To be Anti-Black is to be Anti-Indigenous: Reflections on Emancipation
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-28-2014
Abstract
In 1970, the late Caribbean historian Elsa Goveia wrote that what unifies Caribbean society and culture is the subordination of blacks. It is a claim that has been roundly ignored within contemporary political and cultural work that seeks to frame Caribbean cultures in terms of survival, continuity, transformation, and the embrace of blackness. Goveia’s words, however, are as true today as they were then. Enslaved blacks were brought in to work on Dutch, French, British and other plantations because they were seen as the absolute lowest point of humanity. They could not be redeemed, even as Gentiles, as the Dominican friar Bartolomé de Las Casas strove to do for Indigenous peoples within the Spanish territories in the 16th century. This anti-blackness became foundational for the societies that ultimately emerged from colonialism.
Repository Citation
Jackson, S. N.
(2014). To be Anti-Black is to be Anti-Indigenous: Reflections on Emancipation. Stabroek News.
https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/english/181
