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Black dilution hastened in 1956

FeaturesBlack dilution hastened in 1956

GOB’s decision to grant amnesty to over 40,000 persons will impact our country in many ways, not least of which, in no specific order, are our electoral politics, the color scheme of the nation, our economics, and our culture. The impact won’t exactly be a sea change, for the persons who we understand are being welcomed fully into the national fabric aren’t strangers, most of them having lived here for some years.

They, the 40 to 60 thousand, have been under the radar, quietly going about the business of meeting the basic needs of themselves and their families. As full citizens, they’ll become more involved in the day to day of our lives, thus their impact on our existence will be greater.

For today, we’ll put aside the economics, the electoral politics, and the culture, all big issues, and devote ourselves some to the color story. You can color this piece my preamble.
Since 1492, after the white race with their superior weaponry took control of the earth, it has been a world in which the nearer you are to white, the better your chances are. And the farther you are from white, the worse your chances are. It’s not just the color of the skin. White people generally come with straight hair and narrow facial features, and both those characteristics also number among the prized.

All that seems so silly, to judge a person by the color of their skin and the texture of their hair, but six thousand years out of the caves, human beings haven’t much separated themselves from the stealth and deception of their animal nature. There have been scientific advances, quite stunning, really, but man’s development ends there. Sadly, the Europeans, having got on top because of their weaponry, have used every devilish tool that could be found to paint themselves as an innately superior being.

Most of these new Belizeans are on the lighter side, and the darker shades of Belize recognize that by the stroke of a pen, just because of the color of their skin and the texture of their hair, they will have greater status in our society. It’s not the fault of people with light skin that they were born in a time when white supremacy is still robust. What we have is a fraud that we have to make maximum effort to fix.

In this world there is always a color question hovering, it’s always volatile in other countries and sometimes here too, and that’s where I choose to begin hibbing my comments on this amnesty. I already told you in a previous piece that I support it, and what I expect the requirements should be to qualify.

Briefly, the modern Belize was founded by predominantly white pirates who brought enslaved people from the African continent to do much of their work. In time, the mingling of these two breeds would produce the tribe called Kriols. The Maya, who were here long before 1492, in time they became part of the new fabric. The Caste War brought Mestizos and more Maya. Indentured servants came from India and China, and people looking for peace came from the Middle East, and from Russia via Mexico.

In 1949 a group of roots Belizeans got together at Pickstock Street, and the group would soon become the PUP. In 1956 the PUP split over the suggestion by the British colonial government that we join the proposed West Indian Federation. After WWII a number of former colonies of the British sought to become independent, among them many islands in the Caribbean, and the British thought that if little Belize with its strong Caribbean flavor joined the others, it would be good for them all.

The most prominent pro-federation PUPs were Leigh Richardson and Philip Goldson, both black, and the most prominent say-no-to-federation PUP leaders were George Price and Nick Pollard, both Mestizos. More regarded writers can expand on this story, but I just choose to point out that many black Belizeans supported the victorious Price and Pollard.

Belize is on the main, and it is a Central American country with strong Caribbean flavor because of being a colony of the British and because the people from the African continent who came here came via the Caribbean islands. If Belize had chosen federation, and that organization hadn’t foundered, and if Belizeans, most of them black, hadn’t fallen in love with the USA and emigrated there, the black color in Belize would have been diluted more slowly than it has. But dilute it will because of our geography.

In closing today, I say that, especially on a matter like this one, we have to be patient and kind. We’ll all be exposing ourselves here, those who love Belize enough to opine on the amnesty. You can trust that I won’t pounce on anyone. Don’t run on incomplete stories about your friends, or enemies; don’t run with snippets, because that’s malicious, predatory, or ignorant. Let those not be our categories. The color scheme and all the other areas where the nation will be affected by an amnesty are sensitive subjects, so we must have tolerance.

Aha, here we are, in 2022, about to regularize 40,000 or more persons who have been living here as non-nationals for some time. There will be an economic impact, there will be an electoral impact, there will be a cultural impact, and the percentage of our citizens who can trace their ancestry to Africa will be reduced even further. Until I hib words on this again, I’ll just say we are the greatest melting pot in the world, so we have all the knowledge and love to make this work.

Big PUP move to cure its worst fault

We’ve all heard the saying, Physician, heal thy self, and clear the log from your own eye before you call out your neighbor for their faults (Biblical stuff), so the PUP deserves maximum applause for facing their terrible truth, that more than anyone it is they who are in need of prayer, it is they who have most need of blessing.

It’s a master stroke by the Briceño gang to tab Henry Charles as Minister of Religious Studies, or Affairs. The smart Henry Charles says it’s about liaising with the church leaders, but you know better than that. Liaise my blank! This is about fixing their innards. This is a party known for burning candles, and the séance, to help them in elections. My, it’s just wonderful that it is undertaking the task of curing what it has most of—sins.

Bah, hogwash about bridging the PUP and the churches when there’s no chance of that because they can’t agree about weed. We don’t need that baloney. It’s about introspection, and that is a good thing. I will be among those applauding when we see all those PUPs across the length and breadth, in the pews of Holy Redeemer wailing out how glad they are the Almighty saves wretches like them.

Pere bringing big heat on Barrow

Barrow must feel he got away with not giving Pere one of the safe seats, instead sending him into uncertain Port Loyola where ih geh dang by Willoughby, Faber, and Saldivar. This politics, it’s a story of strange bedfellows and their cold revenge game spilling over with intrigue and bad mind. It’s from their world we got the coinage “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, and other strange sayings.

Aha, Pere is riding in like the grand champion to investigate the spending on the Blue Bond, but that will provoke the call for the publishing of a report on all the Barrow family got for their being chosen the best qualified people to do the BTL jobs. Don’t bet that Pere didn’t know that.

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