Black History Month: the Diaspora Edition

The following is an excerpt of one of the essays included in my second book.  Since this is Black History Month, I thought that it would be appropriate to put here.  Please enjoy.....

Black History Month: The Diaspora Edition

"I'm still learning that the pen's mightier than the sword,
But we still need the help of Brown Berets and Young Lords...
My artifacts cannont be beaten by false attacks,
But step to me...I'll go down fighting just like the Caribs and the Arawaks."
-  Knowledge As Supreme; "Phunkee Honduran's Flow"
(c) 1995


BALTIMORE, MD-I remember a number of years ago (around 1999, or 2000) reading an article that was posted on the website called "The Black World Today" (www.tbwt.org). In the article, the author discussed how Black History Month should be expanded (content-wise) to include our heroes that are from the Caribbean, considering the growing number of people immigrating to the United States from the islands, and how their children (and others, for that matter)are taught very little about our heroes & sheroes that have done great achievements throughout history that are from the islands.  I would like to piggyback on that notion, and feel that we should include all of our heroes and sheroes throughout the Diaspora, Afro Latinos included.

You have some brothers and sisters who can tell you about our American heroes and icons; Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, JR., Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth are usually the most well known names that people mention during Black History Month.  People might also invoke the names of certain contemporary celebrity personalities to be included in Black History Month celebrations.  At the same time, how many people are aware of such brothers and sisters like Walter Rodney, Frantz Fanon, Dr. Eric Williams, or Shirley Chisholm?  How often do you hear people invoking the names of ancestral greats and freedom fighters such as Antonio Maceo, Jose Marti, and Maroon leader Carlota of Cuba, Sebastian Lemba  of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Cordero and Manzano from Puerto Rico?  Are there many people that are familiar with Touissant L'Oveture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines from Haiti?  What about Nanny and Cudjoe from Jamaica?   You also have Juan Gualberto Gomez from Cuba, a hero from her War of Independence from Spain.  Jose Celso Barbosa had also fought for independence from the colonial grips of Spain, specifically for Puerto Rico.  None of us took our subjugation lying down.  We've all fought against slavery, and we continue to fight against colonialism.


To read more, feel free to purchase a copy of  my book "Raise Your Brown Black Fist 2: MORE Political Shouts of an Angry Afro Latino" to read the rest of the article.