Neil Garbutt is consistent in his perspective on the Kriol situation in Belize, if somewhat more academic than I would prefer. My old classmate is a world class surgeon specialist, so his academic approach is understandable. Neil feels that we should concentrate on the forging of the nation of Belize which took place in the settlement of Belize itself (presumably from 1638 onwards), and spend less time focusing on our African roots. In other words, he is a Kriol man. So.
On Saturday morning I spent a few minutes watching a Tarzan movie on cable. The Tarzan movies were extraordinary fantasies of the white man in which he imagined himself as a half-naked hero and leader of the Africans, swinging from tree to tree, fighting tigers and lions, and essentially starring the African show.
The African people in Tarzan movies were depicted as dumb, cowardly and confused. The directors of Tarzan movies consciously sought to compare our people to chimpanzees and gorillas. Tarzan movies taught some of our people to hate ourselves. At the very least, they convinced many of us to despise Africa and to loathe that part of us which was African. Tarzan movies were a lie, but they were legal entertainment exported all over the world from the United States. There was no one to counter this type of racist propaganda in British Honduras in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
The UBAD movement attacked this type of racism head on in 1969. Our intention was to tear the bulls—t to pieces. Our efforts met with enthusiastic support from young black Belizeans. To establish our framework, we had to look at our ancestors before enslavement.
There were many Belizeans of mixed ancestry who had major problems with UBAD’s aggressive style and African focus. First of all, because they were light-skinned, they refused to conceive of themselves as “black.” As imprecise as it is, the “black” concept was the unifying force in UBAD. We embraced that which white supremacy had used to belittle us. Black power.
UBAD began to die in 1973, because it was a force which the major political parties felt they had to control. UBAD become divided along party lines, and then it was dissolved in late 1974. So, UBAD is no more.
After all these years, I think there is work that we have done on Partridge Street which some people have taken for granted. But more than that, as I have been trying to tell you for some time now, my personal time on the stage is at an end. Black people need to get organized in order to address our Southside emergency. I would not be a part of such an organization. I have served my time. The Kremandala facilities, needless to say, would be at the disposal of such an organization.
Right now our people need to start talking to each other, instead of at each other. For example, I would love to see Neil Garbutt and Smokey Joe in the same room, talking. In his essay published in last weekend’s Amandala, Neil wrote: “They, the Creole, now have to contend with being told how they ought to be defined, more specifically what they should be so-called. Wonder, then, why they are so-not focused, so-lacking in self-esteem, so-confused, so-killing each other? Go figure. Ego-driven, ego-directed, ego-enhancing, ethnodegrading catchwords are not the answer they seek. Offers no solutions.”
I wasn’t sure if Neil was referring to me or to Smokey Joe. That’s why I said in the opening paragraph of this column, that he was “more academic than I would prefer.”
UBAD exploded on the scene so suddenly in February of 1969 that the two major political parties were caught off guard. They spent years trying to control a force which had gotten out of control. My point today is that the two major parties are the reason why our community has not produced another UBAD, even though our people’s conditions have grown worse. The two major parties would like us to believe that they have the solutions to all problems. The party that is not in power, says that the solution is to put them into power. Simple. When they get into power, then the party which has lost power, begins the same refrain. It goes on and on.
The white supremacists have a time-proven method to deal with “insurgents.” They try to buy or to destroy the leadership of insurgencies. If this doesn’t work, then the white supremacists create an alternative leadership, one which they control, to offer to the people. In the case of Belize, black people have leaders in both the UDP and the PUP. It is these leaders who are mainly responsible for preventing the rise of authentic community leadership in the post-UBAD era. Because the UDP and the PUP require financing from the established oligarchy in order to operate, those black leaders in the two major political parties are usually compromised, directly or indirectly.
I don’t want to argue anymore with anybody about anything in the black community. Those people who are sincere need to come together, organize and establish leadership. Once you do that, you can solicit the financial support to implement the programs you consider to be of priority. In UBAD, for example, we had a breakfast program to feed the children. We held indoor and public meetings countrywide to educate our people about our culture and history. We held food sales and dances to raise funds to open a bakery, to start this newspaper, and to farm the land. In UBAD, we walked the walk.
All power to the people.