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Why is a sense of history important to Caribbean people? And how does this define us?

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Why is a sense of history important to Caribbean people? And how does this define us?

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...Our history is vital to understanding our identity.  History provides guidance and familiarity in our actions and practices.  It is essential to know where we came from while molding our future. We not only learn from the past and mistakes made but also from our successes.

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Did Chattel Slavery in the Caribbean have lasting negative effects on its People? 

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Did Chattel Slavery in the Caribbean have lasting negative effects on its People? 

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Numerous indigenous people had inhabited the Caribbean thereafter being colonized by the Spanish, Europeans, and British Sovereign Countries.  The colonization in the various Caribbean Countries brought with it many different issues and problems, as well as changes in the way the indigenous people lived, looked, and identified themselves.  Their religious and cultural practices were stifled and made to believe as taboo and uncivilized practices.  They were even punished if caught practicing their religious belief and culture.  People were enslaved and degraded as well as brutalized. Chattel Slavery meant that the people were viewed as property and were bought and sold with no consideration for their humanity.  They had no human rights and could be murdered and raped with no redress under the existing law.  They also had no rights to property and could not own anything and had no access or right to education. They were also made to believe they were less than their masters and worth nothing.  The physical and mental degradation of the Caribbean people had lasting effects that can still be seen even today after slavery has been abolished and most of the Caribbean have gained their independence.

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Even after Slavery was abolished, the Caribbean continues to see religious intolerance.

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Even after Slavery was abolished, the Caribbean continues to see religious intolerance.

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The colonial masters felt that the indigenous people of the Caribbean needed to be "saved" and that their religious practices were witchcraft.  These views were imposed on the indigenous people and the slaves were taught that they must eradicate their religious practices. And though time has passed, independence has been gained, culture has been restored, and things have changed, it is evident that the views of the colonial masters remain alive in the Caribbean.  It is evident that these beliefs were instilled and passed down through generations.

The Caribbean is known to be a peaceful region, widely welcoming and promoting of all religious denominations, but recently there has been international focus and highlights on the region that there are some Caribbean countries prominently exhibiting religious intolerance.   Although certain situations are inadequate or unsatisfactory in many parts of the world,  it is widely expected especially in the Caribbean, that religious freedom is exercised.  However,  in 2016 Haiti was accused and reported for religious intolerance.  This accusation caused much raucous and focus on the Caribbean since in 1998, the Religious Freedom  Act was passed to register, recognize, and give rights to religious practices.  However  Voodoo rituals and rites, a registered religious practice under the Act, are still prohibited in the country of Haiti despite registration.  The intolerance is at an all time high in Haiti as startling news and reports were internationally aired on the decapitating of a priest who perform spiritual Voodoo rituals.  Reports were that he used his spiritual skill to the detriment of a couple that led to their ultimate demise.  Although there has been no forensic evidence in this report supporting such a claim, the general stigma around Voodoo remains and practitioners experience outright rejection in the communities.  They are fearful and concerned.  Even outstanding community leaders and role models such as Catholic teachers and administrators have openly and amorally criticized and denounced the practice of the culture and its customs.  It is even argued that the government is guilty of instilling and spreading this social stigma as it has been reported that government provides extremely minimal financial support, if any, to these denominations.

Additionally, in Jamaica we find that all discriminatory laws
against religion have not been completely eradicated.  Although some may
not be in practice it is still there and still a part of the law.  For example
the practice of Obeah in Jamaica is a criminal offense under the law, however it
is not enforced.  This has also been regarded as intolerance to religion even
though it is not enforced.  The threat of the law is still there.  This prejudicial legislation is still accessible. Rastafarians as well continue to be discriminated against and profiled by the police.  The views and practices of the Rastafarians continue to be ignored.  One such practice is the right to object or refuse immunization; however, immunization of children remain
mandatory for children to attend school.  This creates much problems for the Rastafarians, as it is difficult to find any school that would allow their child to attend un-vaccinated. Even their hair continue to attract prejudices and discrimination in the employment sector.   The Seventh-Day Adventist parishioners also experience discrimination at work even though a law has been passed granting employees right to negotiate working hours.  Their Saturday Sabbath observance is discriminated against.  They experience much difficulty not only in finding jobs but also in maintaining healthy working environments.  Some even feel pressured to abandon their religious practices in order to earn a living and keep their jobs.

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WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) - Though religious freedom is generally upheld in most, if not all, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, the United States has called out some nations for what it describes as religious intolerance.

In releasing the 2016 International Religious Freedom Report earlier this week, the US Department of State said that almost 20 years after passage of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, "conditions in many parts of the world are far from ideal," including those in the Caribbean.

The Department of State, therefore, cited instances of what it regarded as religious intolerance in some CARICOM-member states, particularly in the larger ones.

In Haiti, the State Department said that while Voodoo has been a registered religious group since 2003, it has not been able to perform civilly-recognised marriages or baptisms.

"By law, the government provided funds and services to the Catholic Church but not to other religious groups," said the report, adding that the Haitian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religious Denominations (MFA) did not act on a pending request to register the Muslim community, and that many non-denominational Christian and Muslim groups said they operated without registering with the MFA.

The report noted that a mob decapitated a Voodoo priest following reports that the priest had used his spiritual powers to kill a local woman and a church director.

"Voodoo community leaders stated Voodoo practitioners continued to experience some social stigmatisation for their beliefs and practices," the report said.

"According to the leadership of the National Confederation of Haitian Vaudouisants (KNVA), teachers and administrators in Catholic and Protestant schools, at times, openly rejected and condemned Voodoo culture and customs as contrary to the teachings of the Bible."

The report said US embassy officials met with the MFA to reinforce the importance of religious freedom, as well as equal protections and equal legal rights for minority religious groups.

It said embassy representatives also met with faith-based nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and religious leaders to seek their views on religious freedom.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the report said that while the republic's constitution prohibits discrimination based on religion, some groups say the government provided less financial support for religious ceremonies than in previous years and that they were invited to officiate at fewer government ceremonies.

But the government said the reason for the decrease in funding for religious groups was a decrease in the national budget.

"The government's national security policy continued to limit the number of long-term foreign missionaries to 35 per registered religious group at any given time. There were public calls to adopt legislation to outlaw child marriage, but some religious groups, including some Hindus and Muslims, said the legislation would infringe on their religious rights.

"The US embassy conducted outreach to religious groups, including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Orisha and others as part of its overall efforts to promote religious freedom and tolerance. Embassy representatives met with religious leaders and delivered remarks at a number of events highlighting the importance of religious freedom," the report noted.

The State Department said a "colonial-era law" criminalising the practices of Obeah and Myalism in Jamaica remains in effect "but is not enforced".

The report said Rastafarians stated that acceptance of their views and practices "have improved markedly, although cases of discrimination and profiling by police do continue to occur".

In addition, the report said Rastafarians reiterated their opposition to the state-mandated immunisation of children as a prerequisite to register and attend school.

The State Department said Seventh-day Adventists have complained that their observance of a Saturday Sabbath in Jamaica caused them to be discriminated against by some employers, despite a "flexi-work week" law passed by Parliament in 2014 that gave employees the right to negotiate working hours.

Jamaican Rastafarians said elements of their religious observances, such as wearing dreadlocks and smoking marijuana, continued to "present barriers in employment and professional advancement," according to the report.

It said local media outlets provided a forum for religious debate, open to participants from all religious groups, adding that the US embassy officers met with government officials and religious groups, including Christians, Muslims, Jews and Rastafarians.

In support of its religious freedom goals, the US Department of State said the embassy in Jamaica discussed tolerance and diversity, citizen security, human rights and social inclusion.

It said embassy officers also interacted with religious leaders who had taken part in a US-sponsored citizen exchange program about advocating for minority rights.

The US Department of State said discrimination on the basis of religion is prohibited in Belize, but added that a dispute over church representation in the senate caused a division among evangelical Protestants, leading to the formation of the National Evangelical Association (NEA) as an offshoot of the Belize Association of Evangelical Churches (AEC). "As the NEA was not officially recognised by the government, it could not contribute to the choice of church representation in the senate," the State Department said.

"As the NEA was not officially recognised by the government, it could not contribute to the choice of church representation in the senate," the State Department said.

It said a Christian nongovernmental organisation (NGO) continued to manage the only prison in the country, "which uses religion as the basis of prisoner rehabilitation."

Additionally, the State Department said leaders in the Council of Churches in Belize reported certain evangelical Protestant pastors "acted irresponsibly in radio and television broadcasts" by attacking religious leaders who supported an August Supreme Court ruling that found parts of the criminal code criminalising consensual same-sex activities unconstitutional.

"A representative from the council said there was 'a need for respect and responsibility' in exercising freedom of religion," the report said, adding that US embassy representatives interacted with a wide spectrum of religious groups "to reinforce the importance of religious freedom."

The State Department lamented that the Surinamese Government provided "limited subsidies" to a number of elementary and secondary schools established and managed by various religious groups.

The report said the Ministry of Education in Suriname reiterated government policy, "which prohibits the practice or teaching of religion in public schools."

In Antigua and Barbuda, the report said Rastafarians "continued to express concern that government practices, including the prohibition of marijuana use, required vaccination for entry to public schools and headdress restrictions, negatively impacted their religious activities and convictions.

"They also reported being subjected to undue scrutiny at security checkpoints," said the report, also underscoring alleged religious intolerance and unfair treatment of Rastafarians in a number of other islands.

The Organisation for Rastafarians in Unity (ORU) in St Kitts and Nevis said Rastafarians "continued to experience discrimination in school enrolment and in celebrating their religious holidays," according to the report.

It said the ORU protested what they stated was police harassment and the mandatory cutting of dreadlocks while in prison.

The ORU said the government continued to prohibit their use of marijuana for religious rituals, the report said.

According to the ORU, Rastafarians said they faced societal discrimination, including when seeking employment, because of their dreadlocks, which they said were an important component of their faith.

The State Department said US embassy officers met with government officials to discuss religious freedom, including issues of the Rastafarian community, and that embassy officials also spoke with the St. Kitts and Nevis Christian Council and a leader of the Rastafarian community.

In Dominica, the State Department said Rastafarians "continued to disagree with the government's prohibition of marijuana use and said they were subjected to scrutiny from police and immigration officers."

The report said the St Lucia government does not officially recognise marriages conducted under Rastafarian rites, and that Rastafarians reported reluctance to use marijuana for religious purposes "because of the government's prohibition and imposition of fines for any use."

In light of their belief against vaccinating their children, Rastafarians in St Lucia claimed that they faced discrimination in the school system, the report said, noting as a result, some Rastafarian families decided to vaccinate their children or to home school them.

In neighbouring St Vincent and the Grenadines, Rastafarians said they disagreed with the government's ban on marijuana, stating it was integral to their religious rituals, according to the report.

It said vaccinations as a requirement for school enrollment remained under discussion between Ministry of Health officials and Rastafarians with school-age children in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

"Rastafarians stated they continued to face discrimination because of their religious practices, in particular their use of marijuana," the report said. "Rastafarian activists stated, however, that Rastafarians were increasingly accepted in society, and society was more tolerant of their way of life."

The report said US embassy officials raised general religious freedom issues with the government, and that embassy officials discussed the prohibition of Rastafarian dreadlocks with the Ministry of Mobilisation.

Rastafarians were concerned about access to public education in Barbados, the State Department said, adding that Rastafarians said they faced discrimination, specifically for their dreadlocks, "but that attitudes regarding Rastafarianism were becoming more positive."

Additionally, the report said Muslims objected to a government policy that required women to remove the hijab for identification and passport photographs.

The State Department said the Guyana government "limited the number of visas for foreign representatives of religious groups, based on historical trends, the relative size of the group, and the president's discretion.

"Religious groups reported, however, the visa quotas allotted to them did not adversely affect their activities, as the visa-limitation rule was rarely applied stringently," it said.

The report said the practice of Obeah was illegal in the Bahamas and that violators may be sentenced to three months in prison.

"Religious persecution and intolerance remain far too prevalent," said US Secretary of State Rex W Tillerson in unveiling the report.

"Almost 80 per cent of the global population live with restrictions on or hostilities to limit their freedom of religion. Where religious freedom is not protected, we know that instability, human rights abuses, and violent extremism have a greater opportunity to take root.

"We cannot ignore these conditions. The [Donald] Trump administration has committed to addressing these conditions in part by advancing international religious freedom around the world. The State Department will continue to advocate on behalf of those seeking to live their lives according to their faith."

Tillerson said the US 2016 International Religious Freedom Report "details the status of religious freedom in 199 countries and territories, and provides insights as to significant and growing challenges".
Now you can read the Jamaica Observer ePaper anytime, anywhere. The Jamaica Observer ePaper is available to you at home or at work, and is the same edition as the printed copy available at http://bit.ly/epaperlive

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US calls out Caribbean on religious freedom

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WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) - Though religious freedom is generally upheld in most, if not all, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, the United States has called out some nations for what it describes as religious intolerance.

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During the time of slavery, the plantation owners where responsible for the overall welfare and lives of the slaves.  They made every and all decisions in regards to the slaves including the food they were allowed to eat, what kind of shelter they had, and what kind of medical care if any was provided for them.  So when slavery had ended, a reform system was deemed to be "necessary"  in order to teach the now freed men how to work and earn wages as well as to be responsible.  However once the new system was set in place, the Apprenticeship, this proved to be nothing different from slavery.

Although the freedmen started earning wages, it was so minimal that they were unable to sustain or even feed themselves.  They were essentially dependent on the plantation owners and became indebted to them, thereby creating a different type of enslavement.  Some workers were not paid at all and the work week hours were extended.  People still had inadequate rights to land or no rights at all and brutality still existed as some Apprentices were whipped by the plantation owners.

With the end of slavery and introduction of the Apprenticeship, it was clear that the only people benefiting from this new change were the plantation owners as they received compensation for the freedom of their "property" while the enslaved, now freed, received absolutely nothing. Due to the continued deplorable conditions the wage earner were forced to experience and live in, discontentment and unrest among the people awakened and workers began to strike and refused to continue working.  Some even moved to villages and migrated to different parts of the Caribbean.  These labour issues brought on a new system, the Indentureship, where immigrants were brought in to do the work.  But this, once again, created unrest and mistrust for the freedmen as the immigrants were of different races, namely whites and Chinese, who were receiving better wages and accommodations that the Blacks had or were receiving.

Despite continued change and reform in the region, abuse of the system continued and the people of the Caribbean continued to suffer from poor standards and overcrowding.  From Slave owners to plantation owners to State and government, the abuse continued.

In 1919, after World War I and after the Caribbean volunteers had returned home in Trinidad, Black people found themselves returning home to yet continued deplorable standards and low wages and overcrowded tenement housing in the most deplorable state.  This era saw a series of strikes and aggressive outbreaks.  These uprisings and strikes were by dock workers who were aggrieved and resented how the soldiers were received after sacrificing themselves for such a great cause.  Some had sacrificed without being asked and at their own expense. The treatment they received while serving were unimaginable.  Some were even killed for taking a stand for their rights and refusing to do inhumane loads of work.

In Belize, then British Honduras, when the soldiers returned home they returned to similar conditions as the rest of the Caribbean.  They had also experienced racism and many atrocities, and upon returning to British Honduras to find no jobs and no compensations that lasted for very long periods, they rioted.  The country saw a decline in the industries and experience a great depression.  However, in 1935, Belize experienced a nationalist movement.  Antonio Soberanis, a barber, emerged as a leader and formed the Labourers and Unemployment Association which demanded and was successful in negotiations for specific wages and specific work hour weeks.  In 1943 another leader, Clifford Betson of the General Workers Union, stepped forward and organized a successful strike.  However, in later years at the end of yet another war, World War II, British Honduras experienced a devaluation of currency.  During this time there was a united front to financially support the first ever political party to emerge in Belize.  This was a majorly significant stance taken by the people of Belize.  It was a position that demonstrated and conveyed the mistrust and lack of confidence in the existing colonial system that continued to oppress the people, not only in Belize, but in the entire Caribbean.

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1871-1950 This period represents the time when the British government exerted full control of the colony. This occurred because the settlers were afraid of being overrun by Maya engaged in the Cast...

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Racism was and is a learned behaviour from the colonial days.  Slave masters made no secret of disliking the indigenous people, segregating the indigenous people, and teaching the indigenous people that they were inferior.  In Haiti, Colonial masters created Three - tier social structures, an outright segregation.  In the Dominican Republic, they establish a European identity, wiping out the Black identity to a preference of whiteness.  In Jamaica there was tier system of social hierarchy as well, where Black people were at the bottom and mixed people of color were afforded privileges and whites at the top.

Even though slavery was abolished in 1834, the stratification of Black people continued to influence the structure within the Caribbean.  However, in today's Caribbean society, we refer to the stratification of Black people as colorism.  It is a prejudice and discrimination among an ethnic group based on skin tone, a discrimination learned from colonial days.  Colorism is very prominent within the black community.  If your skin tone was lighter you were automatically better or more privileged.  There were racial classifications for mixed people, terms now known today to be derogatory.  Mulatto was used to refer to a person mixed with black and white.  Sambo was for African and Indian.  Quadroon was used for a child of a mulatto and a white.  There were even school play songs which referred to skin tone (brown girl in the ring).

Years later we continue to experience colorism in the Caribbean.  There are always strong effects of racism all around us in our daily lives and professional lives.  If someone of a lighter skin tone gets a job position or any opportunity, it tends to be received on a racial note rather than academic one.  If they are treated better at a restaurant, or if a black person is stopped by the police it is received in a negative tone.  Even the black police tend to scrutinize a black person differently from a white person.  Bob Marley song of these experiences.  He tried to bring peace and ease tension between political groups by organizing a free concert spreading love and unity.  He fearlessly expressed his opposition to the South African apartheid in his songs like "War", "Africa Unite",  and "Zimbabwe".

We now see people bleaching their skin, the process of lightening the skin tone to appear white.  Vibes Kartel, a well-known Jamaican reggae artist, has been accused of skin bleaching.  Black women continue to straighten their hair or using wigs and extensions to give the appearance of straight and or long hair, something more white and less black.  Well known Jamaican artist Spice even made a song "Black Hypocrisy" creating a stir in the Caribbean community as well as around the world and highlighting the deeply rooted cultural issue of racism and colorism with the Caribbean.  She posted a picture of herself where it appeared she had altered her skin by bleaching it to create shock and awareness about the value and beauty of the Caribbean's authentic Black skin.

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Spice - Black Hypocrisy (Official Music Video)