8/7/2011 – barbadosadvocate.com
It saddens me to the core whenever I read articles such as the letter to the editor, written by Michael A Dingwall in the August 4 edition of this newspaper entitled ‘Black, but proud of what?’. If there is nothing for you to be proud of, maybe you should look in the mirror, and if you still cannot see anything to be proud of, do a little research into African history – there is plenty to know.
Continue reading Modern science owes much to African civilisations
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 03, 2011
If one opened the dailies the day after Emancipation Day one could not miss the photographs of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism sitting proudly in their African threads on either side of Kafra Kambon (Express, August 2nd) with a headline that proclaimed: “PM: No more last minute funding.” Just to reinforce her concerns, she cooed: “As a testimony to the recognition in the Emancipation Support Committee, I have requested a convening of an inter—ministerial team charged with the review of all festival—based commemoration to ensure matters of funding and production will no longer be matters of last minute intervention. We stand committed to the success of this intervention and the Minister of Multiculturalism Winston ‘Gypsy’ Peters will head this very special committee to ensure that you get the funding and support you need at the appropriate time.”
Continue reading With Respect to All
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 26, 2011
On Monday next (Emancipation Day) black folks will come out in full ethnic regalia to commemorate the emancipation of our forefathers and foremothers. They will march from the Brian Lara Promenade to the Savannah and make uplifting speeches (as they should) about our condition. The next 364 days thereafter they shall continue their slide into penury and humiliation as the People’s Partnership (PP) government does everything to ensure that African people eat the bread the devil kneads. In this new dispensation no mercy will be shown and no sympathy offered.
Continue reading The Hidden Agenda
Emancipation Day Special: Part 2
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
July 26, 2011
Part 2 of this Emancipation Day Special focuses on the power dynamics between Trinbagonians of Indian descent versus the powerlessness of Trinbagonians of African descent. And this overt ethnic imbalance is real despite the current United Nations-sponsored year-long celebration.
Continue reading Power versus powerlessness in T&T
By Raffique Shah
July 24, 2011
AS the nation prepares for a year of activities to mark our 50th anniversary of independence from Britain in August 2012, people of my generation must be wrestling with a mixture of emotions. There is a sense of pride, of having been there when the Union Jack was lowered for the last time, and the red-white-and-black colours of the new state hoisted atop flagpoles across the country. One had to be there to experience the birth of a nation to understand the pride, the joy, the celebrations. We were part of history, however insignificant we may have been in the hierarchical scheme of things.
Continue reading Is nationhood an illusion?
Analysis by Jennifer Viegas
Monday July 18, 2011 – discovery.com
If your heritage is non-African, you are part Neanderthal, according to a new study in the July issue of Molecular Biology and Evolution. Discovery News has been reporting on human/Neanderthal interbreeding for some time now, so this latest research confirms earlier findings.
Continue reading All Non-Africans Part Neanderthal, Genetics Confirm
Emancipation Day Special: Part 1
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
July 19, 2011
As T&T celebrates the United Nations-sponsored “International Year for People of African Descent,” it is a sine qua non to analyze/investigate the crucial reality of being Trinbagonian versus, albeit compared to, being of African descent in this Euro-centric environment.
The stark reality is that the ordinary Trinbagonian of African descent does not regard himself or herself as African. He/she is Trinbagonian, period.
Continue reading Trinbagonian versus African Descent
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 27, 2011
In March of last year the General Assembly of the United Nations declared 2011 “The International Year for People of African Descent.” It called for the “strengthening national actions and regional and international cooperation for the benefit of people of African descent in relation to their full enjoyment of economic, cultural, social, civic and political rights, their participation and integration in all political, economic, social and cultural aspects of society, and the promotion of a greater knowledge of and respect for their diverse heritage and culture.”
Continue reading Emergency: Young Black Men in Danger
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
May 31, 2011
In the aftermath of the celebration of Indian Arrival Day on 30 May 2011 in T&T, this article focuses on certain origins and the historical dynamics of Indian Arrival. These origins include the Asian-Chinese Dynasty, “Ganges” River, Indian Originality and the label “Indentured Servants.”
Continue reading Question of Origins and Indian Arrival
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 04, 2011
Part 2 – Part 1
Joseph Winthrop Holley, the founder of Albany State University and the son of a former slave, was born in Albany, Georgia, which explains why he wanted to build a school in his native town. He attended Revere Lay College in Revere, Massachusetts which changed its name to the Boston Evangelical Institute before it merged with another school to form Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary that my former wife attended. During the latter part of the 1980s I visited that seminary often.
Continue reading The Souls of Black Folk