(NNPA) - Brazil has long been the best kept secret of the Black Diaspora. Its population of more than 100 million Blacks (51 percent of the total population) makes it at least the second largest Black population in the world. This nation has been a sleeping giant in the global arena but is taking big steps to enter into the distinction of a First World Nation. Right now it is a leader of the emerging Second World nations and takes the leadership role with India at all global and United Nations conferences and summits. Brazil's President Lula da Silva proudly considers himself the leader of "People of Color". On the other hand, Brazil's bid via Rio de Janeiro was a super winner. It vowed to rebuild the slums of Rio and empower the masses. The infrastructure, job opportunities and contractual bidding would be thoroughly diverse and would make the Olympics Committee proud. It was a slam dunk! In the end it was Rio de Janeiro in first place, Madrid in second, Tokyo is third and the stinky Chicago bid dead last.
It is therefore in keeping with this understanding and resolve that we are hereby calling upon the black Prime Minister of Barbados, Freundel Stuart, the black Opposition leader of Barbados, Mia Mottley, the black Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxine Mc Clean, the black Anglican bishop of Barbados, John Holder, the Black bishop of the Roman Catholic church, Charles Gordon, the black leader of the labor movement, Sir Roy Trotman, and the black leader of the women's movement of Barbados, Marilyn Rice- Bowen, to issue strong and forthright official statements denouncing the ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic.
"I say that I'm Haitian first, and then we go from there," said Patrick Marcelin, the U.S.-born son of Haitian immigrants who raps in Creole and English as "Mecca a.k.a. Grimo." "I just happened to be born in America, but really I'm a Haitian brother. And Haiti is the direct daughter of Africa." The Black History Months he remembers studying never mentioned Haiti's history, even though Haiti was a destination for Black Americans searching for their cultural roots. Marcelin now also teaches in the Haitian Heritage Museum's school outreach program, exposing students to the American history he never learned. For example, when talking about writers from the Harlem Renaissance, Marcelin points out that [Zora Neale Hurston] wrote her novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" in Haiti in the 1930s, and the poet [Langston Hughes] wrote admiringly of the Haitian peasants who walked down mountain roads barefoot, balancing baskets on their heads, to sell their wares. "They should have been teaching this in school, that soldiers from Haiti came to fight in the American Revolution," Marcelin said. "I read about [Frederick Douglass] in the history books but I don't remember anything about him being the ambassador to Haiti. Or that the founder of Chicago was a Haitian brother."
Many Afro-Colombians have been displaced from their lands due to over 50 years of conflict between the government and other armed groups. This conflict has cost untold civilian lives and the Colombian government has done little to protect Afro-Colombians who attempt to stay on their lands in the face of violence. In short, Afro-Colombians got their 40 acres and a mule and their government is doing everything to take them back. In Colombia, signing a free trade agreement would effectively give the Colombia government the US seal of approval to continue to make economic decisions that do not account for the rights or livelihoods of Afro-Colombians. Despite the known impacts on Afrodescendants across the Americas a few Congressional Black Caucus Members have endorsed a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia. Passing a Free Trade Agreement despite the discriminatory practices of the Colombian government reveals the truth of the US government's policy: lip service to the protection of human rights but not at the detriment of US corporate interests or free market practices.
"I am particularly pleased that we were able to extend, for the first time, overdue trade preferences to the people of Haiti, Said [Charles B. Rangel], who represents New York's 15th Congressional District. "I welcome the opportunity to work with my colleagues to correct and improve legislation that better serves the American people," he added. "We can and will do more to ensure that our policies spread the benefits and opportunities of our trade and tax system to all levels of society," Rangel declared.
Howard University's School of Business in Washington DC recently recognized St. Lucia-born Cecil St. Jules as one of its 40 most distinguished and accomplished graduates at the School's 40th anniversary celebration. "I am humbled to receive such a lofty recognition by my alma mater," said St. Jules, a managing director of BNY Mellon Broker Dealer Services.
In this, he's not unlike his counterparts in the United States, where black people also have an extensive vocabulary to describe variations in skin tone. In the United States, one can be "high yellow" (i.e., of very light skin); one can be "red" (i.e., with a reddish tint; one of Malcolm X's early nicknames was "Detroit Red"); or one can be any of a number of synonyms for dark. Like, for instance, "Smokey." In fact, the famous (and "high yellow") Motown singer William Robinson was given that nickname in affectionate irony by one of his father's friends - sort of like calling a fat guy Tiny. The same is not true in Brazil. And if the United States is a country where black people with light skin used to sometimes "pass," i.e., pretend to be white, well, in this country "passing is a national institution." So says Elisa Nascimento with a laugh. She is white, American-born and the wife of Abdias do Nascimento, a 90-year-old black Brazilian artist and political icon. And the insistence of some Brazilian blacks on "passing," she says, has political consequences in that it tends to distort statistics on black life. "The way racism works in Brazil . . . there is a hierarchy, and so people tend to identify themselves lighter than they necessarily would be." "It was a rough time," she says in her imperfect English. "For me, was impossible to live there. We could not be married. Why I married with a black guy, you know? So when I say to you that Brazil was different . . . even my first husband didn't think of himself as black. In Brazil, he was a Brazilian, even though he was black. He never thought of himself as someone different from me because he was another color."
Yes, we owe Haiti. Unfortunately, we have shown little appreciation. My generation has witnessed Haiti in a multi-decades long downward spiral. There have been the dirty Papa Doc regime; the dirty Baby Doc regime; the dirty Aristide regime and dirty everyone else who supposedly had the trust of the people. The United States has sent troops there on various occasions but it was not to strengthened or liberate the people. Preference should be given to Haitian owned businesses in this rebuilding. Partnerships with Haitian and African Americans should be allowed. The money generated from these contracts should stay in Haiti and be taxed by the Haitian government. All, I mean ALL jobs, should be offered first to Haitians with the first right of refusal. It is noble for the world to come to the aid of Haiti but there must be a strategy that will empower the people of Haiti during and afterwards. For the first time in history, we have a chance to make Haiti independent, self sustaining and free.
"Jamaicans are too rich to be so poor, too blessed to be so stressed, too anointed to be so disappointed" Jamaica's fonner Prime Minister Bruce Golding said after outlining some of the issues which plague the population of 2.5 million he once governed. The reputed orator in candor thanked the protestors for taking time to show up on his behalf. Perhaps, PM Golding's refusal to extradite Christopher "Dudus" Coke and later his approval to adhere to requests from the USA might have resulted in his decision to retire from politics. "Government cannot mobilize the diaspora," PM Golding added, "and cannot operate primarily around patriotism" but must be businesslike.
Dr. Ron Daniels, president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century and founder of the Haiti Support Project, has announced that the Pilgrimage of Hope Humanitarian Cruise to Haiti originally scheduled for Oct. 310, 2011 is being postponed until January of 2012. As originally stated, "For the Love of Haiti: Pilgrimage of Hope Cruise is envisioned as a "rollup-our-sleeves project," a heartfelt effort to lift the spirits of the Haitian people by making a contribution to building the new Haiti. HSP also hopes to link faith-based institutions and civic-minded organizations from the U.S. with various projects, organizations, and initiatives in Haiti to provide ongoing support for the reconstruction process after the Cruise.
