An African Thunderstorm
By David Rubadiri
From the west
Clouds come hurrying with
the wind
Turning sharply here and
there
Like a plague of locusts
Whirling, tossing up
things on its tail
Like a madman chasing
nothing.
Pregnant clouds
Ride stately on its back
Gathering to perch on
hills
Like dark sinister wings;
The Wind whistles by
And the trees bend to let
it pass
In the village
Screams of delighted
children
Toss and turn
In the din of whirling
wind,
Women- babies clinging on
their backs-
Dart about, in and out
madly
The Wind whistles by
Whilst trees bend to let
it pass.
Clothes wave like tattered
flags
To expose dangling breasts
Flying off as jagged blinding
flashes
Rumble, tremble, and crack
Amidst the smell of fired
smoke
And the pelting march of
the storm
The above
poem reminds us of the ominous presence and unbridled power that are associated
with an African thunderstorm. It may have started as a mild wind but then it
soon increased in velocity- whirling, tossing and altering every aspect of the
landscape it passed through; making its presence profoundly felt. Its strange
and insane mannerism cannot be easily understood by all yet conversely, cannot be
ignored either. It seemed to fascinate and delight the innocent and perhaps the
naïve who appeared mesmerized by the sheer natural beauty of its rhythmic sounds
and movements that undoubtedly, reflected the awesome power of God, the Creator.
Its fury created unwelcomed cracks in the landscape and even after the storm had
marched on; it left a lingering ‘smell of fired smoke’ in the air.
As we
celebrate Black History Month (BHM) 2013 here at NCU under the theme, “Breaking the
Silence, Unleashing the African Thunder”, I wish to draw some parallels between
the abovementioned thunderstorm and the Africans who came to work as chattel
slaves on sugar cane plantations, as cowboys on cattle ranches, miners in gold
mines and lumberjacks in forests within the Caribbean archipelago as well as on
the mainland territories.
Like the
African thunderstorm, the arrival of the West Africans to the Caribbean was
initially inconspicuous. The first
groups of Africans came as a small trickle in the 1500s and then became a
mighty torrent; with the advent of the Sugar Revolution by the mid 1600s when
millions of Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic Ocean along
the infamous second leg of the Triangular Trade-The Middle Passage. Needless to
say, the once unassuming streams of enslaved Africans soon outnumbered their
counterparts in the colonies. They and their descendants have continued to
multiply and in so doing, have profoundly altered the demographic landscape of the
Caribbean lands; making the region’s population, predominantly ‘black’.
Just like
the thunderstorm, the Africans were also not easily understood and were often
viewed as menacing savages (‘Guinea birds’) who were possessed with unbridled
passions that could only be quieted by breaking their spirits, changing their
names, their dress, their language, their beliefs and by extension, making them
bereft of their self worth and sense of identity. For centuries, Africans and
their descendants have been overshadowed by the ominous dark clouds of racial prejudice
and inferiority. Stereotyped by proverbial sayings such as “Nothing black no
good”; some have learned to despise the
colour of their skin, the texture of their hair, shape of their nose, the size
of their lips and so forth. Others have seemingly accepted that their lot in
life is to be ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’. Yet others have been numbed into silence,
being constantly told that their mode of communication was ‘bad’ or ‘inferior’,
and reflected the lingua of the uneducated masses. But then there are others
who have refused to be restrained by the narrow perceptions of others and have shown
themselves to be proud, strong, beautiful, gifted and black; deserving of an
equal place under the sun.
Let me
hasten to point out however that the debate of good culture versus bad culture or
bad language/proper language has been a polemic one and has represented the
cultural dilemma of societies like the Caribbean region that have been
colonized by others. The Creole languages, like the storm, may have had a profound
impact on the local landscape and its peoples yet may have failed to be seen on
the global radar and as such its importance and potency appear inconsequential.
Hence, the pendulum swings from the matter of local relevance to global acceptance
of culture and back again.
Undoubtedly,
the English Language and its concomitant European culture have enjoyed
international acceptance and prestige for centuries largely due to the
successes of Great Britain as a global imperial power. As a rule of thumb, the
dominant cultures of the great conquerors tended to become the observed standards
for the conquered nations. Though the term ‘imperialism’ is no longer in common
usage as before and there is a distinct paradigm shift from classifying the
world in such terms; nevertheless, it is clear that the former colonial powers have
not only remained the real decision makers of the commerce; but they have continued
to be the regional and global standard bearers of acceptable societal norms. It
is not surprising therefore that Standard English Language continues to reign
linguistically supreme and has even been declared, ‘the language of commerce’.
Indeed, it would be foolhardy for one to attempt surviving in today’s global
realities without a fair mastery of this language.
Contrastingly, the Creole languages have
not and may never share such acclaim; at least not in the near future. Creole
languages spoken by the majority of Caribbean peoples have remained essentially
off the radar. Challenged by its diversity and parochialism, these local
languages have proven difficult to standardize or even to be read or taught. Creole
languages have been learnt from birth and transmitted almost intuitively
through mundane oral interactions and demonstrations of storytelling, songs, proverbs
and other shared experiences. It has flourished through social exchanges that
occurred outside of the formal school settings.
In the poem
cited above, we are told of the ‘screams of delighted children’ that were heard
in the village. In a similar fashion, the Creole languages as well as other
Afro-Caribbean cultural retentions have been viewed often as the fascination of
the innocent and the naïve who are simply mesmerized by the sheer natural
beauty of the intoxicating rhythmic sounds and movements associated with
storytelling, proverbs, singing, drumming and dancing among the Afro-Caribbean
Diaspora. It is ironical that although these expressions have been celebrated
as a part of the region’s richly diverse cultural heritage; yet there persists
the notion that once individuals have been properly educated [about the dangers
of the ‘bad’ culture] or have been fully assimilated [into the more acceptable
‘cultured and civilized’ lifestyle] then they will soon abandon such childish
frivolities and embrace and hopefully master the more accepted speech, gait and
general lifestyle of their non-African [European] counterparts.
The resilience
of the African people as well as their culture to resist centuries of
Euro-centric socialization and forced assimilation (‘seasoning’ and established
laws) have made it analogous to the African thunderstorm which also could not
be constrained by human efforts. Like the storm, it left cracks and blemishes
in the various lands that it had touched. These cracks were not always welcomed
– especially by those who preferred a more homogeneous society, based largely on
the European values and norms.
In the
aftermath of the storm, objects that were deemed impenetrable were shaken,
stripped or changed. Similarly, the wind of change has begun to blow through
the Caribbean. There have been important movements towards the increased
visibility and respectability of the Afro-Caribbean culture especially their
language. As time marches on, the rich African
cultural legacy has not only been transmitted orally through proverbs, stories,
songs and poems by Caribbean cultural icons such as Jamaica’s Louise
Bennett-Coverley-Miss Lou but also through the written word. Pioneered by ‘Miss
Lou’ and bolstered by the publications of the Dictionary of Jamaican English (Frederic
G. Cassidy, 1967 & 1980) and the Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage (Richard
Allsopp, 2003); the Jamaican patois for instance, have been elevated to the prestigious
position of being listed by the Bible Society of the West Indies as one of the
recognized languages of world that have been used in the writing of the Holy
Scriptures. (Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment-2003).
Like
the storm, the residual smell and smoke of the smoldering flames of shared
experiences of our forefathers which were transported by the spoken words-whispered
after dark as bed time stories, or rehearsed for entertainment and leisure have
begun to morph in a formidable movement that cannot be easily ignored. “There
is a time to listen and a time to speak.” Listen to the Winds of change that
are blowing and break the silence that concerns our History in so doing release
the African thunder-the power and beauty of the African heritage.
WARNING-
Storm Advisory…A storm is coming!! Let
us break the silence and release the African thunder!!
Sheryl
A. Reid, Asst. Professor and Coordinator of History, Department of Humanities
