BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – POPULAR social commentator and historian Washington ‘Washie’ Archibald is of the opinion that Kittitians do not understand the true meaning of being black.
Archibald made this comment on Friday (Feb. 1) during a interview in observance of Black History Month, which is celebrated worldwide in February.
“It doesn’t seem as though people of St. Kitts understand the true meaning of being black. I don’t think we understand our history. And our black history means that we came from Africa as slaves to the Caribbean, and slavery is abolished and we should own the Caribbean.”
He asserted that the resources of the Caribbean should belong to black people, because black people were enslaved by those very resources.
He briefly touched on the Federation’s land sale issue.
“All this that is happening in St. Kitts now, with our lands being bartered away to white people…white foreigners; and it doesn’t seem that our (people) know the notion of being black and that we have a duty to separate ourselves from things which were done to us during slavery.”
He also pointed to the uncertainty of whether children today are fully aware of the hardship endured by their ancestors and the importance of honouring such a legacy.
“I don’t know if our black people children are conscious of the tremendous tribulation which their ancestors have passed. I don’t think they understand that they have to cherish the memories of their ancestors and satisfy our ancestors that we are making good use of their legacy which they left behind for us.”
Archibald alluded to the need to have activities and events leading up to Black History Month instead of waiting until the month of February begins.
“We need to have black history month and we should really be building up towards it; not just wait until it comes in February. Everything we do in the month, we should be doing things that would make our children understand the nature of being black and make us proud of being black in the Caribbean.”
