And the National Garifuna Council is not pleased with what they heard. Today we spoke with the Executive members who said they are disappointed at the disrespectful statements. They went as far as saying that those persons come to Belize adoring the Garifuna culture and when they settle here turn around and display prejudice:
Ifasina Efenyumi, Assistant Treasurer - NGC
"The comment that this man made, and maybe there are other persons that share his view, those who, those foreigners who are now occupying land in our country, who, when they first visit, say how much they love the spaces. When he mentioned that Garinagu are not indigenous, or the fact that we want to live in homogenous societies, it's an extremely erroneous statement to make. It is one of the things that maybe is a flaw for us as a people, because we are one of the most welcoming people among all the ethnic groups of Belize. You can still find homogenous Mestizo communities. All Mennonite communities are homogenous. You can find also Maya communities that are homogenous, meaning only Mayans live there, or only Mennonites live there, or only Mestizos live there. But within the people who are of dark complexion like myself, and we as Garinagu, we are Afro-descendant as well as indigenous. We don't need to explain that to anybody, but for those that need the explanation, that are ignorant of our history, then one of the things that makes us indigenous is our ancestry, because we descend from Kalinagos, Arawaks, and Africans."
"The natural reaction from many Garinagu was upset, was anger, because it was a disrespectful statement that was made. A statement made in ignorance. But we cannot focus our attention on the ignorant statement of a racist person. The mistake we've made is welcoming these people in our midst because we believe in humanity. That's how civilized people behave. And that has been our way from the beginning. But they keep proving themselves to be unworthy of being welcomed among civilized people. They keep showing us that."
"And so any person in their right mind would be upset by such a statement of ignorance, that such a statement of disrespect and disregard for the people."
"The harsh lesson is that these are people who have no respect for other people, unfortunately. And this is speaking in general terms because, of course, there are sensible human beings who happen to have Caucasian heritage. We do have some of those existing in the world. But too many of them that exist in the world, including those that have come to occupy our lands, they still disregard us as a people.And that's how their ancestors behaved. And so that is how they behave too, unfortunately. And so now we end up having to regret allowing these people in our spaces. Now, when he spoke about this non-Garifuna community that is being annexed to Hopkins, dude, you came to Hopkins. From the time you came, you came to Hopkins. Because our ancestors have been occupying that space from in the 1800s. We've been there in that space. Our bones are buried there. The ancestors, our ancestors' bones are buried there along that coast. Right? So we're not trying to annex anybody to Hopkins. If you have come with respect or you have come using this very capitalist system, because that is what has happened to Garifuna communities in this country, is this capitalist colonial system of land distribution has been to the disadvantage of Carinago because we have been displaced as a result of it. And as the National Garifuna Council, this is something that we are taking a strong stance against because it is a violation of our rights as indigenous people."
The NGC has since sent out a letter for all Garifuna people to protect their land.
