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     Blkmalereading Veteran Poster Username: Blkmalereading Post Number: 52 Registered: 02-2004 Rating: N/A |
It was not until 20/20 or one of those news shows, that I first heard the term Garifuna. The name for these people for US has always been Caribs (or coolies - not always used in a nice term, so rarely used anymore). I think in Belize the people who currently live there are mixed together. But I'm not traditionally known as Carib (Garifuna). Also, the history that you read about the Caribs is NOT the history that is believed among most Belizeans. Africans traveled all over the world BEFORE the white man had anything to do with it. The history as told in books - give credit to the white men for either transporting or helping the Carib people to establish themselves in this region. WE believe they were ALWAYS there. This is not traditionally believed entirely. Africans came to Central American and kept their customs, mixed with the Amerindians and later the stories of the slave ships coming with people from the Caribbean islands comes into play. (SEE: Before the Mayflower By Lerone Bennett Jr. & AFRICAN PRESENCE in EARLY AMERICA By Ivan Van Sertima ) I know that my great-great-great grandfather came from the Cayman Islands and settled in Roatan. My mother's family has been in Belize forever and more than likely are descendents are these mixed groups, including the Spaniards and later the Chinese who also came to that region. I'm yam-yam (very light complexion) and we're not usually considered Carib who are usually the unmixed version of the original African and Amerindian. The white man is fascinated with this ‘new’ discovery (these people have been in Belize before anyone else) and now tend to lump all darker hued people (we all the descendents) into this Garifuna definition since there is increasing immigration of people from both Guatemala (who have always tried to claim that Belize belongs to them) and Mexico. Ya Da Fe We Belize! |