Reparations for Garifuna?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 12, 2011
Contacts: José Francisco Ávila (718) 402-7700 info@garifunacolaition.org
New York – The Board of Directors of the Garifuna Coalition USA, Inc. a, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization on the 214th Anniversary of the Exile of the Garifuna People from the island of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and the in the International Year for People of African Descent, would like to join St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister the honorable Doctor Ralph Gonsalves’ call for reparation for the genocide against the Garifunas by the British.
On September 26, 2007, while addressing the United Nations General Assembly; St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister the Honorable Doctor Ralph Gonsalves, made a call for reparation for the genocide by those nations involved in slavery. More recently, in October 2009, Dr Gonsalves stated “In order to impose its authority and power, the armed forces of British colonialism were not satisfied with merely defeating the Garifuna and killing their leaders including the indomitable Garifuna Chief, Joseph Chatoyer. They went much further. “The British launched an unrestrained criminal campaign against the Garifuna men, women and children. Thousands of the Garifuna were slaughtered …. It was violence in its natural state against innocent defenseless people…." Dr. Gonsalves said up to today, the British have not acknowledged their genocidal crime against humanity, and neither have they consequentially offered compensation to St. Vincent and the Grenadines for substantially obliterating the Garifuna nation.”
Furthermore, on April 1, St Vincent and the Grenadines Consul General in New York Selmon Walters made it known that “The British must pay reparations to the Garifuna People for the wicked deeds they have done against the Garifuna People. The British exterminated many of the Garifuna people. It was an act of genocide against the Garifuna people.”
“On the 214th Anniversary of the Exile of the Garifuna People from the island of St Vincent and the Grenadines, The Garifuna Coalition joins Prime Minister Gonsalves’ and Consul General Walters’ call for reparation for the genocide against the our ancestors by the British, “ said Jose Francisco Avila president of the Garifuna Coalition USA, Inc.
St Vincent and the Grenadines is the Ancestral homeland of the Garifuna people, who defended it against the colonizers in two so-called Carib Wars of 1772-73 and 1795-96. The struggle against the French and British colonials resulted in the Caribs in St Vincent being the last of the indigenous people in the region to hold out against European imperialism. Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer, first National Hero of St Vincent and the Grenadines, is the most visible symbol of that struggle to maintain the sovereignty of the land. Chatoyer was killed on March 14, 1795, after his death, approximately 5,000 Garifunas were subsequently interned on Balliceaux, a small island off the mainland. Disease, melancholy and starvation reduced the population to 2,500 when the remainder were rounded up in British naval ships and were exiled off to Roatan Island off the coast of Honduras, there to begin a period of wandering and subsequent settlement in many Central American republics, including Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize. The survivors of British injustice formed the nucleus of the modern Garifuna community in the Diaspora.
Garifuna Pride - Our Voice - Our Vision
Garinagu Wagia!
Contacts: José Francisco Ávila (718) 402-7700 info@garifunacolaition.org
New York – The Board of Directors of the Garifuna Coalition USA, Inc. a, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization on the 214th Anniversary of the Exile of the Garifuna People from the island of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and the in the International Year for People of African Descent, would like to join St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister the honorable Doctor Ralph Gonsalves’ call for reparation for the genocide against the Garifunas by the British.
On September 26, 2007, while addressing the United Nations General Assembly; St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister the Honorable Doctor Ralph Gonsalves, made a call for reparation for the genocide by those nations involved in slavery. More recently, in October 2009, Dr Gonsalves stated “In order to impose its authority and power, the armed forces of British colonialism were not satisfied with merely defeating the Garifuna and killing their leaders including the indomitable Garifuna Chief, Joseph Chatoyer. They went much further. “The British launched an unrestrained criminal campaign against the Garifuna men, women and children. Thousands of the Garifuna were slaughtered …. It was violence in its natural state against innocent defenseless people…." Dr. Gonsalves said up to today, the British have not acknowledged their genocidal crime against humanity, and neither have they consequentially offered compensation to St. Vincent and the Grenadines for substantially obliterating the Garifuna nation.”
Furthermore, on April 1, St Vincent and the Grenadines Consul General in New York Selmon Walters made it known that “The British must pay reparations to the Garifuna People for the wicked deeds they have done against the Garifuna People. The British exterminated many of the Garifuna people. It was an act of genocide against the Garifuna people.”
“On the 214th Anniversary of the Exile of the Garifuna People from the island of St Vincent and the Grenadines, The Garifuna Coalition joins Prime Minister Gonsalves’ and Consul General Walters’ call for reparation for the genocide against the our ancestors by the British, “ said Jose Francisco Avila president of the Garifuna Coalition USA, Inc.
St Vincent and the Grenadines is the Ancestral homeland of the Garifuna people, who defended it against the colonizers in two so-called Carib Wars of 1772-73 and 1795-96. The struggle against the French and British colonials resulted in the Caribs in St Vincent being the last of the indigenous people in the region to hold out against European imperialism. Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer, first National Hero of St Vincent and the Grenadines, is the most visible symbol of that struggle to maintain the sovereignty of the land. Chatoyer was killed on March 14, 1795, after his death, approximately 5,000 Garifunas were subsequently interned on Balliceaux, a small island off the mainland. Disease, melancholy and starvation reduced the population to 2,500 when the remainder were rounded up in British naval ships and were exiled off to Roatan Island off the coast of Honduras, there to begin a period of wandering and subsequent settlement in many Central American republics, including Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize. The survivors of British injustice formed the nucleus of the modern Garifuna community in the Diaspora.
Garifuna Pride - Our Voice - Our Vision
Garinagu Wagia!
Labels: Garifuna
posted by Karl Eklund at 2:26 PM
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