Part III
While I was reading
the autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by Clayborne Carson[1], I came across a paragraph
that caught my attention this morning on the 12th November
2012. It goes like this:
“When the history books are written in the future, somebody will have to say: ‘There lived a race of people, a black people, "fleecy locks and black complexion,"' a people who had the moral courage to stand up for their rights. And thereby they injected a new meaning into the veins of history and civilization.” (p. 61)
When Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., gave this speech almost fifty seven years ago, Barack Obama was not
yet born. In those days there were Garínagu who could not ride in front of the
bus because of their “fleecy locks and black complexion”. I have spoken to Garífunas
from Honduras, Belize and Guatemala who voted for Obama’s reelection.
I also have stressed
before the important links between the historic events that are unfolding in
front of our eyes. I think that many of us would agree that we might never get
the opportunity again to see another “fleecy locks and black complexion” in the
White House. Be that as it may, I would like to be a part of a message, like
this, I would like to be a part of a movement that will inject a new meaning
into the veins of history through the eyes of Garífuna.
When the history books
are written in the future, they might say that there were some brothers and
sisters with fleecy locks and black complexion that did what they could in
favor of the preservation and revitalization of the Garífuna language, A People
who had the moral courage to stand up for their language.
Just across the
corner, are two historic events in the Garífuna communities of Belize and
Guatemala, in this case Belize will celebrate the 19th November,
which is a national holiday in Belize to honor the Garífuna people,
and the week after, the 26th November will be Garífuna Day in
Guatemala. We all know about the pivotal role our language plays in
both celebrations as far as the songs and music is concern, not to mention the
dancing. However, it is equally important to ask ourselves, how
about our history and education?
Au-le
Lúbara Huya
[1] King, Martin L, and Clayborne Carson. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Intellectual Properties Management in
association with Warner Books, 1998. Print.
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