Bob Marley Museum, Kingston, Jamaica. Photos: Bob Marley Museum Facebook
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The Caribbean Islands received an estimated 25 million visitors and tourists last year who spent over $27 billion but despite the influx of money, those who call these lands of tropical and vacation paradise home, poverty, crime and economic inequality is too often a bleak reality. Remnants from a long history of American, British and French enslavement, occupation and colonialism and the influence of Western nations and institutions still linger.
The challenges Blacks face in the Caribbean mirror ones facing Blacks in America. In many areas the situation reminds some of what faced Black America, especially Black men leading up to the historic 1995 Million Man March called by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam. Nearly two decades later the 19th Anniversary commemoration of the largest gathering in U.S. history which drew an estimated 1.7 to 2 million Black men is coming to Kingston, Jamaica October 17-19.
“In Barbados and throughout the Caribbean, slavery remains a vivid and potent metaphor, and a cultivated memory,” Professor Laurent Dubois, of Duke University wrote in a New York Times op-ed in October 2013, titled “Confronting the Legacies of Slavery.”
Today high debt and slow economic growth hampers the ability of many Carib nations to flourish in ways that positively impact the masses of its people. According to an International Monetary Fund assessment, the financial sector in the Caribbean is large relative to economic size and is dominated by banks, many of them Canadian. Total assets of the financial systems in the region averaged 320 percent of Gross Domestic product but 149 percent of it was held by banks.
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Caribbean economies are relatively small, very open to international trade but highly exposed to natural disasters noted the IMF.
Many countries economically fluctuate depending on the tourism market.
Development and sustainability of agricultural systems in the region is also a continuing challenge.
Employment is also a constant issue. The average unemployment rate in the Caribbean in 2012 was 12.5 percent, according to a UN report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. The region’s highest unemployment rate was in St. Lucia at 20.6 percent with the Bahamas at 14.7 percent, Belize 14.4 percent and Jamaica at 13.7 percent.
There are also concerns about whether education systems across the Caribbean have focused enough on making her citizens competitive in a global environment.
There is great significance of this event coming to the Caribbean with a keynote address delivered by Min. Farrakhan,Sunday, Oct. 19 at the National Arena in Kingston, said David Muhammad, who represents the Minister in Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean. The address is free and open to the public. The venue holds over 6,500 and there will be overflow seating available outside.
“I am looking at this on basically four pillars of evolutionary progression as it pertains to the concept of the Million Man March and the Holy Day of Atonement,” said David Muhammad. Stage one began in 1995 and the focus on Black males with a progression to family, organizations and now the Caribbean explained David Muhammad who along with Nation of Islam officials in the U.S. and Caribbean are organizing and working hard for a successful event. This will also be the first time that the commemoration has been held outside of the U.S.
Though primarily recognized as a Black American religious organization and movement, the Nation has several members from the Caribbean.
Caribbean leaders and officials, who met with a Nation of Islam delegation earlier this month, embraced the movement, its mission and its leader during a visit to Jamaica to officially announce the Oct. 19 commemoration.
Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad speaks at press conference announcing Million Man March Commemoration in Kingston, Jamaica. Photos: Richard B. Muhammad
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Led by Ishmael Muhammad, the Student National Assistant to Min. Farrakhan, the group met with the Opposition Leader, the mayor of Kingston and her staff and with the president of a theological college and others as part of preparations.
The same movement for atonement, reconciliation and responsibility, will be the themes for the gathering in Jamaica which will also be broadcast via Internet worldwide including the majority of the Caribbean.
David Muhammad, who represents Min. Farrakhan in Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean, speaking at press conference.
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David Muhammad and Clive Muhammad who is the Minister’s representative in Jamaica and Nation of Islam members are meeting and working with Muslims, Christians, politicians, Rastafarians and community leaders spreading the word about what is anticipated to be an historic and moving weekend. Meetings have occurred with groups representing Barbados, Trinidad, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Guyana, Jamaica and more.
“It is a tremendous honor to see the idea of the Holy Day of Atonement expand to embrace the Caribbean region and also for the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to take the time to meticulously plan the inclusion of almost all CARICOM states,” said David Muhammad, referring to the organization representing 15 Caribbean countries.
He added that though there may be various views as to which of the many pressing issues facing Carib countries should be given top priority; the state of education especially among young people is one of them.
Mikail Yusuf Muhammad recently moved back to the country of his father’s birth, St. Vincent and the Grenadines from Canada.
The mood of the people is ready for such a message Min. Farrakhan will deliver, he told The Final Call not long after touching down in Jamaica to help spread the word and prepare for the commemoration.
Members of Fruit of Islam hand out fliers in Kingston for Oct. 19 Million Man March Commemoration.
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“I was actually today at the headquarters of the 12 Tribes of Israel the Rastafari … they were very, very enthusiastic to hear from the Minister, to have the Minister in Jamaica. They are expecting much from him in terms of guidance to deal with the hard times that Jamaica is facing right now” said Mikail Yusuf Muhammad.
He said there is a direct link between how much control colonialists had on certain islands and the spirit of the people. The British had more control of the flat lands in Barbados compared to the mountainous country of St. Vincent. The Brits also did not venture into the Blue Mountain areas of Jamaica, said Mikail Yusuf Muhammad.
“Where the British had control, the people are still totally still swayed by the British. They swear by the British. The queen (of England) is their queen. Whereas places like St. Vincent and even a lot Jamaican people are not so enamored.” The operation of government, economy, agriculture and other areas still reflects oftentimes what was put in place by the British, he said.
“We still have a parliamentary system that might have worked for England but it’s not conducive for proper government in the Caribbean. The crops that are used are still the same crops that were planted to feed the slaves,” added Mikail Yusuf Muhammad.
Hugh Muhammad was born in Kingston and moved to the U.S. when he was 11. The upcoming Million Man March commemoration is the fulfillment of a dream he has carried since his youth he told The Final Call.
“From 1972 until now, Jamaica has been on a decline and our people have been divided so to talk about the unity of Jamaica and the Caribbean for me, it’s a part of the vision that I had as a child to see Jamaica independent, vibrant and in the perspective of being a part of the greater rise of Black people as a whole,” said Hugh Muhammad.
He sees the Caribbean as having that cultural and historical reality in that rise.
Ademah Muhammad, director of special events for the Nation of Islam, said planning is going very well. His family is from St. Croix and Barbados. He also lived in the Caribbean for 15 years.
Brother Ademah Muhammad takes a brief moment to greet Nation of Islam brotherhood in Kingston, Jamaica.
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“The Million Man March anniversary is going to go throughout the Caribbean. It is going to be seen live in over 23 countries. It’s going to be in certain parts of England, certain parts of Africa. It is going to be on the air on cable and live radio in Jamaica. It is going to be in Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana, Antigua, the Virgin Islands, St. Kitts,” said Ademah Muhammad.
The message is for the Caribbean, he added.
A reparations movement CARICOM nations are collectively pursuing as well as the upcoming Million Man March commemoration in Kingston is a sign that a progression toward true unity among the Black nation is a reality.
Min. Farrakhan, speaking in April at Chicago State University during a “Revitalizing the Reparations Movement” forum, laid out the critical importance of the Caribbean and its call for reparations as presented by Sir Hilary Beckles, who was in attendance.
The Muslim leader has established relationships, offered wisdom and imparted knowledge to the people of the Caribbean for decades.
His affinity for the region of the world that birthed his mother, who was from St. Kitts, and his father, who was from Jamaica, is clear. He consistently pays homage and respect to great freedom fighters and Black liberation icons from the region.
“The Caribbean gave us Marcus Garvey, they gave us George Padmore; they gave us C.L.R. James. They gave us Edward Wilmot Blyden. A whole bunch of strong folk came up out of the Caribbean,” he told the audience at Chicago State. We owe a debt to the Caribbean, said Min. Farrakhan.
Part of that debt is helping to protect the region from the super rich and those who see the Caribbean as a playground and who don’t value its development or its people. “There is a trend in the Caribbean where land and citizenships are being sold as foreign investment,” Ishmael Muhammad told the Gleaner newspaper in a recent interview. It is important the land ownership, in particular, stays in the hands of Blacks in the Caribbean, he added. “Land is a pathway to wealth, and we cannot hope that foreign investment will provide the jobs that are needed, so we cannot allow the Caribbean to become the playground of Europe, Asia and elsewhere. To that end, the young people of Jamaica must be encouraged to use the land for farming to feed ourselves and not depend on imported foods,” he said.
