A Welcome Apology

Easter 2022 bought what I consider a most welcome announcement in Jamaica, one which will improve on how we discuss one very important aspect of our history and heritage from now on.

No, I am not referring to the numerous headlines saying; “he is risen,” as that is stale news and not at all factual!

What I am citing is the revolutionary story which the majority of the media fraternity in Jamaica ignored, except those at the Jamaica Observer.

They carried it under the banner headline “Maroons finally say sorry.”

The earth-shattering word in that story in my book is, ‘finally,’ as for centuries, the Maroons in Jamaica have sought to either deny the treacherous act of their ancestors or ignore it.

Oh yes, the Maroons have an outstanding history and this is so highly respected by us that Queen Nanny was elevated to the position of National History.

Incidentally, they are not however the indigenous Jamaicans as some have belatedly claimed, for the only people who can fill that bill are the Tainos.

The fact is, the original Maroons were enslaved Africans who  were brought to the island by the Spaniards. Cherishing their freedom though, they escaped to the hills after the British defeated their Spanish enslavers in 1655.

From strategic points, they conducted guerilla wars for some seventy years.

Because they couldn’t be defeated, the British offered them a treaty which included; their own lands and limited autonomy. Also included in the agreement though, was a commitment that they would help the British forces defeat other slave uprisings and return escaped slaves to the plantations.

The Observer story reported; It took almost three centuries, but on Good Friday 2022 the Maroons of Jamaica apologized for their sordid role in crushing popular anti-slavery uprisings and forcibly returning runaway slaves to hellish conditions on British-owned sugar plantations, sullying their storied history.

Two of the more well-known black rebellions put down by the British colonial forces with the solid support of the Maroons were that led by West African slave Chief Takyi of St Mary in 1760 and Baptist Deacon Paul Bogle of Stony Gut, St Thomas, in 1865. Bogle and his key ally George William Gordon were hanged but later named national heroes of Jamaica, and just two Fridays ago, April 8 was officially declared Chief Takyi Day, henceforth to celebrate the freedom fighter credited with the first slave uprising in the Caribbean.

“We regret the hurt and sufferings caused from such actions. We take total responsibility on behalf of our ancestors,” said paramount chieftainess and Queen of the Maroons Gaamang Gloria “Mama G” Simms, the woman now occupying the seat once held by Queen Nanny of the Maroons, the only female among the seven national heroes. “…We realise that we cannot undo the past, but we can remedy the situations through reconciliatory actions that will repair the damage and rebuild trust so that these behaviours will not be repeated,” continued the Maroon spiritual leader in a press statement, according to the Observer.

Mama G

It is the refusal by previous Maroon leaders to admit that treachery and apologize, which has caused numerous other Jamaicans of African ancestry, to remain bitter against them.

Maybe if they had been honest in celebrating their history, more of us would have been more understanding and forgiving, for indeed Africa has never been a unified black continent, as it has always been tribal loyalties not color that remained supreme.

However, while forever boasting about their courageous feats, previous leaders have rubbed salt into the wounds by denying the ‘treachery’ of their ancestors.

Until now.

This long-awaited apology therefore makes Mama G a very special Maroon leader indeed.

Hopefully her courage and honesty will temper the attitude of the pretenders like Chief Currie of the Accompong Maroons, (a little village in St. Elizabeth) who has belatedly been trying to rewrite history to the point of declaring that they were given sovereignty by the infamous treaty!

Yes, the Maroons have a proud legacy to celebrate and now that Mama G has finally admitted that they also had feet of clay, maybe we can all now proudly embrace our motto ‘out of many one people’ as we continue the journey to make Jamaica one of the greatest nations on earth.

 

 

King Richard the 1V th?

We don’t seem too willing or able to get rid of Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, but we may soon get our own local king.

Ta da King Richard the 1V!

Chief Currie

Yup, for that’s probably where the new Accompong Maroon chief wants to go.

It’s no joking matter though, for the Maroons have been the only true revolutionaries in Jamaica. 

When the British chased out the Spaniards who had brought them from Africa as slaves, they refused to be re-enslaved, so fought for their freedom. For eighty years they fought guerilla warfare against the British and eventually, their leader Cudjo signed a peace treaty in 1739.

Among the conditions agreed to under that treaty were; the Maroons would end attacks on English settlements and they would be given their own lands and autonomy. But the part that still leaves the bitter taste in the mouths of most Jamaicans is that they also agreed to, and did return slaves who ran away from the British.

In 1865,  National Hero Paul Bogle suffered the ultimate price for this treachery.

However, since independence, they have been peaceful and productive citizens in Jamaica.

Now clearly, the new leader, Richard Currie has romantic ideas of being Cudjoe reincarnate, with all the revolutionary zeal that comes with that name.

Belatedly, he is claiming that the Maroons are the indigenous people of our island.

What happened when I wasn’t watching? Because it has long been established that it was the Tainos who were! The updated version of our history is based on the premise that some Tainos escaped to the hills, procreated with the Maroons, so their descendants are the indigenous people.

Should we therefore do DNA tests to see who from the diverse Maroons qualify on the grounds that they have Taino blood?

Next, according to Chief Currie, Accompong is a sovereign state!

 Even if the Maroons are the indigenous people, (using the new criterion) are there any other indigenous people anywhere in the world who have a sovereign state?

Last year August, assuming sovereignty I guess, a group of Maroons chased away members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force who were searching for marijuana fields on their communal lands. In a video clip following that incident, Chief Currie appeared with what was said to be a rifle slung across his shoulders. He described this as being a means of protecting his people. His ancestors, he said, had bows and arrows; modern times demanded modern weapons.

Ominous indeed!

Then in early January this year, leading up to the 284th anniversary of the Maroon Treaty, the police warned against the traditional big celebrations in Accompong because of COVID-19 protocols but they ignored the warnings. The event was held, violence broke out among patrons and one person was shot dead and several others were injured.

Is Currie’s new militancy a natural progression from events in September of 2020, when Accompong Maroons designated a new currency called the LUMI, as their official digital currency?

I visited the settlement in May 2021, and while I saw their new, beautiful Central Bank of Accompong, I couldn’t get a LUMI anywhere!

As they now move full speed to become a sovereign state, l guess the plan is to finance it as we do, begging other country for alms!

Or is it the smell of big bucks from the granting of a license to mine bauxite in a section of the Cockpit country, owned partly by the Maroons, which is driving this new thrust?

Things are changing fast among some Maroons I dare say.

I remember once travelling to beautiful Millbank, in Portland and meeting the Moore Town Maroon leader. I instantly fell in love with the entire area that they occupy in the Blue and John Crow mountains, where the lazy Rio Grande River meanders lazily through the cool, lush countryside.

I have also been fortunate enough to have already visited the Charles Town and Scotts Hall Maroon settlements. Fortunate I say, since no one who knows where this new revolutionary thrust will end up. 

Will the day soon come when we need visas to visit Maroon lands because Richard 1V managed to unite all the Maroons and become their king?

The abeng, once used by Maroons to communicate 

Today, that sounds like wild speculation, but these days, one can never write off erratic leaders or speculate exactly how they will change things. For, even the powerful USA, once considered a stable democracy, is now unrecognizable, thanks to an equally erratic leader.

So let's hope this situation does not deteriorate to the point where we hear the blowing of Abengs and the beating of Maroon drums, for we already have enough violence and turmoil in our beautiful tiny island.

You tube link; https://youtu.be/DIMwZo8vTHo

Of Caving,Thai kids, Omens and, Claustrophobia

Entrance to Blue Hole, Westmorland

What I think will be the most memorable story for 2018, is what I dub the Cave Event in Thailand.

In brief, On June 23, 2018, 12 young soccer players ranging in ages from 11-16, who went exploring the six-mile-long Than Luang cave complex at a park in Northern Thailand along with their 25-year-old coach, went missing.

For ten nail-biting days parents and indeed the  entire world, anxiously followed the progress of searchers from that country plus numerous international volunteers, many of them experienced divers, as they braved the murky waters inside the flooded caverns, squeezed through narrow twisting tunnels, climbed sharp ledges at great peril to themselves, but despite not finding them for days, they refused to give up hope and just kept going.

All geared up to enter Green Grotto cave, Discovery Bay, Jamaica

 
Miraculously, on July 2nd, they were spotted by two British divers, fearful and hungry but thankfully safe, on a high ledge deep inside the cave.  

After feeding and giving them medical assistance, the rescuers were faced the awesome task of getting them out of the flooded caverns, a journey of some three miles, without even knowing how many of the stranded youth could actually even swim. 

This was a dangerous and staggering task that had to be completed quickly too, as the rescuers soon realized that oxygen levels were being rapidly depleted. Further, the rainy monsoon season was due to begin in days, thus further flooding the caves, despite the effort being undertaken to use a massive pump to get out the millions of gallons  of water already inside the flooded caverns.

Outside the Guadirikiri Caves in Aruba

At one point, it was even feared that they would have to keep the boys inside for months for their own safety as getting them out looked too dangerous. And it was indeed dangerous, as a former Thai Petty Officer,  Saman Gunam,  unfortunately, lost consciousness on his way out, after delivering air tanks inside the cave to facilitate the rescue.

Sadly,  Saman  Gunam later died.

Finally thanks to the skills and technology of  dozens of 

Engineers, geologists, military persons, health care volunteers etc from all over the world, assigning two divers to each boy and medicating the young people so they would not panic in the murky waters, all the boys and their youthful coach were rescued on 

July 10th 2018.

Inside Two Sisters cave, Hellshire

And would you believe that the pump that had been taking out the water from the cave to facilitate their exit, broke down almost immediately after the last person was rescued? This caused the water to start rising rapidly to the point where experienced divers who had gone back inside to recover the gear that was left inside, had to exit quickly to save their own lives!

Eerie isn't it?

Considering all this happened during the exciting  FIFA World Cup which was being played out in Russia and in which upsets have been the order of the day, I couldn't help wondering if this event involving the young Thai soccer players was some kind of omen. 

Marking inside the cave at  Cudjoe Hill, St. Catherine, made by the Tainos in Jamaica before Columbus arrived and wiped them out. Nanny's brother Cudjoe also hid out in that cave for months, when the British were trying  to capture and subjugate the Maroons. 

For example, could it be that in four or eight years, Thailand, a rank outsider in the soccer world, could become a world beater or this young soccer team would eventually represent their county at World Cup? 

I hope I will be around to find out if this was really a soccer omen!

While I know this drama held the attention of people all over the world for all sorts of reasons, for me it was especially eye-opening in understanding my own self!

For I am an enigma in that, although I tend to be extremely claustrophobic, I actually enjoy caving. 

Native Americans built fascinating abodes in the caves at Mesa Verde

However get this clear, when I say caving I do not mean I am a spelunker.

 No sir, I don't go into unexplored caves to study anything. I just like to go into well-established caves with professional guides to look and learn.

However, its is only since the incident with these boys that I realize that my love of exploring the underground and claustrophobia just cannot co-exist! 

For it has never occurred to me before that something like a flood or earthquake could occur while I was under the ground.... especially in my homeland, Jamaica, which sits on a serious seismic fault.

One of the caves along the Cuna Cuna trail in which Nanny hid for months

I cannot even conceive of how I would survive trapped underground for an hour much less 10 days. 

In fact, I have no doubt that I would actually go crazy if I was trappedn underground, anywhere.

This Thai drama has caused me to have a great deal of respect and admiration for those Thai youth who all seem to be in reasonably good spirits, despite being trapped in the dark, no bathroom, no food and not knowing if they would ever come out alive! 

What a terrible 10 days that must have been. 

This has also prompted me to have even greater respect for Jamaica's only female National Heroine, Nanny of the Maroons.

She led the Maroons in Jamaica to victory against the British in the early 1700's when they defeated the Spanish, captured the island and tried to re-enslave the former slaves who the Spaniards had transported from Africa to work on their plantations.

It was the complex caving system that the Maroons studied, which helped them in their struggles, as they were able to strategically select those caves which had water inside, in which they could hide for months on end while waiting to ambush and kill the  British soldiers. 

It was not until hearing about the Thai youth and seeing their plight in living color that I got a much greater appreciation for the suffering that Nanny and her people had to endure, as they hid from the oppressors.

As for me, will I continue going into caves? 

Maybe not right now. Luckily, I have been into all the interesting caves in Jamaica but maybe later if I am in another country and hear about a fascinating cave, who knows what will happen?

You have to ascend many steps to reach the entrance of Hato Cave, Curacao

Of Yoga, Blackness and the Maroons

I suppose I should have long recognised that many of the values held by my generation are passé as far as the younger generation is concerned. I am really speaking here to the issues of mental slavery, black pride, self confidence...all the things Marcus Garvey and other great black philosophers of yore, thought important.

I suppose its the new age sense of “couldn't care less” that allows most young black people to see nothing strange about their cohorts who bleach their skins.

Actually, I have found it quite significant recently when an immediate silence prevailed after a few people who claimed to have a problem with the issue, were shut up by Vybes Kartel. 

He did this by pointing out to them that people who straightened their hair to try to look white or bought wigs to disguise their roots, had no moral authority to criticise him! The silence that has prevailed since his rejoinder is deafening! 

Oh poor Jamaica. Poor black people, we so hate ourselves, are so immersed in mental slavery and so confused to boot.

You know all this reflection came out of an incident yesterday when I actually lost my temper to the point where I can’t even recall what I said! 

To most people, losing one's temper is a matter of course. In fact, for many years it was for me too until I started yoga some 40 years ago. In fact, I am here to tell you that if I have lost my temper twice in the last 30 years and for me, that is plenty.

But I totally lost it yesterday. 

This was at Cudjoe Mountain in St. Catherine.

Cudjoe had been a brave maroon leader and while most history I have seen about him places him in Portland and occasionally other northern parishes such as Trelawny, St. Mary and St. Ann, there is an area located just above Point hill in St. Catherine which bears his name.

At Cudjoe Mountain, there is a small cave called the Mountain River Cave, which had been used by the Tainos and which has a few drawings verifying their activities there. According to local lore, Cudjoe later used that cave as a hideout as he escaped from the British, hence the district is called after him.

A few of the persons we met there claimed to be Maroons and when you consider that the Maroons of history took money from the British to hunt down, trap and return newly arrived slaves from Africa who dared to escape from bondage, I suppose this could explain why mental slavery and a disdain for black people is alive and well in Cudjoe Mountain.

Well I really don’t know how widespread it is, but amazingly the stark experience I had with was with an influential resident there, the employee of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust who organises tours to the cave.

That is what led to my burst of temper.

At first, I thought she was making a joke as we set out to cross the river and someone made a comment about the size and slipperiness of the boulders that we had to walk on to get to the other side. Her comment was 'When I take white people here they don’t complain." I found the comment a bit out of sorts, but ignored it for Jamaica's history was replete with that type of attitude by menial workers in the tourism industry, but with training it became just that....history.

However, as we hiked further up the treacherous, rocky hillside, someone else complained about the steepness of the path. Again I heard her outburst “When I bring white people here they don’t complain.” Although I found it a bit annoying, I still said nothing for I have really matured and am less prone to be emotive.

However when we got to the top and discovered that the highly promoted cave was very small and the markings on the top were fairly insignificant and someone commented on this only to be rejoined by her third 'When I take white people here they don’t complain."

 That's when I totally lost it! 

I know I gave here a good cussing on top of my voice and walked off back down the hill to cool off in the river, but I really don’t recall what I actually said except I know I cursed her for rude, disrespectful and suffering from mental slavery. I might also have called her an asshole. I hope I did!

What amazed me however, is that no one else in the party who heard these comments seemed to have a problem with it. Or if they had a problem, they certainly kept it to themselves, hence my musings about the values of my generation being passé. 

People my age were nurtured in the 60's when black pride and the defense of our race was the ultimate purpose in life, so no one could insult our race in that way and get away with it for our motto then was 'Say it loud, I am black and I am proud." And being black and proud meant embracing all aspects of our blackness with pride. But now, bleaching, wigs etc have made such sentiments obsolete.

Time for you to get some cake soap Joan and chill out, compliments of Vybes Kartel et al.