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<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Michael Burke
Thursday, August 10, 2006
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Michael Burke</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>CHRISTOPHER Columbus first came to Jamaica in 1494. By 1510, some Spaniards had settled here and by 1513, the first set of African slaves arrived in Jamaica. In 1655, the English conquered Jamaica. Slavery was an abomination everywhere, but even then British slavery was unique. With Spanish and French slavery, the slaves were people. With British slavery, they were property.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Sometime last week, an evening newspaper blared the headline: "No Zeeks, more crime". When the buccaneer Henry Morgan was imprisoned in the tower of London in the 1670s, the headlines could well have read: "No Morgan, more piracy". So Morgan was brought back to Jamaica as governor to stop piracy. He did this by selling land at cheap rates to the pirates and they became the sugar estate owners with thousands of African slaves.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The slaves were systematically trained to believe that they were less than human. One of the remaining original sources of history is an advertisement entitled "Livestock for sale". In the advertisement, horses, cows, pigs and other animals were listed together with slaves. The cruel treatment of the slaves was part of the strategy to subdue the slaves.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The inferior notion extended to ridicule and general disdain for the way in which the slaves spoke, which had become a dialect - a mixture of their African language and English. Estate owners would deliberately buy African slaves from different tribes as they spoke different languages. The only way to communicate was an attempt to speak the slave owners' language.<P class=StoryText align=justify>These notions did not end with Emancipation in 1838. And with the ex-slaves still seeing themselves in that state, the estate owners could still manipulate them and continue to treat them cruelly. This was when Marcus Garvey came to the rescue. His mission was to teach the Africans in the Diaspora that we have a glorious history.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It was Marcus Garvey who had said the words that Bob Marley would sing many decades later: "We must emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, because while others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind". But for Garvey's message to be heard elsewhere, even to be translated into other languages, he had to speak impeccable English.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Slavery society was divided into several classes - which included the white mulatto, mustofino sambo, straight down to the black slaves. These distinctions were narrowed down to three by political independence. Class had less to do with money as it had to do with the way one carried oneself and the way one spoke. And the ability to speak perfect English normally came through education, which the masses were deprived of.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The road to political independence really started with the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865. Changes were made in the governance of the island and the idea of political independence was being spoken about. Indeed, the idea of secession was talked about from the days before slavery was abolished, but the motive then was different.<P class=StoryText align=justify>As it became more and more evident that the emancipation of slaves would be imposed on the Jamaican estate owners by the British government, there was talk of seceding from the British Empire. But they were not speaking of political independence. The talk at that time was
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Michael Burke
Thursday, August 10, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=80 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Michael Burke</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>CHRISTOPHER Columbus first came to Jamaica in 1494. By 1510, some Spaniards had settled here and by 1513, the first set of African slaves arrived in Jamaica. In 1655, the English conquered Jamaica. Slavery was an abomination everywhere, but even then British slavery was unique. With Spanish and French slavery, the slaves were people. With British slavery, they were property.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Sometime last week, an evening newspaper blared the headline: "No Zeeks, more crime". When the buccaneer Henry Morgan was imprisoned in the tower of London in the 1670s, the headlines could well have read: "No Morgan, more piracy". So Morgan was brought back to Jamaica as governor to stop piracy. He did this by selling land at cheap rates to the pirates and they became the sugar estate owners with thousands of African slaves.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The slaves were systematically trained to believe that they were less than human. One of the remaining original sources of history is an advertisement entitled "Livestock for sale". In the advertisement, horses, cows, pigs and other animals were listed together with slaves. The cruel treatment of the slaves was part of the strategy to subdue the slaves.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The inferior notion extended to ridicule and general disdain for the way in which the slaves spoke, which had become a dialect - a mixture of their African language and English. Estate owners would deliberately buy African slaves from different tribes as they spoke different languages. The only way to communicate was an attempt to speak the slave owners' language.<P class=StoryText align=justify>These notions did not end with Emancipation in 1838. And with the ex-slaves still seeing themselves in that state, the estate owners could still manipulate them and continue to treat them cruelly. This was when Marcus Garvey came to the rescue. His mission was to teach the Africans in the Diaspora that we have a glorious history.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It was Marcus Garvey who had said the words that Bob Marley would sing many decades later: "We must emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, because while others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind". But for Garvey's message to be heard elsewhere, even to be translated into other languages, he had to speak impeccable English.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Slavery society was divided into several classes - which included the white mulatto, mustofino sambo, straight down to the black slaves. These distinctions were narrowed down to three by political independence. Class had less to do with money as it had to do with the way one carried oneself and the way one spoke. And the ability to speak perfect English normally came through education, which the masses were deprived of.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The road to political independence really started with the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865. Changes were made in the governance of the island and the idea of political independence was being spoken about. Indeed, the idea of secession was talked about from the days before slavery was abolished, but the motive then was different.<P class=StoryText align=justify>As it became more and more evident that the emancipation of slaves would be imposed on the Jamaican estate owners by the British government, there was talk of seceding from the British Empire. But they were not speaking of political independence. The talk at that time was