BY DESMOND BOLLERS

A wise person once said, “The most effective way to destroy a people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

This quotation is frequently erroneously attributed to George Orwell, but regardless of who first penned, or uttered these words, this represents the approach that was utilized by the European colonialists in the Caribbean against the Native American and African-descendant peoples with great success. In fact, they were so successful that even today there are people in the Caribbean who are unwilling to learn about or are ashamed of their history.

When it comes to the history of their colonial possessions, including the Caribbean, the colonial masters have practiced and perfected what I refer to as ‘The Three Ds’ – Deny, Diminish, Distort. They deny our ancestors’ achievements when they can. When they are unable to deny those accomplishments, they diminish them and when they can’t diminish them, they resort to distortion causing us to feel embarrassed about our history and to question whether enslaved Africans who revolted were heroes or villains.

The history textbooks would have us believe that when the Spaniards arrived, the ‘peaceful’ Tainos of the Greater Antilles simply wilted and allowed themselves to be dispossessed of their lands, subjugated, enslaved, sexually exploited and finally wiped out without putting out a fight. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Tainos fought valiantly, but their weapons were no match for the superior Spanish military weaponry. I am sure you are familiar with the saying ‘Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. Well, the Tainos brought bows and arrows, spears and wooden clubs to a fight against men covered in metal armour and armed with cannon and muskets, so the eventual outcome was inevitable.

Among the many other examples of denying in the Caribbean is the 1831 Christmas Rebellion in western Jamaica led by Sam Sharpe. Despite this being the largest revolt by enslaved Africans anywhere in the Americas, for almost a century and a half it was never mentioned in history textbooks that were used in schools in the Caribbean. Similarly, the 1816 rebellion in Barbados led by Bussa, which was the second largest revolt by enslaved Africans anywhere in the Americas, was left off the pages of West Indian history texts. In the USA the 1811 German Coast uprising in Louisiana led by Charles Deslondes which was the largest rebellion by enslaved Africans in North America, was largely unknown by Americans until quite recently as it was never mentioned in textbooks.

When it comes to diminishing, the colonials were equally adept. The impact that the Haitian Revolution had on the history of the Americas is consistently downplayed and almost never mentioned. US history books generally don’t mention that it was the Haitian defeat of the French in St. Domingue that convinced Napoleon to sell the much less valuable Louisiana Territory to the fledgling United States, in effect doubling its size and paving the way for ‘manifest destiny,’ enabling the US to extend ‘From sea to shining sea.’

The 1823 rebellion by enslaved Africans in British Guiana led by Quamina and Jack Gladstone was the third largest revolt by enslaved Africans anywhere in the Americas, yet their leading role was diminished, and the focus was placed on an English minister of religion named John Smith. In fact, his only role was to try and persuade the freedom fighters not to rebel. The Great Berbice Uprising of 1763 led by Kofi was the first attempt to establish an independent republic anywhere in the Americas preceding the formation of the USA by thirteen years, yet this fact is excluded from history texts.

Next edition, we are going to dive a little deeper into the 3 D’s

BY DESMOND BOLLERS

It is not by accident that the stories of our ancestors’ bids for freedom are not well known.

It is the result of a deliberate and concerted effort by the enslavers and oppressors to blot out these events from the narrative. It made absolute sense for the enslavers to suppress news of: conspiracies, insurrections, plots, rebellions, revolts and uprisings by the enslaved at the time these occurred because of their well-founded fear of the “Demonstration Effect” – that is that news of bids for freedom in one territory would inspire or incite similar activity in other territories. It should be noted that the highest number of revolts or planned revolts by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean occurred during the tumultuous decade of the 1790s, which was when the people of St. Domingue were fighting for their freedom.

Recognizing the importance of exerting mind control over the enslaved Africans, the British in 1807 published what became known as the ‘Slave Bible’ – actual title ‘Parts of the Holy Bible, selected for the use of the Negro slaves, in the British West-India Islands’ (which coincided with the promulgation of the Act of Parliament abolishing the ‘Slave Trade’) with the goal of convincing the enslaved Africans that they should meekly accept their lot and await their redemption in the afterlife. This attempt clearly didn’t work because three of the biggest revolts by enslaved Africans in the British colonies, indeed in the entire American continent, occurred after this Bible was introduced to the Africans. What is particularly ironic is that two of the three revolts were instigated and led by a preacher, or a deacon who clearly interpreted the heavily truncated bible very differently from what the enslavers had anticipated.

With the end of slavery, the colonial ruling classes and their acolytes moved to erase the story of those bids for freedom from the narrative, as a means of continuing to exert mind control over the majority population, instilling in our minds the notion that we are only free because of their good intentions.

As I am at pains to explain in the free online course ‘Freedom Fighters of the Caribbean,’ this was most definitely not the case. So, it is our responsibility to ensure that we tell our story from our perspective, because when we allow others to write the narrative, then their interpretation of the events that make up our past may be influenced by their biases whether implicit or conscious.

BY DESMOND BOLLERS

History is commonly defined as the chronological record of events (as affecting a nation or people) and usually presenting an explanation of their causes.

Controlling the narrative enables one group to exercise mind control over another group by influencing the way they see the world around them and the way they perceive their place in the world. The profound importance of a people being in control of the narrative regarding their history was understood by the character Winston Smith in George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” when he came to the realization that “Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present, controls the past.”

It is clear that this realization is at the forefront of the thinking of the governors of the two most populous southern states in the USA who are working diligently to rewrite the history of race relations in the USA with particular reference to slavery, Jim Crow and race riots including ‘La Matanza’. In this regard, the Roman Catholic Church was ahead of the game by trying to rewrite the history of the church’s involvement in slavery.

In the movie “Trumbo,” which was about Martin Dies Jr. of the House of Representatives who was that chamber’s equivalent of McCarthy in the Senate, targeting and persecuting movie makers in Hollywood as being “Communists” and “Un-American” one of the colleagues of Chairman Dies commented, “It’s just a movie.” Dies’ response was “A movie isn’t just a movie. It’s about perception.” This is a really profound statement that deserves to be discussed fully, because the same can be said of books and all other media, which influence not only how others see us but also how we see ourselves. Children in the developed world grow up on stories of their heroic ancestors and this shapes their perception of whom they are. We owe it to the children of the Caribbean to also shape their self – perception by introducing them to the heroism of their ancestors.

In the late 1970s to early 1980s there was an effort in the Caribbean to publish adventure novels based on actual events in Caribbean history targeting the 11-14 age group. By the 1990s, this effort had petered out and books such as “The Young Warriors” and “Sixty-five” both written by V.S. Reid had disappeared from the shelves of bookstores in the Caribbean. I can personally attest to this, because in the 1990s, I visited the main bookstores in the capitals of: The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Trinidad trying to purchase these two books for my son. I inquired of each store owner/manager why they were not carrying these books, and, in every instance, they explained that they used to carry the books, but eventually stopped because nobody would buy them.

We in the Caribbean need to understand and appreciate the importance of introducing our children to their history so that they can grow up with an awareness of our heroic ancestors. Adventure novels based on actual events and the lives of real people are an excellent way to do this. In Caribbean history, there is a superabundance of individuals and events that provide suitable material for adventure novels. Be it the valiant struggles of the Tainos and Kalinago to retain possession of, and to survive on the lands of their ancestors, the determined efforts of the maroons to maintain their hard-won freedom, or the courageous uprisings of the enslaved Africans seeking to end their servitude.