingston became popularly known as “Rasta.”
You wonder who in Belize is responsible for the Wikipedia mistakes re: UBAD, when all they had to do was call Amandala and speak directly to one of the founding officers of the organization. But, it is as I told you a few weeks ago, there is an element in the power structure of Belize which writes history to suit their own agenda, and even obliterates history when they consider that necessary.
That power structure, which prominently features the educational system of Belize, which is controlled by the Church, made me an outlaw, so to speak, about two weeks after the Ad Hoc demonstration. The Committee held a public meeting at the old Free Gardiner’s Hall (corner Cemetery Road and Euphrates Avenue) around the middle of January 1969. The Ad Hoc Committee invited me to speak. The audience featured prominent members of the Roman Catholic education establishment, including nuns. Remember, the Ad Hoc Committee was packaged in a political manner. The leaders were highly respectable. But I was not. My black power speech shocked the Church, and I was declared anathema.
When you are declared anathema, it is the equivalent of saying you should be destroyed. Religions are very dangerous organizations. You saw recently how a religious evangelist, Pat Robertson, said God was punishing Haiti because of the people’s voodoo practices at the beginning of the Haitian Revolution in 1791. A couple weeks ago, I got into a writing argument about the Church’s position on the Guatemalan claim to Belize. THE REPORTER, in response, published an anonymous letter from a Catholic businessman calling on his fellow believers in the merchant community to stop newspaper vendors from selling Amandala in their business places. In 1926, the Mexican Cristeros actually began a shooting war against the government. This is real.
If you are a writer who is declared anathema by the Belize educational system, this is a serious blow to your ability to make a living. A writer, first and foremost, is a thinker. It is thoughts which he puts on paper in the form of written language. So when you condemn his writings, you are condemning his thoughts.
There is this serious disconnect between the people of Belize and the educational power structure. It is arguable that yours truly is the favorite writer of the Belizean people, but the absolute reverse is the case where the educational power structure is concerned. I have been an outlaw since the middle of January of 1969. I survived because the roots people of Belize kept me alive.
Now when you are an outlaw, you have to think like an outlaw. The power structure is just that – the power. In order to survive mentally, you have to accept the designation/condemnation of the power structure, and work from there. You have to say to yourself, this is what I am now, because this is what the people who rule have decided. Me and nada are the same thing. Nothing.
Now, when that same power structure, or a part of it, decides to invite you somewhere where you will be somebody, how are you supposed to take that? You have spent 41 years being nada, and suddenly, for whatever their reason, they want you to be algo, if only for a day, or an hour. That’s a very, very difficult transition – from nada to algo, I mean, especially after so long.
That is why all of us who have experienced any kind of political persecution revere The Madiba – Nelson Mandela. For a man to walk out of political prison after sacrificing 27 of the best years of his life, and for that man to behave with such dignity and grace, for that man to show no bitterness or hatred, then that is a special man indeed. Mandela. Amandla. Ngawethu.
Power to the people. Power in the struggle.