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The Garifuna Settlement Day movement ? A cause for The Jewel

FeaturesThe Garifuna Settlement Day movement ? A cause for The Jewel


While Ramos is known for leading the Garifuna Settlement Day movement in the 1940?s, his work to uplift his Garifuna brothers and sisters in Belize and abroad began shortly after he migrated here. He came to Belize in 1923, shortly after Marcus Garvey?s visit in Belize. At the time, the spirit of Garveyism had reached outside the borders of the United States and had undoubtedly impacted Ramos?s thinking and vision for his own people. He believed in the liberation and upliftment of his Black race.


Ramos? focus was on the Garinagu, who had come from a tumultuous past, of which he wrote in the 1941 letter (reproduced on this page) to the District Commissioner of British Honduras (now Belize), requesting that there be a public and bank holiday to make the contributions of the Garinagu.


His accomplishments are monumental. He has been described as a ?jack and master of all trades? and his efforts to achieve positive milestones were untiring. He was, among other things, a father and husband, a businessman, a candy maker, a boxing manager, a farmer, a lay minister, a songwriter, a poet, a journalist, an historian, and a voluntary social worker.


Ramos came to Belize on a broader mission. He founded a number of organizations in the 1920?s. Among them are: the Carib International Burial Fund Society, the Independence Manhood and Exodus Uplift Society, the Colonial Industrial Instruction Association, and the Carib Development Society, which was successful in getting an 800-acre Carib reserve in Sarawee, Stann Creek.


In 1941, Ramos founded Carib Disembarkation Day, which later became known as Garifuna Settlement Day.


This Saturday, November 13, the Garinagu will observe the 48thtribute to him. Ramos died in 1955, but he has left behind a legacy that the Garifuna people continue to hold dear. That legacy is a firm pride in who they are and the ancestral heritage from which they came.


Ramos has made it into the hall of fame of Belizean patriots and was officially recognized as such and presented with the posthumous decoration of Order of Belize in November 2002.


There is a lesson in the movement for all Belizeans of all races: If you believe in a noble and just cause and stand firm on your vision, and if you work tirelessly and selflessly for that cause, change must come for the benefit of all. Through the growing acceptance of the Garinagu, who now reside from North to South, they have been able to play a more pivotal role in Belizean society and contribute to national development. That is something that all Belizeans can be proud of!


(Ramos was naturalized here in 1954.)

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