PRESS RELEASE: Walking tour to Godet burial ground St. Eustatius to raise awareness of the protection of its marginalized Afrikan heritage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, December 15, the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance [short; Alliance) organizes a walking tour to the Godet burial ground on the southwest coast of St. Eustatius. The Godet burial ground is adjacent to the Waterfort, the islands’ most significant and at the same time most neglected memorial to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Marjolijn kok, the community archaeologist of the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance, will also be present at the site to answer questions besides Alliance member and St. Eustatius Historical Foundation President Carlos Lopes, Alliance member Derrick Simmons and President of the Alliance Kenneth Cuvalay

The Alliance has submitted an application to Unesco Paris to include the Godet Burial ground and Waterfort in Unesco’s international memorial Routes of Enslaved Peoples. https://en.unesco.org/themes/fostering-rights-inclusion/slave-route Alliance President Cuvalay: "It is time for St. Eustatius to claim its rightful place in the tragic history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and realize the crimes that were committed to our people".

As with the Golden Rock burial ground, several excavations of ancestral remains have taken place at the Godet burial ground over the years. These were often carried out by American students who came on field trips organized by the St. Eustatius Centre of Archaeological Research (SECAR). The community of St. Eustatius was  never involved, and the research results were never shared with the people on the island. The site was left in a horrible condition (see photo) with bones sticking out of the ground.

The walking tour aims to make the community of St. Eustatius aware that the almost invisible burial grounds of their ancestors are also part of the cultural heritage of St. Eustatius and that we must take ownership to protect and preserve it. The Alliance is also lobbying for a grand memorial at the site, as argued on their blog last year December https://afrikanhistoryandconsciousness.blogspot.com/2021/12/press-release-ucf-caribbean-wants.html


Date: Thursday, December 15, 2022 (Kingdom Day)
Time: 11 am
Gathering location: Entrance of Salem Cemetery (Smokey Alley side), St. Eustatius    



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Information for the Editor
Kenneth Cuvalay, President of the “St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance”
- Phone/WhatsApp St. Eustatius: +599 3194975
- WhatsApp Netherlands +31 6 29014308
- Email: steustatiusafrikanburialground@gmail.com  
- Website: https://afrikanhistoryandconsciousness.blogspot.com/ or http://steustatiusafrikanburialground.org/ (as of July 2022)
- Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/steustatiusafrikanburialgroundalliance/
- Instagram @steustatiusafrikanburialground


The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance is a movement that protests the excavations of Afrikan free and enslaved Afrikans at an 18th-century Afrikan burial ground in St. Eustatius (see https://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsInPeace). The protests started in April 2021 and were initially led by the political party Ubuntu Connected Front Caribbean. Located in St. Eustatius and with allies around the world, the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance broadened the scope of the struggle focusing on other Afrikan burial grounds in St. Eustatius such as the Afrikan Burial Ground Godet Plantation St. Eustatius (Godet/Fort Amsterdam). One of the aims is to further broaden the scope of our struggle to the Pan-Afrikanism level, connecting with and working with Afrikan-centered organizations and movements that are also fighting for the preservation of our ancestors’ endangered Afrikan burial grounds around the world and taking control of our narrative that has been distorted.

Afrika is spelled with a “k” instead of a “c” based on the following insights:
- It is a Pan-Afrikan spelling which relates both to the Afrikan continent and to the Diaspora;
- It reflects the spelling of “Afrika” in all Afrikan languages;
- It includes the concept of “ka”, the vital energy which both sustains and creates.

In response to the protests, we published a scientific article in January 2022 “A Future That Does Not Forget: Collaborative Archeology in the Colonial Context of Sint Eustatius (Dutch Caribbean)”. We also published the “Manifesto: What the FARO Convention means for St. Eustatius”.


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Blog https://afrikanhistoryandconsciousness.blogspot.com/2021/12/st-eustatius-african-burial-ground.html
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