August 22, 2019

Dear Editor,

I remember when the Amandala newspaper came to birth in the 1960’s. It was during the time when there was a lot of political turmoil in Belize. The Black people in the United States were fighting for their rights, and at the same time, they were being drafted into the US Armed Forces to go and fight in Vietnam and risk losing their lives.

Evan X Hyde returned from his studies in the United States and formed the United Black Association for Development (UBAD) with his supporters to address the racial problems affecting Black people in Belize. The two major political parties, PUP and NIP, were against UBAD for bringing up the racism issue because of fear that it could lead to riots in the city.

Also, many Belizeans did not want to admit that racism existed at the time. Even up to this day, some of our people still think this way. The government’s intention was to destroy UBAD by any means necessary, and they did it. Evan X Hyde tried party politics, but that did not work, so he tried something else.

He then started his newspaper business, and that has worked and is working. There is a phrase; “The pen is mightier than the sword,” and he has proven that with his pen.

Many Belizeans, including myself, look forward to reading the Amandala because it is still the number 1 newspaper in Belize. Amandala has been instrumental in advocating for our causes and influencing, or has an impact on, many of our government’s policies that relate to us.

I say many thanks to Evan Hyde and Amandala.

Wellington C. Ramos, Adjunct Professor, History and Political Science