THE CARIBBEAN AND ITS DIASPORA
AN UNFINISHED AGENDA
June 2009
Historic Convergence on DC:
This week witnesses a historic convergence of Caribbean peoples on Washington DC - Regional political and diplomatic leadership; Diasporan intellectual and professional cadres; but a noticeable under-representation of working class and youth representatives under 30.
We wish to congratulate the Institute of Caribbean Studies for its role in preparing for this great event to mark the second anniversary of the declaration of June as Caribbean American Heritage Month by the President and Congress of the United States through House Concurrent Resolution 71. ICS, as one of the leading Caribbean diasporan organizations in this country, has demonstrated a clear vision and passion for advocacy that inevitably attract unwarranted negative criticism from some elite segments of the Caribbean immigrant community.
Notwithstanding, they have shown a dogged capacity for hard work through volunteerism, and an indomitable spirit of perseverance and relentlessness. They led the lobby for this Caribbean American Heritage Month all the way from 1999, after the disbandment of the short lived Ad hoc Caribbean Council of Washington DC led by Doreen Thompson, right through to its successful completion.
This week’s activities, therefore, are an opportune moment for celebration of self as an ethnic community of visionaries, creative spirits, academics, high achievers and Nobel Laureates, sportsmen, ad infinitum. It is also a time for reflection and soul-searching reminiscent of an initiative of the Spanish Foreign Minister’s Colloquium in St. Lucia earlier this year when he invited political leaders and academics to join in a retrospective conversation on the role the Caribbean has played in world history since the end of the 15th century.
For us, such a reflection should be a profound review of a shared historical experience; an exploration of the inner soul of history,
in pursuit of essences and defining qualities; a search for millennium lessons, insights and values.
I would like to approach this today by way of a comparative historical perspective that views the Two Great Seas that have served as epicenters of world history – the Mediterranean as the Arena of Ancient Western History; and the Caribbean as the Crucible of Modern Western History.
The Mediterranean:
The Mediterranean Sea, without doubt, was the axis of ancient civilizations in the Middle East and the West, with Egypt as Bread Basket of the World; Greece as the Classical Cradle of Western Civilization; Rome as the Imperial Model of Western Civilization; and Canaan and Jerusalem as the Spiritual Fountain and Patriarchal patrimony of the three great monotheistic religions of Western Civilization.
The Great Sea, as it was called, was the coveted space of Hittites and Phoenicians; Turks and Arabs; Macedonians and Persians; Berbers and Moors. It was the Military Playground of Pharaohs, Babylonians, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and later, Napoleon and the British. Its great cities were the renowned Centers of Ancient Legacies - Alexandria, Carthage, Byzantium, Cyrene, Athens and Rome.
The Caribbean:
The Caribbean Sea has variously been described as archipelago, basin, crucible, cockpit, cauldron, melting pot because of the geographical layout or the nature of its political and cultural history.
When one uses the objective lenses of Western academic tradition, one sees the Caribbean as the Crucible of Modern Western History
wherein the first real global experiments in European imperialism were practiced under the inspiration of Renaissance zeal and unleashed mercantilist ambition.
These experiments have to be seen squarely for what they were
human and socio-economic adventures in: competitive exploration and conquest; ambitious settlement and colonization; rabid mercantilism in a lop-sided triangular trade; unilinear metropolitan industrial development; parallel and concomitant regional under-development; merciless genocide, calculated miscegenation and racism; all in a global agenda of vast proportions and enduring consequences.
Such atrocities have to be seen objectively in the context of what history has proven to be an ingrained dimension of European culture as it has evolved from the Middle Ages into modern times – elitism, savage and bellicose behavior, genocide, ethnic cleansing, materialist greed, as the counter part of artistic refinement and political sophistication.
It is sometimes very tempting to focus more on the glaring atrocities of those experiments (dehumanization of people; exploitation of land and natural resources; abuse of power; failure to invest for sustainability; persistent pervasiveness of racism), rather than on the positive outcomes born out of unfortunate circumstances. But we dare not get trapped in the negative mode of bitterness, rage, rancor, or retribution, for the Caribbean experience has proven that this gruesome and grueling history has another more constructive face. So today, we pause to look through alternative lenses, in search of those defining features that characterize the Caribbean Persona.
What is it that makes the Caribbean still so attractive to the rest of the world: The United States from the Monroe Doctrine through Good Neighbor Policy, Operation Bootstrap, CBI, EAI and CAFTA; China, that is now courting the regional leadership with generous gifts and infrastructure, while dispersing their workers to settle in the region, and their students on scholarships to study the soul of Caribbean folk – folk religion, folk culture, language and social values and mores; Brazil and Venezuela, that would put their historical border disputes on hold to pursue a higher level of cordiality and diplomatic rapprochement with the region.
Some Enduring Qualities:
I dare to propose that out of a history of exploitation, abuse, oppression and repression, there have emerged some model accomplishments that have not gone unnoticed by the rest of the world:
· STABILITY: Constitutional Maturity and Political Stability demonstrated in a peaceful and democratic transition from 450 years of colonialism and over 300 years of racist enslavement into self-determination through the democratic negotiating process rather than by guns;
· DIVERSITY: Diverse Social Environment of Multiracial,
Multiethnic and multicultural components;
· Harmonious co-existence of Jews and Arabs for over 400 years in a successful and prosperous social and economic climate that has benefited both groups subtantially;
· ATHLETIC PROWESS: World class cricketers of the record making caliber of Sobers and Lara that dominated the world scene for three consecutive decades, matched by netballers and other athletes who have outperformed the European teachers of the games; Garfield Sobers and Brian Lara effaced the impressive records of Don Bradman and Len Hutton with consummate ease and brilliant style to engrave the Caribbean stamp in the annals of global cricket history;
· INTELLECTUAL BRILLIANCE: Eight distinguished Nobel laureates within the parameters of the Caribbean Basin – from Guadeloupe (1), St Lucia (2) and Trinidad (1) in the East, to Colombia (1), Guatemala (2) and Mexico (1) in the West;
· ARTISTIC CREATIVITY: Invention of the world’s only new musical instrument of the twentieth century to appear in the symphony halls of the world in the 20th century;
· EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT: Consistently high educational accomplishments in terms of: national levels of literacy (Cuba / Barbados / Nicaragua); higher order levels of creativity and intellectual output; the world’s leading model of universal education and health care services (in spite of embargo, et al);
· FISCAL ASTUTENESS: A small, but highly successful multinational single currency managed by the ECCB whose level of performance has caught the eye of the financial world, and caused The European Union to emulate this model in their designing of the Euro currency;
· PRODUCTIVITY: A sophisticated work ethic grounded in social mores, spiritual values and educational motivation handed down by unlettered forebears blessed with divine inspiration, wisdom, and vision; cultivated and sustained by common folk who had the capacity to see beyond their immediate depressing circumstances, dreaming of better days for ensuing generations, and making the necessary sacrifices to ensure their realization; ordinary men and women who sang through their struggles and their pain, creating a spiritual heritage that provided cultural moorings for artists to come.
· CULTURAL VITALITY: A rich folk culture whose vibrancy literally invades metropolitan societies with a vigor that is characteristic of Caribbean carnivals. No Brazilian carnival outside of Brazil has had the impact of the Trinidadian/West Indian carnivals in New York, London, Boston, Toronto, Florida and over one hundred cities around the world.
Even the legacies of Beethoven and the classical giants with their limited appeal to Europeans and the elite classes around the world have been challenged by Bob Marley whose music and message resonate around the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from the East to the West among majority populations across all social classes and ethnicities.
So there’s reason to be exultant; there’s good reason to celebrate.
Caribbean American Heritage Month is not a grudging concession;
not an act of condescending magnanimity. It is an acknowledgement of profound human value in a region that has been at the center of a global agenda for five centuries, and from its center of axis, as well as through its Diaspora, has made an irrefutable statement about its place in history. We have a strong spiritual heritage, an impressive track record of achievements, and, as a result, a rich moral and cultural legacy to share.
Through these spiritual lenses, I see the Joseph experience of Genesis 50:20 replicated over and over again, whereby that which was intended for evil when he was sold into slavery in Egypt and marginalized for years in prison on false accusations, turned out to be an act of divine providence that would lead eventually to his vindication, elevation and magnanimity towards his malefactors.
For, a Caribbean nurtured in metropolitan exploitation, slavery, apprenticeship, indentureship, colonialism, big neighbor interventionism, would not have been expected to produce the global models and intellectual and creative giants that have made their mark in music, creative and performing arts, education, health care, literature, social sciences, or sports for which it is now so renowned, notwithstanding its acknowledged setbacks and undeniable idiosyncratic particularities.
The Diaspora:
This is where the Diaspora faces its biggest challenge. Our Diaspora community has many diverse faces and postures that are not always chronicled by our ethnic media. On the one hand, there are the struggling working class families wrestling with adjustment issues for children entering a new culture and a new school system; reunification of families that have been separated for several years; undocumented immigrants eking out an existence in unflattering circumstances; individuals and families plagued with poor health and no health coverage; small businesses caught in a web of petty competition, poor management skills and limited access to credit.
On the other hand, there are many who are stuck in the middle class exultancy groove, gloating in the glory of our litany of individual achievements and comforts; and yet others who are unaware of the gruesome, but real challenges of:
the newly arrived working class immigrant; the undocumented immigrant; the single parent immigrant; the child immigrant in the mainstream of public school systems of this country; the immigrant child in Low Performing (SURR) Schools; the labeled immigrant child in Special Education; the Creole language speaking child excluded from Bilingual Education; the immigrant drop-out from high school and college; the immigrant youth in the correctional, PINS and foster care systems; the incarcerated adult immigrant; the marginalized immigrant posse of young black and latino males; the unemployed, underemployed and homeless immigrant; the immigrant health challenge of AIDS, diabetes, hypertension and cancer; or infant mortality and disabilities in our community.
This Caribbean American Heritage cannot be just about jubilation:
It is about soul-searching; a prise de conscience. It is not just about the view from the hill top, but a call to descend into the alleys and valleys; it must be as much about honors and awards, as it is about arousing our consciences to take decisive action as a people in determined pursuit of change.
As an immigrant community, we have the distinction of perhaps having the largest number of benevolent societies, national and alumni associations, store front churches, mosques and Hindu, Yoruba, Santeria, and Voodoo temples and community based organizations. Yet we do not yet have a comprehensive cultural center or a serious network to provide needed social services relevant to the immediate welcoming and orientation challenges of newly arrived immigrants.
We do not have a coordinated safety net and mentorship program for first offenders who run foul of the justice system and may be released on probation.
We do not have an adequately funded transitional institute to provide guidance to parents being lured into the SSI financial trap for acquiescing to unwarranted referrals of their children to Special Education.
We still do not have adequate opportunities for after school, week end and summer tutorial and recreational programs for youth and children.
Lessons from the Prophet Amos (5:21-24):
The true measure of our success is:
· more than just the display of personal garlands and national emblems;
· more than the accumulation of family wealth and generous remittances;
· more than self-indulgence in the comforts that we have earned by dint of hard work and sacrifice;
It is about informed social consciousness that inspires committed
social engagement for meaningful change.
The Prophet Amos in v.24 also speaks of a religious society in which “judgment flows like a river”, and “righteousness like a mighty stream…”
The former speaks to our social consciousness and conduct in a society where
· Justice and fairness guide our personal and business relationships;
· Reasonableness and consideration for others define our attitudes to others;
· Compassion and mercy inform our responses to obvious needs around us.
The latter clearly points to:
· Soundness of moral and ethical values that undergird our judgment;
· The sense of integrity that defines our character;
· The uprightness of the motives that propel us into action.
If we as a region and its Diasporas can hold the world’s attention and interest for five centuries by our sterling character, productivity, and creativity;
If we can touch the heart of the world with our gospel, reggae, soca, zouk, merengue, son, cumbia, salsa, spooge, calypso, cadence and punta rock;
If we can transform the cultural landscape of traditionally colorless and tranquil spaces with the proliferation of the color and energy of carnival;
If we can impose a reverse colonization on the imperial highways of Europe, and claim and define new spaces in Brooklyn, Miami, Chicago, et al;
Then, there is a serious Moral Imperative to awake to, and engage in, a purposeful New Paradigm for Change.
This New Paradigm must engage the ivory tower academic, alongside, the ivory palace professional, and the prosperous entrepreneur in the trenches of the underlings to open up windows of opportunity, corridors of knowledge and capacity building, gateways of access to capital and credit, in order to break the stranglehold of poverty and marginalization.
The hitherto unanswered question is: Do we have the spiritual urge, moral impulse, or political will to wield the kind of influence that will effect change?
QUOTE:
"Some enduring qualities that have emerged out of a history tainted by abuse, exploitation, oppression and repression are: constitutional maturity and political stability; social, ethnic and cultural diversity; intellectual distinction and high educational achievement; artistic creativity and cultural vitality; a sophisticated work ethic and economic productivity. that is the legacy of a people not defeated by enslavement."
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