Written by Shirley Thomas
THE African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) yesterday celebrated African MAAFA Day, also known as Holocaust Day, with a colourful and rather impressive programme staged under the theme: “Honouring our Heroes of 1823”. Significantly, yesterday also marked the birth anniversary of Guyana’s iconic sculptor and artist, the late great Phillip Moore, AA. Consequently, a large gathering of committed and keenly enthusiastic African brothers and sisters, appropriately attired in African garb, turned out in celebration of the dual occasion, and assembled at the Parade Ground, from whence they set out, at 8:00 hrs, for the Band Stand on Sea Wall Road, Kingston, the traditional venue of the ceremony.

Organisers of the proceedings said the significance of assembling at the Parade Ground lies in the fact that the heads of slaves who were beheaded during the 1823 Slave Rebellion were hung there on tall posts, and left for their blood to drain, so they could be made an example and serve as a deterrent to others who might contemplate daring to revolt. The slave masters also viewed it as a very demeaning practice which would greatly diminish the esteem of the slaughtered slaves.

Accompanied by drumming in celebration of MAAFA Day yesterday, the brothers and sisters proudly marched through the streets of Georgetown with resilience and purpose to the recently spruced up Sea Wall Band Stand. “We are remembering our ancestors, so we have to rejoice,” they declared, as they beat their drums whilst wending their way through the streets.

Chaired by Sister Penda Guyan, the programme began with the reading of ACDA’s Affirmation by all present. This was followed by a Libation Ritual conducted by Rev. Dr. Rudi Guyan; and other items on the programme included nostalgic singing of patriotic songs; a presentation by St. Peter’s African Apostolic Church, the first African church in Guyana; and a poem/skit performed by children of ACDA’s Social Welfare Committee, punctuated by symbolic but spirited and energetic African drumming by Primo’s fingertip drummers and others.

The Holocaust Message was delivered by ACDA’s Brother Eric Phillips, while the keynote speaker was Dr. Hazel Woolford. There were several other messages outlining the significance of MAAFA Day and the atrocities of the holocaust, which saw the ruthless and inhumane destruction of thousands of hapless Africans, and not only on their journey across the Middle Passage.

Other speakers included Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green; APNU MP Ms Volda Lawrence; Bro. Magic; Bro. Barrington and others.

Dr. Hazel Woolford said life on the plantations was a virtual nightmare. The slaves suffered horrendous and brutal attacks of all forms, including murder, decapitation, public hanging of pregnant women; rupturing of their abdomens and removing their unborn babies, which the slave masters fed to animals. And all this could come about simply because an enslaved woman dared to exercise the option of having intercourse with another slave of her choice. The practice was the prerogative of the slave masters to choose and arrange mating between women of child-bearing age, and only with men of a very strong and robust breed, who would produce offspring of their kind. They considered any other mating not to be economically viable.

Meanwhile, Brother Eric Phillips, an Executive Member of ACDA, described Holocaust Day as the most significant day on the global African Calendar, on which they reflect on the pain and suffering of their ancestors. On this day, ‘African Holocaust Day’ or ‘MAAFA Day, African brothers and sisters focus on, raise awareness of, and condemn the atrocities of the wars that were held to capture and enslave their ancestors, he said. MAAFA Day is a time to map out strategies to overcome such ills.

Brothers and sisters recalled that the entire coastal infrastructure in Guyana was built by the blood, sweat and tears of their African foreparents, and that was but a timely reminder.

Commenting on the massive loss of African females during the slave trade, Phillips said, “We lost over 135 million people in Africa between 1650 and 1850. We must also remember that even of those who were placed on ships, 10 percent of them died whilst waiting in dungeons and prisons to arrive at their destinations.

“We must also remember that 12 percent of them died during the Trans-Atlantic Journey, and more importantly, in Guyana, 33 per cent of those who arrived died within the first three years.

“This is our history; this is our silent witness. These are things we do not want to speak about anymore,” he declared.

Phillips was recently invited to represent Guyana in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, at the CARICOMN Nations Conference dealing with the matter of reparation. Today, 175 years after Emancipation, 14 CARICOM countries, including Guyana, have passed a resolution to put in place a structure to seek reparation for slaves whose lives were lost amidst the atrocities of the slave trade.

Phillips therefore is now a member of the Guyana Reparations Committee, as well as the CARICOM Reparations Commission which would help regional heads of state to fight a diplomatic, political, economic, cultural and social battle.

“Let there be no excuse about this event. Let us fully understand what we are tasked to do,” Phillips affirmed.

Phillips expressed his firm conviction that were the West to be asked to pay us reparations, that money would amount to a trillion dollars. Therefore, on such grounds, they would do everything possible not to pay, including trying to destabilize us. “The West cannot afford to pay us. The West will try to do anything in their power to destabilize us,” he said.

At the appointed hour, all assembled, carrying flowering shrubs in hand, and marched around the Band Stand thrice. Led by the elders and accompanied by drumming, they proceeded towards the Atlantic Ocean, where a Libation Ceremony was conducted by elders, including Brother Cecil Mercurius and others.

Libation is the pouring on of water in honour of African foreparents whose lives were lost on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and whose bones are at the bottom of the sea. “We thank them for the part they played in making life easier for us today. It also takes into account the slaves who were beheaded (murdered) along the East Coast. It was because of their sacrifices that other freed slaves were able to eventually purchase villages along the East Coast Demerara. We have been deprived of it, so we are now seeking the Creator’s help to become a united people, so that we would be able to gain what we never should have lost,” said Bishop Randolph Beresford.