Monday, November 12, 2012

Open Mind


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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