March 5, 1995

Dear Evan X,

I could recall as a child, when I was around 7 or 8 years old down there in Dangriga, I was always playing hop scotch, marbles or skipping when a man would pass with some papers in his hands shouting, “AMANDALA!! AMANDALA!!” I could also recall running to the gentleman out of a skipping contest and saying, “Sir, what is that you are selling?”

“AMANDALA,” he replied.

“Yes,” I said, “I hear you, but what is that, that thing called AMANDALA?”

“It is a paper that some people in Belize City are writing and I am selling it for them,” he said.

I then asked, “Why would these people in Belize City want to write, and want us here in Dangriga to read it?”

“Because they think that they have a message that they want every Belizean to know,” he said.

“A message?” I asked. “What message?”

Then impatiently, I said, “What is the message?”

“Black is beautiful,” he said.

I looked at him shocked and said, “Are you serious? Sir, is black really beautiful?”

“Yes,” he said. “Black is really beautiful.”

Then I asked him, “Do you really believe that, Sir, and where did these people from Belize City get that from?”

At this point, I could only remember him saying, “Yes! Of course I believe that.” I cannot recall what else he said because I guess that was it for my attention span, for my friends were shouting, telling me that if I stayed a little bit longer, I would lose the game, and I really wanted to win that game, because I always win.

(Signed) Dana Blease-Miguel