Many thanks to CAC editor, Cheryl Noralez, for passing this along:
View photos from the 3rd Annual Garifuna Community Forum
http://www.garifunaheritagefoundation.org/264.html
View photos from the 3rd Annual Garifuna Community Forum
http://www.garifunaheritagefoundation.org/264.html
Garifuna-American Jounalist column on Don Imus ran on the front page of the State Journal-Register here in Springfield.
http://www.garifunaheritagefoundation.org/327.html
Celebrating the Bi-Centenary Anniversary of Garifuna People
http://www.garifunaheritagefoundation.org/327.html
Andy Palacio: Taking Garifuna Culture to the World
http://www.garifunaheritagefoundation.org/327.html
"The Garifuna Peoples are original blacks who lived in the Caribbean before the arrival of Columbus. They were banished to Central America by the British two hundred and ten years ago for their violent resistance to occupation by Europeans in the Windward & Leeward islands."
While I am happy to see that the Garifuna community is vibrant and thriving, I am concerned with the notion being put forth that somehow the Garifuna people where an original people here before Columbus arrived. I know the most famous proponent of this idea was Ivan Van Sertima who has been disproved countless times.
ReplyDeleteThe Garifuna people are one of the few African descended population to truly know their original history and culture. It is sad that this is being pushed aside for a notion that is foreign and questionable.
I agree with K. Marie, at least to the extent that the original post was phrased, which is simply a copy of mass distributed email. What the statement should have said instead of "original blacks," was that the Garifuna, in addition to an African heritage, also have an ancestral and/or cultural heritage that stems from the Island Caribs.
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