-, Participants in this first year of Caribbean Culture week include educational institutions - Little Flower Day Care and Preparatory School and Nazareth Regional High School in Brooklyn as well as Munroe College in New Rochelle which will host special programs. From the culinary arena, Blue Mahoe Restaurant in Manhattan, Caribbean Island and Gabrielle's restaurants in the Bronx, Clippers Restaurant in Queens and Royal Caribbean Bakery in Mount Vernon stepped forward to take up the mantle by offering special pricing for the week and hosting receptions. CCW receptions will also be hosted by The Caribbean Cultural Centre and Savacou Gallery in Manhattan and Clinton Hill Simply Art and Framing Gallery and Caribbean American Weekly newspaper in Brooklyn, which will also host fine art exhibits during the week. Look out for authors and spoken word artists celebrating the literary arts of the region at each of the receptions mentioned.
Jamaicans across the United States will commemorate the island's 45th anniversary of Independence with a variety of activities. The national theme of this year's celebration is, "Unity, Peace and Justice... The Pillars of a Strong Nation." This year also marks the 169th anniversary of Jamaica's emancipation from slavery and this major milestone is also part of this year's celebrations.
The trailblazer, born in Spanish Harlem, who said she always knew she was "Puerto Rican and Black," started her journey in the '70s to learn more about her roots. She revealed that back then she personally felt she "didn't fit anywhere" because of a lack of knowledge of self and that she "looked around" and noticed her African-descendent students were suffering the same dilemma. Years later, the critically acclaimed scholar, who holds a doctorate from Temple University, is a published author of "When the Spirits Dance Mambo" and "The Altar of My Soul," also a film documentarían for "When the Spirits Dance Mambo," world traveler and a Lucumi/Santeria priestess initiated in Cuba. She's also an associate adjunct professor of AfroLatino studies at Hunter College and a co-director there of the Afro-Latino Global Initiative.
Commemorating the Bi-Centenary of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the exhibition called "Lest We Forget: The Triumph over Slavery" serves as a historic canvas portraying the horrific experience of the enslaved Africans during the 'triangular' slave trade between Europe, Africa and the U.S. during the 15th through 19th centuries. The exhibition, which opened to a packed room, included speeches by His Excellency Ambassador Philip Sealy, Permanent Representative of Trinidad & Tobago to the UN who serves as chair of the CARICOM Caucus; His Excellency, Ambassador Joe Robert Pemagbi, Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the UN, and chairman of the African Group of States; and Ambassador Nirupam Sen, Permanent Representative of India to the UN.
The chant among the enslaved Africans in Haiti was heard, "Coupe tet, boule kay!" and the Haitians complemented the rhetoric with full force-fueled by years of heartache, humiliation, torture, and inhumane treatment. The 500,000 enslaved Africans in Haiti, along with tens of thousands of Maroons, collectively took up arms and defeated the French, awarding Haiti with the title of the first Black Republic in the Western world and becoming the only people to win a slave revolution in the history of the world. The Haitians, with the support of strong leadership, were united physically and mentally. Sealing this collective support was their belief in a religion mustered trom their traditional religion in Africa. An important leader of this revolutionary period was a Voodoo priest, Dutty Boukman. Other leaders during the various stages in the revolution included Toussaint L'Ouverture, Andre Rigaud, Jean-Francois, Biassou, Jeannot, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and Henry Christophe, many of which were former generals in the French army.
Flags flailed - both by the breeze and by the hands of proud people - to the live onstage musical performances. The stage was set large enough to support a full band and back-up singers, and to support the energy of every performer. The program included several international, big time and small time, artists. Some on the bill were reggae star Tony Rebel, (reggae, Jamaica); Bunji Garlin (Soca, Trinidad); Ken Boothe (Vintage Reggae, Jamaica); Slice International (Soca/Calypso band); Everton Blender (Cultural Reggae, Jamaica); Dadou Pasquet (Kompas, Haiti); Omar Reid (Jamaica's 2006 Festival Song winner) and Dias and the Charms (R&B).
For [Heidi Rondon], the opportunity to express her African roots through music and dance was a calling. "In our veins we carry the African feeling," she explained. "We are direct descendants of slaves that cultivated cocoa and coffee in the central coast of Barlovento many years ago." "These Africans were Latin America's first liberators," says historian and activist Jorge Guerrero Valez accompanying the group. A dignified Venezuelan enormously conscious of his African heritage and history, Jorge spoke eloquently about the solidarity Afro-Venezuelans, as they call themselves, feel with their African American brothers and sisters in the United States and the need to enhance the relationship.
