So, while the media now gets a representative on the People's Constitution Commission, they have stirred the outrage of the U-Bad Educational Foundation. The UEF, very much like the Kriol Council, is demanding they be allowed to be part of the Commission as a socially conscious organization that has represented the interests of descendants of African Belizeans for decades.
This evening, YaYa Marin Coleman, the Chairperson of the UEF, said that she and another colleague made a formal request several months ago:
YaYa Marin Coleman - Chairperson, UBAD Educational Foundation (UEF)
"The state has been intentional in not accepting UEF advocacy. In March, we sent a letter for both myself as a chairperson of UEF and Bilal Morris in Los Angeles as substantive representatives for the African people. There's a difference between the type of representative, which is referred to as a descriptive representative, where people look identifiably African, for example, yet do not represent the interests of that group of people. That's why the state has no moral right to advocate for African people. Look at how they are treating African people. How do you want to advocate for African people when you are some of the biggest violators. The system itself that you all work for has always been the violator. And now, the people in the system - are giving us the middle finger and taking us for clowns when they are saying August 1st is the date that they will choose to launch the Peoples Constitution Commission, even though they know that the bill won't be ready until September. Why don't you wait until September So they are making a mockery of African people knowing that August 1st is African Emancipation Day, a public holiday? These are systems -this is not decolonization. They are just tossing that word out there."
