September 15, 2014
To: Editor
Please allow me to publicly
express support to the use of Garifuna and other local languages in public
spaces. Above all, right now, kwik, fast and hurry—APOLOGIZE! Yes, you, First
Caribbean Bank … you who have, admittedly, sponsored numbers of Kriol,
Garifuna, and other local cultural functions in the 17 or so territories you
operate in. But that just does not matter anymore. Why did you allow this
linguistic hurricane to bubble and boil from what, perhaps up until your
reaction you could have handled with far more sensitivity, humility, and, well,
just good manners, man! You see, me, Silvaana Maree Udz (nee Woods), avid
radio, newspaper, and local TV news viewer, can only critically respond to
media reports, as I was not in Ms. Martinez’s shoes when you—First Caribbean
Bank—were threading upon her dignity as a human being and when you were mashing
up her right—her inalienable, fundamental, constitutional right—to use her
language in public spaces. At the very, very least, publicly apologize to Ms.
Martinez, to the Garifuna community, and to ALL Belizeans. Whether or not you
feel culpable, or whether or not you feel protected by your own self-acclaimed
inadequately-defined language policy, the reality is you have, whether
advertently or not, hurt us. Not just “us” as your Belizean clients, but “us”
as your Caribbean folk.
In January 2011, the Charter of
Caribbean Language Rights was ratified at a historic meeting in Jamaica that
culminated several months of pre-work by regional subcommittee members. The
2011 Charter on Caribbean Language Rights established this fundamental right to
use one’s local and territorial languages in any public space as critical to
the furtherance of democratic societies. It was signed unto on January 14, 2011
by three Belizean educators: Sir Colville Young, Belize’s foremost linguist;
Dr. Rosalind Bradley, the then Literacy director at the Ministry of Education’s
Literacy Unit, and by Dr. Silvaana Udz of the National Kriol Council. The Charter
is promoted through the International Center for Caribbean Language Rights
headquartered at UWI, MONA campus. The Charter draws on several UNESCO position
statements in its call to have governments of the region create the enabling
environment for establishing translation and other such mechanisms in
organizations, companies, and forums that deal with health and hospitals,
economic and financial transactions, political representation and discussion in
the national assembly, and in cultural, educational, and other similar life
processes. For more, go directly to:<http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/documents/CARIBBEANLANGUAGECharter.pdf>
So, this is my visceral reaction
to the “rokshan” First Caribbean Bank has been causing in the minds and hearts
of all Belizeans. Yes, the incident that sparked the ever simmering bubbling
and boiling kettle of language and racial discrimination in Belize (“Who me?
Racist? Luk ya, I have Black friends.”) Right. Like window dressing. Belize’s
two traditional Black groups, Garifuna and Kriol, have been locked in an
intimate dance of self discovery over the decades, and, check this: if out of
the total disrespect and arrogance displayed by First Caribbean Bank in its
response to what has emerged as clear-cut language discrimination against at
least one employee (ok, allow me to be judge and jury here: I trust that Sandra
Miranda, Roy Cayetano, Myrtle and all mi other Garifuna brethren and sistren
already don check out di human rights violation information).
And di irony of it all … if I
never know better, I would think that with a name like First Caribbean, such a
bank would embrace all things Caribbean. But, they are based in Barbados ... so
what else could one expect? (Ok, forgive that barb, my Bajan brethren and
sistren … but , really, “dehn noh kaal unu “Little England” fu notn!”
The Dickie B. TV show of Monday
Sept. 15, 2014, amplified some of the details of the incident regarding
language discrimination, vis-à-vis Garifuna use by an employee at a First
Caribbean Bank in Belize. “Disrespect
and arrogance … This is a socio-political issue” said Mr. Swaso, who is also
the current mayor of Dangriga. “This is a national issue,” he reiterated. I
certainly agree. Garifuna language da fu aal a wi; and eevn if we noh talk it,
we dance to it, sing to it, love and laugh to it and sway eena St. Martin de
Porres Church to the “Our Father” in Garifuna as we hold hands with our
Garifuna brothers and sisters. And, on the same show, Sandra Miranda of the
National Garifuna Council, spoke of the rational approach being taken to deal
with this critically important issue to our national identify. Each cultural
spoke makes up the Belizean wheel of life. As Miranda noted, “action points are
developing … no divide and conquer.” She spoke of a coalition of Belizeans
(count me in!) as “we won’t win the battle individually.”And Miranda clearly is
not governed only by her rational mind on this issue; she also worked with the
late, great patriot, Hon. Philip Goldson, so we know her heart is engaged too.
I feel so strongly about this
issue because it impacts ALL of us in terms of our local language use. Yes, we
need global languages like English and Spanish, but there is no need to stamp
out our lovely, functional, beautifully expressive local languages in so doing.
Of particular note: the Garifuna language
is one of the critically important pieces of the Belizean multilingual fabric
that defines us as a nation and is also an acclaimed part of UNESCO World
Heritage designations. It is with pleasure that, on behalf of the language arm
of the National Kriol Council, the Belize Kriol Project, I also take this
opportunity to again publicly thank and acknowledge the National Garifuna
Council and the late Mr. Augustine Flores for the very valuable advice and
support the Garifuna Council gave to the start up of the National Kriol Council
in the early 1990s. Moreover, Belizean icon the late Andy Palacio and so many
other Garifuna musicians , teachers, artists, clergy and others, through their continuous promotion of Garifuna
culture and valiant efforts to preserve, use, and teach the Garifuna language,
provided the National Kriol Council and its early stalwarts like Leela Vernon,
Bro. David, the late Dr. Ruby Marith (Perriot), and the late Philip Goldson,
with solid guidance on positive, effective ways to encourage all Belizeans to
love their home languages even as they equally engage in learning the
much-needed global languages today of English and Spanish. Additionally, the sharing of expertise
and Kriol literacy materials with the Kriol–speaking communities along
Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast was as a direct result of the contact established
between Andy Palacio and Roy Cayetano of the Garifuna Council and local Kriol
Council members, a regional relationship that has strengthened the continued
development with the Kriol dictionary and other publications. Language is an integral part of a
culture and when the language ceases to be or its use is threatened, the
existence of the culture is in jeopardy.
I close
by quoting from the press release sent out by the National Kriol Council last
week: “The National Kriol Council of Belize … extends solidarity to its
Garifuna brothers and sisters to endure the process of taking any means
necessary to ensure the Garifuna language or any other language in Belize is
never restricted from use. The use of one’s first language—the language of
one’s home and community—is a language right, as indelible a right as the right
to life, education, freedom of speech, religion, and all the other fundamental
rights embraced in our Constitution.”
Sincerely,
Silvaana
Udz
Lover of Local Languages
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