UEF chairperson, YaYa Marin Coleman, who is currently guest host on the WUB morning show on Krem Radio and XTV, makes a point of insisting that she will not refer to the so-called “Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade,” but rather, the Human Trafficking of African people, our African ancestors, across the Atlantic Ocean to this part of the world. Some will say, it’s no big deal, just a lot more words.  But there is a message couched in there, and it begs a deeper understanding and appreciation of all Belizeans, and people with African ancestry anywhere in this hemisphere, so that we can all come to grips with, and make some efforts at healing, the hidden psychological scars and trauma that our people carry unconsciously, but which is painfully evident on a daily basis for eyes that can see.

All are created equal, we say, and everyone must “paddle yo own dory”, or “lift yourself up by your own bootstraps”, and other popular sayings. But there is a contradiction there. If all are created equal, how do we explain the huge disproportion in the number of individuals of African ancestry in our Central Prison, or daily walking the streets of Belize City in a glaringly diminished mental state. The simple answer by passersby with an aloof and unconcerned attitude, is that they are just lazy, decided to mess with drugs and became crack heads, or were just too weak-minded and let the system crush and break them down mentally until they are now counted among the mentally deranged, schizophrenic, or “crazy” people among us. But is it that simple? Is it enough to just say, “Notn wrong wid dehn; dehn just lazy”?  What if something is indeed “wrong with them”, why they ended up this way; some injury that was not treated, and thus did not heal, but got worse? In this age of awareness of the importance of mental health, we need to pay more attention to mental and emotional trauma that, like original sin, may be inborn in some members of our population, and thus manifests itself in their stunted development or vulnerability to the stress of modern living and the challenges, economic and otherwise, faced in our daily lives.

There is a whole lot that we take for granted, as we all go about our business of trying to “make it” in this “rat race” we all engage in, as we try to gain the economic means to secure food, shelter, clothing, and some stress-releasing fun endeavor and pleasure that “makes life worth living.” Many of us wake up each morning on the “bright side”, with anticipation for the blessings of another day; and many others face each day as a struggle and challenge to try and survive, wondering “weh di next meal di kohn from”. Some are born “with silver spoon”; those who are born with “no spoon at all” face a real battle for survival, with negative vibes and swearing by frustrated parents who face one trial after another to “put bread on the table,” or meet the health and education needs of their children. It’s a daily struggle for many, and still the vast majority of our people survive, and find a way to some happiness in our social interactions.  Our culture lives on, with our sports and our various forms of entertainment, our celebrations of life and love, and our support for each other in times of loss and grief on the passing of loved ones.  Belize goes on.  But even as we go on, there are glaring numbers of our people who have fallen by the wayside; and it is predominantly one ethnic group – people of African descent who are numbered among the sad cases needing help and a hand-out daily on our streets. Are we all born equal?  Why is this?     

They say that artists are sensitive people; they tend to see things from a different, deeper perspective than most others. Some may be ultra-sensitive, even delicate in some ways, and more vulnerable to emotional trauma than others; and it is that same sensitive nature that is their gift of perception and intuition and appreciation of things in a culture that many others don’t really see or take for granted. Our artists play a big part in heightening our sensibilities and vision as well as entertaining and inspiring and exciting our potential for fun and laughter and pleasure in their creative productions. But among some of those potential talents, are some who, because of their very intense nature and sensitivity, become overwhelmed by “stress and pressure” that others of us may shake off and go about our daily lives. Among the derelicts you see daily, who for some reason are mostly our people of African descent, are some whose potential was destroyed because their sensitivity made them vulnerable, their very talent exposed them to become victims of this “system” that failed to nurture and strengthen them to better withstand the hard licks coming their way.

Are you one of those people whose hearts just start beating wildly when a situation puts you in front of people that look to you for an answer or a statement about something, anything, and you just can’t seem to quell the inner anxiety? What are you afraid of? You say that you are just shy.  Shy about what? Be assured, there are others like you, who are troubled by “anxiety”, and don’t even know why.

This is a wide-open topic, and the answers are certainly not all here. But we would suggest that knowledge is the key to solving most problems. And it is an undeniable fact that much knowledge has been kept from us as a people, from colonial times until now. As we go through life, we keep coming across information that “blows us away,” and wonder why this was not revealed to us before. History is the knowledge of things past, to better understand what is happening to us now, so we can prepare ourselves to face the future. But, after four hundred years of enslavement, and then as “subjects” under colonialism, our “education” has been lacking in many ways, that it is more aptly a form of brainwashing, when it comes to gaining the knowledge as a people that equips us to deal with our problems constructively for the good of all our children, with none being left behind.

What is happening to our people of African descent, why we are disproportionately displaying symptoms of mental retardation, susceptibility to drug addiction, and penchant for violent crime, must have something to do with the fact that our youth and their parents have not been given the necessary education of self to protect the most vulnerable, the sensitive ones, from falling into depression and self-destructive behavior.

The Jews have suffered immensely in various times and situations; even the Holocaust during World War II, which lasted some 5 or 6 years. But family structures and traditions still held fast, with all the pain, and their people over generations have proven resilient. Our fallen angels of African descent on Belize streets are inheritors of the generational trauma of hundreds of years of enslavement, and then colonialism, and, most importantly, the blocking of their knowledge of self, the most important knowledge of all. An old African saying was, “Man, know thyself!” And that is the history that has been a gaping vacuum in the education of our children of African ancestry in Belize. With knowledge of self comes self-love, pride, and strength of mind to face adversity.

History is the most important subject for all our children, of varied ethnicities; and it is important that the Caste War, the journeys from Yurumein of our Garifuna people, the East Indian migrants who experienced near-slavery conditions, and the experiences of all others be covered in the education system. But the glaring evidence on our streets speaks loudly to the urgent need of African history education in our schools that feature children of African descent, an over fifty-year-old cry from UBAD that still sees foot-dragging in Belize.