Envisioning an Alternative and Constructive Black Culture and Identity
African history - which has been haunted by the shameful memories of slavery - is the most suppressed history in the world. Our history has been mutilated and manipulated to eliminate and minimize the richness and greatness of Africa's contribution to civilization. It has been the development of Eurocentric and racist views in Europe that have denied, distorted and sought to negate the history of Africa and its people. Many, otherwise so-called well-informed, people continue, to this day, to think of pre-colonial Africa as a series of "primitive" societies still in the Stone Age or only just emerging from under the influence and impact of Europe. They continue to hold fast and accept an older historical account/tradition that considered Africa as backwards and static, while Europe and America were the only true advanced civilizations. Since the various emancipations within the New World Diaspora, Blacks have thus struggled to create, advance and promote, an alternative and constructive cultural and historical center as a way to compete and participate effectively on the global scene.
The purpose of our new and up-dated website, is to create somewhat of an on-line community center, if we may, to share our history and culture and to increase appreciation of --and participation in--the creative process. Our presentations/historical accounts are also an attempt to create a sort of “literary one-stop "preservation shopping” environment for our youths, in particular, to gain knowledge and understanding of our history and our true identity. The formation of our West Indian culture, in particular, varied from place to place perhaps more often than any other ethnic group in the Black Diaspora. We, as a people, have always been misguided/misled and propelled by Eurocentric "outside" agendas and "distracting" agents rather than relying on ourselves, celebrating our rich histories and values throughout these journeys.
It is our hope that this exercise will open our eyes and force us to take action against what we see as a slowly, diminishing, diverse culture if we maintain the “status quo.” We would like to be viewed as a community-based presenter of selected video short stories as well as selected readings regarding the details of major events in our history. With our Newsletter presentations, the literary/video collages attempt to interpret/summarize our somewhat “knotty” history as well as to celebrate all four sides of our hyphenated identities, African-Caribbean-Panamanian-American.
They scattered us throughout the New World by forces of slavery, poverty, illiteracy and white supremacy for centuries, creating a disjointed and disconnected version of our history. As such, we, as a people will continue to suffer greatly by these destructive Eurocentric theories, disrupting agents, and foreign cultures' until we learned to love and define ourselves, embrace our ancestral greatness, history and culture.
While the format pages of the website is designed, for the most part, to explore the pattern over the introduction in the Americas of our forebears' (English-speaking British subjects of the Caribbean Islands and North America) we recognize and understand the various influences of the "Creolization" of our culture and religion throughout the Diaspora by the Europeans.
Our attempt is to create a circular process of causes and effects of our fragmentation -- factors that contributed to our overall disfunctionality. That is, to provide a continuing narrative between past and present -- an epistemological means of connecting the dots between here and there, then and now, to relate coherent stories out of incoherent, but true life experiences. Our critical analyses are designed to help knowledge-hungry readers gain a greater understanding/appreciation of our Black history-- and again understanding and knowing who and why we are.
The purpose of our new and up-dated website, is to create somewhat of an on-line community center, if we may, to share our history and culture and to increase appreciation of --and participation in--the creative process. Our presentations/historical accounts are also an attempt to create a sort of “literary one-stop "preservation shopping” environment for our youths, in particular, to gain knowledge and understanding of our history and our true identity. The formation of our West Indian culture, in particular, varied from place to place perhaps more often than any other ethnic group in the Black Diaspora. We, as a people, have always been misguided/misled and propelled by Eurocentric "outside" agendas and "distracting" agents rather than relying on ourselves, celebrating our rich histories and values throughout these journeys.
It is our hope that this exercise will open our eyes and force us to take action against what we see as a slowly, diminishing, diverse culture if we maintain the “status quo.” We would like to be viewed as a community-based presenter of selected video short stories as well as selected readings regarding the details of major events in our history. With our Newsletter presentations, the literary/video collages attempt to interpret/summarize our somewhat “knotty” history as well as to celebrate all four sides of our hyphenated identities, African-Caribbean-Panamanian-American.
They scattered us throughout the New World by forces of slavery, poverty, illiteracy and white supremacy for centuries, creating a disjointed and disconnected version of our history. As such, we, as a people will continue to suffer greatly by these destructive Eurocentric theories, disrupting agents, and foreign cultures' until we learned to love and define ourselves, embrace our ancestral greatness, history and culture.
While the format pages of the website is designed, for the most part, to explore the pattern over the introduction in the Americas of our forebears' (English-speaking British subjects of the Caribbean Islands and North America) we recognize and understand the various influences of the "Creolization" of our culture and religion throughout the Diaspora by the Europeans.
Our attempt is to create a circular process of causes and effects of our fragmentation -- factors that contributed to our overall disfunctionality. That is, to provide a continuing narrative between past and present -- an epistemological means of connecting the dots between here and there, then and now, to relate coherent stories out of incoherent, but true life experiences. Our critical analyses are designed to help knowledge-hungry readers gain a greater understanding/appreciation of our Black history-- and again understanding and knowing who and why we are.