I am very grateful to Brother Colin Hyde, for including me in his column that was published in the Amandala on Friday, September 2, 2022, under the heading, “The Battle Myth put to rest; reluctant Mestizo Belizeans should celebrate.” It is an honor, Brother Colin, that you have put me along with great intellectuals of this country, such as the Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price, Father of the Nation of Belize; the Ambassador at the International Court of Justice, Hon. Assad Shoman; and Richard the Lawyer. There are many more like us who have also written on the myth of the Battle of St. George’s Caye. I also thank you, Brother Colin Hyde, for reminding us of such a grandiose historical day for those of you Belizeans. You celebrate it, we respect your philosophy, we respect your jubilee, we respect the way you think; we are not against your philosophy, absolutely not, but what I have noticed is that to this date, we still continue having colonial apologists. We listen to them on the radio talk shows, how they defend the white master and the white supremacist, and thus their ideology, their old game of keeping our people under slavery, and what hurts more is when its our own people who defend them and also others who support 500% the white man’s corporations against the employed and unemployed poor Belizeans.

I also want to thank this man, or I should say, the press, because it is through the press that I got to know, through the news, that England signed an agreement with Belize sometime in 1982 or ’84, which I take as something very serious, because there we have our educational system bragging that we have an independent sovereign nation, when it seems that it is not so, because according to the news, this white man can lash each Belizean like in the times of slavery under the agreement that was signed by the same Belizean leaders with England. Then what kind of independence is that? There is no kind of independence, and I have said it already. Belize is not an independent nation, because it continues being under the Queen of England’s skirt, and anyone, any Jack can come and lash us, whip us like in the times of slavery, because there are agreements that we don’t even know about. If it weren’t because of the news, we would not have known about the memo, letter or something of the sort, that was sent to the head of government, not of the state, the government, by the white supremacist whom certain Belizeans support.

So in my mind … Mind you, I am not an intellectual. I didn’t even go to school. So, my I.Q. is very low, but is nevertheless high enough for me to understand that we still continue being slaves. $5 an hour is a curse to our intellectual mind. Of course, it is not a curse to the business community and the government who authorize it. But it is a curse to us, because of the cost of living, so we continue to be slaves, thanks to those who uphold and give their support to the white man, to the beast. However, our dear readers of this column, permit me to entertain you with something that I wrote, some time ago in the number one newspaper of Belize, the most read newspaper which is the Amandala, published on Wednesday, October 8, 2014 under the heading in Spanish “Preguntas insolentes de Pepito”. It is as follows:

Pepito’s insolent questions

After the reading presented by the doctoral professors at the Bliss, on the historical matter of the great Battle of St. George’s Caye, on September 10, 1798, where according to those who know, they say that the slaves and the men of color who were free defended the lives and property of their English European masters against the terrible Spanish Armada, with a love like that of selfless women. The children’s teachers took their students back to the respectable State-Church study houses. There, when they arrived, they gave Pepito a tremendous scolding for his insolent questions, warning him that next time he would be expelled from school. Pepito, in his innocence, thought that the teacher was referring to the Bliss, and not at school, so he dared to ask the following question: “Hey teacher, is there another holiday after the Baymen?”

Teacher: “Class! Pay attention to what I am going to say. If it were not for the conquest of the Baymen, slaves and free men of color, we would not have a free and sovereign nation today that was liberated from Great Britain, on September 21, 1981.”

“Hey teacher”, asked Pepito, “if we are a free and sovereign nation, why do they tell us, get up, oh sons of the Baymen Clan?”

• Because thanks to the Baymen Clan, we have a homeland.
• Does that mean the Baymen Clan fought against Britain?
• You’re going to start with your insolent questions, Pepito.
• No, teacher, what I want to know is who fought against Great Britain.
• Look, Pepito, the Baymen Clan fought against the evil Spaniards.
• But, Teacher, didn’t you say that they were the slaves and free men of color who fought against the Spaniards, and the doctorate professors said that they saved the lives of their masters?
• Look, Pepito, your ignorance is because you can’t read, so ask your parents to read you the History of Belize, written by Emory King.
• Okay, Teacher, but note that I am Maya and my cousin is Mestizo; we are not related to the Baymen Clan. Why do they force us to stand up when they sing what they call the national anthem when it’s only for the children of those British?
• This is established by the rules of the Ministry of Education.
• Could it be that they are from the Patriotic Order of the Baymen Clan, that is, are they descendants of the slaves who were raped by the güeros?
• Pepito, we are going to expel you from school if you keep asking meaningless questions. You can ask those questions on the street, but not here.
• This means, Teacher, that democracy is in the street but in the school there is the dictatorship imposed by the System of independence?
• Pepito, pick up your things and leave my room. You are expelled.
• Okay, Teacher, but before I go, I will tell you that the same reign that brought slaves chained like beasts down a hole in the bottom of ships, half of them died on the high seas and were fed to sharks, while there were others who threw them alive to collect the insurance, it is the same reign that continues to be under the Queen of Belize.

Is that what you call independence? That’s called playing dumb for convenience. Poor Pepito, because of asking questions and back-answering, was left without studies. He did not allow himself to be indoctrinated.

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September 4, 2022
Finca Solana
Corozal Town