bigdrumnation

Reading Time 5 minsOriginally published June 19, 2021 Also known as Liberation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, “Juneteenth”[1] is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. The celebration marks the events of June 19 (“Juneteenth”), 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas (General Order #3), effectively freeing over a quarter million enslaved Blacks in the state. The problem was that the Proclamation was two and a half years old by then. (While there are varying theories explaining the deferment of freedom, it is believed that this delay… Read More »Juneteenth is our Emancipation Day too — Martin P. Felix

Reading Time 7 mins May 10, 2024  ‘No civilization of significance surrenders its riches easily… the transplanted Indian, even the most urbanized, will occasionally dream, like Walcott’s Saddhu, of the river Ganges and the sprawling fields of Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.’ The Moving Finger writes; and having writ Moves on; nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it (From Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam) I am the descendant of immigrants from India. My ancestors would have arrived in Trinidad between 1845 and… Read More »Crossing Dark Waters–Ken Jaikaransingh

Reading Time 3 minsMay 25, 2022   “Continued use of similar mobilization moments is necessary because the task is not yet accomplished. As revolutionary thinkers, we will not engage in stifling the creative thrust of the people as they modify and sharpen their mobilization tools.” Some ask, Is African Liberation Day meaningful in this day and time? Has it outlived its usefulness? Well, for revolutionary Pan Africanists, African Liberation Day has always been a mobilization moment, a day, a weekend, a week, when Africans pause to reflect on their liberation journey, assert their identity, strengthen their resolve, to support their… Read More »AFRICAN LIBERATION DAY 2022–KAMAU ODINGA

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Reading Time 6 minsApril 30, 2022 ‘I love New York. The confluence of cultures and parades, from St. Patrick’s Day to the West Indian Day Carnival on de Parkway means there’s never a dull moment.’   I am a native New Yorker. I was born in Brooklyn in 1979 (to Trinibagonian and Jamaican parents), and except for a brief stint in Washington D.C. to attend Howard University, I now reside in Harlem. Lately, there have been fierce social media debates about who a New Yorker is or when a transplant (someone not from New York) can claim they are. Five… Read More »New York City’s Subway Shooter: Savage Inequities In a Post-Covid World?–Kanene Holder

Reading Time 3 mins April 24, 2022 ‘With thoughtful lyrics, arresting melodies, and gorgeous harmonies, [Kitch] became a pulse of the people, the voice of carnival, bending phrase after phrase.’ April 18th, 2022, marked Aldwyn “Kitchener” Roberts’ birth centennial. The Grandmaster in the art of calypso, Kitchener’s music provides unique insights into Trinidad and Tobago’s culture. He was a griot, singing colorful tales about a colorful and complex society. Born in Arima, Trinidad, Aldwyn learned to play the guitar at an early age, becoming a local sensation. Soon after, he started performing in calypso tents in Port of Spain and… Read More »Kitchener – King of de Road–Garvin Blake

Reading Time 11 minsApril 15, 2022 An English cricket team was in the West Indies recently to play a 3-Test series. The West Indies prevailed, winning the final Test match in Grenada to the embarrassment of the visitors. This tour went by without significant unpleasantry. But a previous 1953-54 tour by an English team, then called the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club)1 when on overseas tours, was called ‘the most unpleasant and unfortunate experience in cricket since the visit of DR Jardine’s team to Australia in 1932/33’. EW Swanton would write that ‘as the tour spent its length…incident and misunderstanding followed… Read More »‘A most unpleasant and unfortunate experience ‘-Kenneth Jaikaransingh

Reading Time 3 minsApril 12, 2022 In 2019, I had the pleasure of witnessing the Big Drum Dance firsthand. It was my first time in Carriacou, the land of my grandparents, and I was eager to see an African religious tradition for the very first time, one that I considered myself to be a part of being of  Kayak1 descent. I was shocked, however, to find that many Kayaks I had spoken with, including my own family members,  did not consider the Big Drum Dance (abbreviated BDD) to be a formal religion like Christianity. There was no name for those… Read More »African Religious Retention in Carriacou — Raafeke

Reading Time 3 mins  April 8, 2022 ‘Anthony was at home with African philosophers such as Cabral and Nkrumah, equally adept with European theoreticians like Cornforth and Regis Debray… but he brought that knowledge down to the streets of Brooklyn and served everyday people.’ Some people are respected, others are loved, and a few are honored. Rarely, however, does one individual hit the high mark on all three counts, the recipient of all three attributes. To be loved, respected, and honored. Well, tonight, we are celebrating the life of such a person; Anthony Munroe, Gundy, Brother Anthony. When Paul Robeson died,… Read More »Anthony Munroe*, A Radical Humanist: In Service to the People — Kamau Odinga (Remarks of February 3, 2022)

Reading Time 5 mins April 8, 2022 GENDER EQUALITY TODAY FOR A SUSTAINABLE TOMORROW  I am deeply honoured to be participating in this virtual event amongst my African sisters during the month of “Her-Story,” just five days after the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery under the theme “Stories of Courage: Resistance to Slavery and Unity against Racism.” One such story is that of Nanny of the Maroons. Nanny was born c. 1686 in Ghana into the Ashanti ethnic group. Along with several relatives, she was enslaved and sent to Jamaica. Nanny, along with her brothers escaped… Read More »Presentation by Ambassador Thelma Phillip-Browne at the Spouses of African Ambassadors Association Function, March 30, 2022.