I was born on an island where my fore parents were taken to as slaves by Europeans invaders of Africa approximately five or six hundred years ago. Sincere my birth and progression through life I have traveled both as a soldier and a retired soldier. I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to experience different lifestyles during my time as a soldier in Europe. I was also able to visit areas in South America and other islands in the Caribbean.
The societies of the African race in most of the Caribbean islands and America today are remnants of the Slave Trade and whether we as a people are prepared to accept that or not, those are the facts. Our progression as a people depends very much on whether we are able to accept the history of our past. In order to be able to find our way through the future we must be able to know where we came from, otherwise we would lose sight of our vision to the future.
A month ago I was having a conversation with an inhabitant of one of the islands the subject of our past history came into the conversation. She informed me that her grandmother was born on that island. Therefore, there can be no argument as to where her roots are. I believe that mentalities like that hinder the progress of our people because the names we carry as a people are not the names of our original beginning.
I am writing this article because I am at present visiting one of the islands who are celebrating their carnival period. The costumes were fascinating; the group performances gave enthusiasm to the spectators to join the dance. The Makajumbies were outstandingly impressive and as I have said before I believe that the reason the African race was able to survive three hundred years of demoralizing treatment by Europeans Slave Traders is partly due to the fact that the African race knows how to enjoy themselves when the hard work is done. There can be no question that our behavior today relates to the demeanor and lifestyles of our African origin .However; whilst the enjoyment goes on we must not forget our original home land and their sufferings. The last time I looked up the details of the AIDS virus in the whole of Africa 17 million Africans had already died of AIDS. Several million more are living with the infection, not withstanding the famines and terrorist struggles within the whole of the African continent which is responsible for large numbers of the life of the African people {our people}. The question is how did AIDS managed to spread so rapidly in Africa. Will they be able to overcome the demands of the virus on the lives of young Africans? The overall question is what the future is for our people.
