Invitation: Webinar Preserving Endangered & Marginalized Afrikan Cultural Heritage, May 26, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOPIC
Preserving Endangered & Marginalized Afrikan Cultural Heritage
 

GUEST SPEAKERS

Prof. Dr. Nemata Blyden – University of Virginia (US). Specialized in Afrikan American, Afrikan diaspora and Afrikan history. Prof. Dr. Blyden’s family origins and heritage are from St. Eustatius and she will touch the surface of the island for the first time in May.

Topic: Afrikan and American and Caribbean migrations and the impact on family history research and identity.

Associate Professor Dr. Kimani Nehusi – Temple University Philadelphia (US). Specialized in Afrikology and Afrikan American Studies.

Topic: Egyptology and how the memory of a Black Egypt had to be destroyed by Eurocentric academia. An introduction to Afrikology.

Dr. Artwell Cain – Independent researcher, cultural anthropologist, and founder of the Foundation for Cultural Knowledge & Identity (SCKI) Aruba. Specializes in the themes of Trans-Atlantic slavery and reparations, ethnicity, and identity.

Topic: The decolonization of memory and heritage.

Abstract: Memory is to know, recognize, respect, and venerate. How can this be possible when Transatlantic slavery memory is not decolonialized? In other words what is taken up in our construct of this memory? Can we truly and safely identify with this memory? How does it relate to what we accept as our heritage? The heritage of the burial ground and its content in St. Eustatius is connected to whose ancestors? To decolonize memory is to pursue a clean-up job relating to what we were taught and consequently brainwashed with.

PROGRAM

• Welcome, opening & introduction speakers and introduction of the theme by Mr. Kenneth Cuvalay, President of the SE-ABG Alliance (10 minutes)
• Presentations invited speakers (10 minutes + additional 5 minutes Q&A)
• 10-minute break
• Open floor: Interactive discussion with speakers and audience

TIME 

• St. Eustatius 2-4 pm
• Jamaica 1-3 pm
• Suriname 3-4 pm
  
• New York 2-4 pm
• Amsterdam 8-10 pm
• UK 7-9 pm

WEBINAR INTRODUCTION
 
When walking around St. Eustatius, colonial statues and plagues dominate the island's cultural landmarks. St. Eustatius' Afrikan cultural heritage is under threat and marginalized. This is despite the fact that St. Eustatius was once the largest Middle Passage transit port in the Western hemisphere, and the majority of its 3,500 inhabitants are of Afrikan descent. This situation is not unique to St. Eustatius and reflects the need for more awareness in education, research, and cultural heritage policies for an Afrikan-centered approach that the descendants’ communities can relate to.
 
In this webinar, our guest speakers will share their expertise in their own academic field, providing the audience with insight into the existing colonial structures, their impact on the writing of our history, and ideas on how to move from awareness to transformative equality and reparative justice.

This Webinar is part of the awareness activities of our Faro project "Community engagement in the endangered cultural heritage of St. Eustatius' slavery past". (project info on the Faro website, in Dutch)

REGISTRATION

You're welcome to join. Please register to receive the Zoom link via bit.ly/webinar-seabg

PRESS RELEASE: Alliance kicks off family heritage project with community gathering and screening of ‘A Story of Bones’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ST. EUSTATIUS / 24 March 2024 / -- St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance

The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance kicks off the family heritage project “Remember Statia: Tracing Our Origins” on Tuesday evening March 26 at 7 pm in the public library on St. Eustatius. It is a public event where people can walk in, ask questions about the project and watch the documentary “A Story of Bones”.

After this introduction meeting, on April 2, 3, and 4, the Center for Family History from the Netherlands will give three workshops on relevant archival sources and how to search in the archives. On April 10 and 17, educator and writer Marvin Hokstam who has long worked in St. Maarten as a journalist, will host two workshops on how to craft a personal story with the information found about our ancestors. A maximum of 35 people can join the program, whether on location in St. Eustatius or online.

Researching and reinterpreting marginalized histories

Marvin Hokstam who did a similar program with the Surinamese community: “The Black community has a wealth of untold stories. Beyond enslavement, marginalization and hardship, our history is full of great stories, of heroism, of love, of entrepreneurship. Black people have a pre- and post-slavery history as well with stories that live on in the oral tradition of families, but have been conveniently ignored by Eurocentric historiography. Many Black people are unaware of the wealth of rich material in archives waiting to be uncovered and turned into engaging ancestor stories.”

Retaking our history, rewriting our narrative

Getting the names of our ancestors from archival sources and making them known is important to change the narrative. Our ancestors were not just enslaved, they were people with a name, a face, a profession, a story. They came from different countries of the continent of Afrika, they had knowledge, values, and traditions. They survived the crimes and horrors of the Middle Passage; our ancestors virtually live in us. There was also a large free Black community in St. Eustatius that we know little about. We have to get ancestors out of oblivion, where they were at best extras in the history of the colonizers, while it was them who actually built the Americas.

“Participants do not necessarily have to research their whole family tree going back centuries," Cuvalay explains. “You can write your story about someone who has been very inspirational to you, for example.” The Alliance is very much looking forward to the results of the project, and it trusts the stories will capture the heart and soul of the strong-willed Statia people, with heroic whaler captains, highly skilled tailors, carpenters, midwives, artists, musicians, healers, teachers, and what have you. The Alliance is preparing a special tribute to Statia’s very own Congo man, Mr. Eric Henriquez, who passed away in November 2023.”

About the project

The Dutch Slavery Memorial Year's Mondriaan Culture Fund Open Call partially funds the project. It is still possible to register for the project. If you have roots in St. Eustatius and are from the Afrikan (diaspora) community, you are welcome to join via https://bit.ly/statia-ancestors. All stories collected will be published.

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Information for the Editor

Contact: 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 http://steustatiusafrikanburialground.org/ (or: https://afrikanhistoryandconsciousness.blogspot.com/ for older content)

-        Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/steustatiusafrikanburialgroundalliance/

-        Instagram @steustatiusafrikanburialground

-        X https://x.com/SE_ABG_Alliance

About the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance (SE-ABG Alliance)

The SE-ABG Alliance came about as a result of the protests against the excavations on the 18th-century burial ground of enslaved Afrikans Golden Rock that were started by a team of international archaeologists in June 2021 in St. Eustatius (see https://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsInPeace). The protests 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-Afrikanist 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. Among them are Annina van Neel, CEO of the Tiekie Box Project, and protagonist of the awarded documentary “A Story of Bones,” and Peggy King Jorde, consultant and defender of marginalized histories and Afrikan burial grounds.

About BIgi Bon Foundation

The projects of Bigi Bon foundation's focus on inclusion. Bigi Bon means Big Tree in the Sranan language, which refers to its philosophy that Big Trees provide much Shade;

The foundation aims to improve the position of immigrant communities in general and especially the Afrikan diaspora communities, through knowledge generation through media related activities and providing learning support. Also: increasing the opportunities of people, especially young people from the aforementioned communities.

Founder and President Marvin Hokstam is also an educator, writer, journalist, and founder of Afro Magazine. His latest initiative is the Broos Institute, which offers various studies up to academic level from an Afro-centric worldview. Website https://broos.institute/

Project Memre: https://afromagazine.nl/nieuws/project-memre-met-afro-magazine-op-jacht-naar-verhalen-die-de-geschiedenisles-negeerde

For the Alliance is Afrika 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.
  

--

Kenneth Cuvalay.
 
President St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance/President Monuments foundation St. Eustatius/Primary founder Mental Health Caribbean (MHC) for psychiatry and addiction care on St. Eustatius and Saba.

Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/steustatiusafrikanburialgroundalliance

Instagram @steustatiusafrikanburialground

Twitter https://twitter.com/SE_ABG_Alliance

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@SE_ABG

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

 

One attachment • Scanned by Gmail

PERSBERICHT | ‘Reparations’ sleutel tot gelijkwaardige toekomst van slavernijverleden

  

 

Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean vraagt aandacht voor ‘reparations’ bij de conversaties over het slavernijverleden tijdens het bezoek van minister en staatssecretaris Koninkrijksrelaties aan St. Maarten, St. Eustatius en Curaçao. UCF Caribbean wil dat zij ook luisteren naar de stem van de ‘gewone’ man/vrouw in de straat en niet alleen praat met een geprogrammeerde selectie van gesprekspartners. UCF Caribbean-voorzitter Kenneth Cuvalay: “Er wordt te veel in geromantiseerde termen gesproken over ons slavernijverleden. Er is veel meer onderzoek nodig naar de gepleegde misdaden van de trans-Atlantische slavenhandel en het kolonialisme en meer aandacht voor historisch rechtsherstel.”

 

 

 

 

 

Slavernij is door de Verenigde Naties en het Europees parlement erkend als een misdaad tegen de menselijkheid. Tot 2024 loopt het VN-programma “International Decade for People of African Descent”. Net als de ‘Black Agenda’ van UCF wordt hierbij uitgegaan van drie pijlers: erkenning, gerechtigheid en ontwikkeling: 

1. Erkenning betreft de impact van ons slavernijverleden als misdaad tegen de menselijkheid.
2. Rechtvaardigheid gaat over historisch rechtsherstel.
3. Ontwikkeling streeft naar gelijke ontwikkelingsmogelijkheden voor iedereen.
   

Cuvalay: “We kunnen niet over ‘healing’ gaan praten als er nog zoveel misdaden uit het verleden niet zijn onderzocht en opgetekend. De doorwerking hiervan in het heden is even belangrijk. We kunnen niet aan een gelijkwaardige toekomst werken als er niet over herstel of ‘reparations’ wordt gepraat.

 

 

 

 

Vrij voor de wet maar niet in de praktijk

De afschaffing van de slavernij op 1 juli 1863 betekende weliswaar wettelijke vrijheid, maar zoals Martin Luther King het in een interview formuleerde:  

 

“It was freedom to hunger. It was freedom to the winds and rains of heaven. It was freedom without food to eat or land to cultivate.” 

 

Slavernij heeft niet vijf jaar, maar bijna 300 jaar geduurd en de misdaden zijn groter dan het gedwongen werken op de plantages. In Suriname werden de Afrikanen gedwongen nog tien jaar op de plantages te werken. Op St. Eustatius weigerden veel plantagehouders de dan vrije Afrikanen toestemming om een huis te bouwen zodat velen zich gedwongen zagen te emigreren naar St. Croix.”

 

 

 

Doorwerking slavernij tot de dag van vandaag

De kleur zwart werd een stigma. Het geweld, racisme en kolonisatie stopten niet op 1 juli 1863 en tot de dag van vandaag leeft een groot deel van de Afrikaanse diasporagemeenschap in overlevingsstand en wordt ze niet gelijkwaardig behandeld. Uit onderzoek van Follow The Money blijkt dat de Nederlandse regering de inwoners van Caribisch Nederland al twaalf jaar arm houdt. Onderzoek van het Centraal Bureau Statistiek wees uit dat Caribische en Surinaamse Nederlanders het hardst zijn geraakt in de toeslagenaffaire. Op St. Eustatius, een eiland met nog geen 4000 inwoners, lukt het de regering al ruim vier jaar niet om de burgers hun democratische rechten terug te geven. Cuvalay: “Ik zie dat als koloniaal bewind in het kwadraat”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Reparations’ is meer dan geld

Als de term ‘reparations’ valt, worden politici en bestuurders vaak onrustig omdat meteen de associatie met financiële compensatie wordt gelegd. Maar het gaat om veel meer dan geld. The ‘Black Agenda’ van UCF geeft het raamwerk hiervoor. Allereerst moet de Nederlandse regering slavernij erkennen als een misdaad tegen de menselijkheid en staatsexcuses aanbieden. Maar het gaat ook om zichtbaarheid en representatie van mensen van Afrikaanse afkomst en hun erfgoed. Voor St. Eustatius heeft de St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance daarom een aanvraag gedaan bij de Unesco’s Routes of Enslaved Peoples voor het behoud van de historische begraafplaatsen Golden Rock en Godet. In een vorige week uitgebracht persbericht berichtten we over de ‘liberated Afrikans’ van St. Helena. Ook voor deze onzichtbare begraafplaats loopt een Unesco-aanvraag. De erfenis van de 'Middle Passage' moet zichtbaar worden gemaakt en groots herdacht.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Herdenkingsmonument op St. Eustatius

Een voorbeeld van historisch rechtsherstel is ook een herdenkingsmonument zoals op Barbados, Brazilië, Curaçao, Haïti, Jamaica. Cuvalay: “Wij hebben een video gemaakt van de Caribische herdenkingsmonumenten voor slavernij. UCF Caribbean wil dat de Nederlandse regering aan St. Eustatius middelen beschikbaar stelt voor een monument van allure dat symbool staat voor het lijden van onze Afrikaanse voorouders en een erkenning is van alles wat zij met hun blote handen op dit eiland hebben opgebouwd en voortgebracht. Een plek om te herdenken en met zijn allen te zeggen “nooit meer”. Het kan gewoon niet dat zo'n monument er op St. Eustatius nog niet is terwijl het eiland de grootste transithaven was van de slavenhandel in de 18e eeuw.”  (zie ook het persbericht van 23-12-2021 UCF Caribbean wil 'Monument of Honor' op St. Eustatius voor Afrikaanse voorouders die slachtoffer waren van slavernij). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Informatie voor de redactie

Contact: Kenneth Cuvalay, voorzitter van Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean en de “St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance”

Bronnen

• International Decade for People of African Descent 2015-2024
• Video interview Martin Luther King https://youtu.be/3xD8vWQJEok
• Nederland houdt Caribische staatsburgers al twaalf jaar arm
• Meeste toeslagenouders hebben migratieachtergrond
• Unesco Routes of Enslaved Peoples
• PERSBERICHT: Ceremoniële massabegrafenis op St. Helena: de vergeten geschiedenis van de ‘bevrijde’ Afrikanen
• Video met overzicht slavernijmonumenten in het Caribisch gebied: Monuments of honor to our Ancestors in the Caribbean
  

Over Ubuntu Connected Fronten de St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance

De St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance is ontstaan uit de protesten tegen de opgravingen op een 18e-eeuwse begraafplaats van slaafgemaakte Afrikanen die startten in juni 2021 door een team internationale archeologen (zie https://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsInPeace). Deze protesten zijn gestart vanuit Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF), een politieke partij die in 2021 heeft deelgenomen aan de Tweede Kamerverkiezingen onder leiding van mensenrechtenjurist Regillio Vaarnold. UCF kreeg niet genoeg stemmen voor een Kamerzetel, maar werd op St. Eustatius wel de grootste partij met 50,8% van de stemmen. “Gelijkwaardigheid is een mensenrecht, geen privilege” is het motto van UCF die zich met name richt op de belangen van Nederlanders met Afrikaanse roots: UCF gaat uit van de drie pijlers erkenning, gerechtigheid en ontwikkeling (vastgelegd in de ‘Black Agenda’).

Toen duidelijk werd dat de activiteiten rondom de omstreden opgravingen langer dan een aantal weken of maanden zouden gaan duren, is de groep zich buiten het politieke spectrum gaan organiseren en werd in november 2021 de St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance” een feit. De Alliance is inmiddels uitgegroeid tot een beweging die contacten heeft met andere groeperingen die strijden voor het behoud van Afrikaanse historische begraafplaatsen. Naar aanleiding van de protesten hebben we in januari 2022 een wetenschappelijk artikel gepubliceerd “A Future That Does Not Forget: Collaborative Archaeology in the Colonial Context of Sint Eustatius (Dutch Caribbean)” In augustus 2022 bracht de Alliance het manifest “De betekenis van het verdrag van FARO voor St. Eustatius” uit (zie website).

Black Agenda

De 'Black Agenda' van Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) is te vinden in het "Manifest voor NL Transformation" op de UCF-website (Hoofdstuk 5).

De ‘Black Agenda’ bestaat uit drie pijlers afgeleid zijn van de missie van het Internationaal VN Decennium voor mensen van Afrikaanse afkomst 2015-2024.:

1. Erkenning betreft de impact van ons slavernijverleden als misdaad tegen de menselijkheid.
2. Rechtvaardigheid gaat over historisch rechtsherstel.
3. Ontwikkeling streeft naar gelijke ontwikkelingsmogelijkheden voor iedereen.
   

 

PRESS RELEASE: “Descendent authority decides over ancestral remains and their resting places”

 

 

 

 

Also published in The Daily Herald of July 5, 2022 (see below)

The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance is proud of the fact that Emancipation Day is formally a national holiday in St. Eustatius, Saba and Bonaire. This is still being fought for in the European Netherlands. Yet Emancipation Day 2022 is a day of great worries as well. The day after the visit of the president of Unesco Netherlands, Ms. Kathleen Ferrier, to the burial ground Godet, access to the site was closed. Big rocks have been dumped in front of the graves with bulldozers and filled with sand. “To protect the Godet burial site”, as the government Facebook page claims. But the rocks were placed without the necessary measures to protect the graves, such as protective shielding in between.

Another worrisome fact was that archaeologist Ruud Stelten, found guilty in the SHRC report of malpractice in handling the remains of our ancestors at the Golden Rock site, was putting pressure on members of the Central Committee to convince them to conduct further scientific research on the excavated human remains of our ancestors. How can the governments representatives allow that to happen? Besides the inappropriateness, it is not just for the Committee to decide on this

Ms. Kathleen Ferrier visited the cemeteries on June 1 on invitation of the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance. The Alliance wants to enroll the Godet Burial Ground and the Golden Rock Burial Ground in the famous Unesco's Routes of Enslaved People https://en.unesco.org/themes/fostering-rights-inclusion/slave-route

The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance emphasizes that we, all Afrikans in the diaspora and especially from St. Eustatius, are the descendant authority, not the government representatives, not the Island Council, not the Central Committee alone, but all of us. This is our heritage. The Alliance will soon present an interim report on these shocking developments that will be presented to the relevant cultural heritage organizations in the Netherlands and internationally.

The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance wishes everyone on St. Eustatius a memorable and meaningful Emancipation Day 2022. We are now a free people and we have the right to decide what will happen to the remains and resting places of our ancestors. Everyone who is upset as we are with these developments, we welcome to contact us. Together we have a stronger voice.


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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)

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 2022 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.

About Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF)

Ubuntu Connected Front is a political party in the Netherlands founded in 2017. It participated in the 2021 Parliamentary election and although it did not receive enough votes to win a seat in the House of Representatives, it was the most popular party in St. Eustatius, receiving 50,8% of the votes. Motto: “Equality is a human right, not a privilege”. UCF focuses on equal rights for people of Afrikan descent.

Ubuntu means "humanity" in Afrikan Bantu languages. It is often translated as "I am because we are", or "humanity towards others". It is Ubuntu Connected Front’s core belief that all people have rights, which promotes equality of treatment and eliminates marginalization and deprivation.

Black Agenda. The 'Black Agenda' of Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) can be found in the "Manifest for NL Transformation" at the UCF website (Chapter 5).

The Black Agenda consists of three pillars:
1.    Recognition concerns the impact of our slavery past as a crime against humanity.
2.    Justice is about historical restoration of rights.
3.    Development aims to achieve equal development opportunities for people of Afrikan descent throughout the diaspora meaning “Equality is a human right, not a privilege”.
 

Article in The Daily Herald of July 5, 2022  

Dutch Caribbean Research Platform (DuCaRP): 'Pas op te eurocentrisch onderzoek'

 

Forgotten Victims of the Middle Passage: Afrikan diaspora human rights activists St. Eustatius and St. Helena join forces in fight for dignity and respect ancestors

Carlos Lopes, President of the St. Eustatius Historical Foundation, and member of the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance, will be traveling to New York to be a special invited guest at the premiere of the captivating documentary “A Story of Bones” on June 11 at the renowned Tribeca Film Festival in New York. In New York, Carlos Lopes will meet Annina Van Neel and Peggy King Jorde who worked closely together on the documentary and are impact producers. "A Story of Bones" tells Nina's journey to create a respectful burial ground. Annina Van Neel: "Saint Helena Island, a British territory is home to the world's most significant physical trace of the Middle Passage, Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The St. Helena Burial Grounds (up to 10,000 formerly enslaved Afrikans) are proclaimed to be of global significance. Yet, the local and global descendant community is completely disconnected from this story and the space that holds it. The site remains uncelebrated, neglected and worse, has suffered several destructive episodes."

Although there are thousands of miles between both islands, their stories are the same. Human and cultural rights activists on both islands, St. Eustatius and St. Helena, recently joined forces to "begin to aggressively and surgically address the legacies and institutions of historic racial injustices", as Annina puts it. In New York they have the support of the renowned preservationist Peggy King Jorde who worked on the Afrikan Burial Ground project in New York City in the nineties, where the remains of up to 15,000 enslaved and free Afrikans were found on a six-acre burial ground during a construction project.

The documentary ‘A Story of Bones’

BBC's Storyville describes the documentary as follows: "Twelve years ago, Annina Van Neel, Chief Environmental Officer for Saint Helena’s $350m airport project, learned of the island’s most terrible atrocity – an unmarked mass burial ground of an estimated 9,000 formerly enslaved Afrikans in Rupert’s Valley. It is described as one of the most significant traces of the Transatlantic Slave trade still on earth. Horrified by this historical injustice, Annina Van Neel now fights alongside Afrikan-American preservationist Peggy King Jorde and a group of disenfranchised islanders – many of them descendants of the formerly enslaved – for the proper memorialization of these forgotten victims." And the Tribeca website: "The documentary “A Story of Bones” celebrates Annina’s personal victories, and mourns collective setbacks along her journey to create a respectful burial ground."

Shared history of St. Eustatius and St. Helena

There is the same link between a large burial ground and the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade in St. Eustatius: the recent excavations at the 18th century Golden Rock Plantation Burial Ground and older excavations at the 18th century Afrikan Burial Ground Godet Plantation near the ruins of Fort Amsterdam at the south-east coast of St. Eustatius. During the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade period, the enslaved that survived the brutal treatment of the journey to the shores of St. Eustatius, where kept at barracks that at one time could accommodate up to 450 individuals. Those that died were buried in the area next to Fort Amsterdam known as Godet. The contrast between the Godet and the Golden Rock burial grounds is that the latter were mainly individuals that were enslaved that were established on the island versus those in transit to somewhere else throughout the Americas. The Golden Rock Burial ground is believed to contain the remains of more than 150 enslaved people, one of the largest burial grounds for enslaved Afrikan people in the Caribbean. At least 48 skeletons were excavated.

Afrikan Burial Grounds throughout the Americas

The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance originated from the fierce protests against the excavations at the Golden Rock Burial Ground in 2021. The Alliance seeks connections with similar groups across the Afrikan diaspora community in the Americas. Annina Van Neel: “There are thousands of Afrikan Burial Grounds spread across the globe that bear the untold stories of the great traumas and defeats that people of Afrikan descent endured for 350 years and longer. Stories that are relegated to the most marginalized and isolated black communities with no means to adequately protect and remember their ancestors with the respect they deserve. Now the story is told not only to protect the Saint Helena Burial Grounds, but also gives a voice to thousands of other sites and cultural rights activists, especially those belonging to marginalized and underrepresented groups.”

Screenings outside the US

The documentary will be broadcasted outside the US by the BCC and featured at other Film Festivals around the globe. When Carlos Lopes returns to St. Eustatius, the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance will devote an interactive radio broadcast to the documentary and Lopes’ visit to the Tribeca film festival for the community of St. Eustatius and beyond. “It is important that we as joint Burial Ground Alliances keep addressing the issue,” Lopes emphasizes, “respecting the living means respecting the dead too. We saw what happened during the excavations at the Golden Rock Burial Ground. The descendent community was completely ignored and disrespected." Annina Van Neel: "Today black cultural heritage is excluded from funding, legal protection and consideration. The more commonly accepted colonial heritage and curricula (archaeology, scientific research, history education) supersedes any descendant attempts. Thus, Black histories are made invisible, voiceless and diminished, ultimately dehumanized." Peggy King Jorde welcomes the newly created international alliance: "The relationships we are forging right now will transform the mythology around who we are as an Afrikan diaspora and our story."

The Tribeca Film Festival runs from June 8 to 19 and screening times for "A Story of Bones" are on June 11, 12 and 18. Viewers in the US can buy a ticket for virtual "At Home" screening. "At Home" will not be available outside the USA. 

More information: https://tribecafilm.com/films/story-of-bones-2022



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Information for the Editor
Kenneth Cuvalay, President of the “St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance”

-    Email: steustatiusafrikanburialground@gmail.com  
-    Website: http://steustatiusafrikanburialground.org/ (as of June 2022)

Relevant links on the documentary “A Story of Bones”:

• https://abc7ny.com/here-and-now-sandra-bookman-a-story-of-bones-trans-atlantic-slave-trade/11882202/
•  http://sainthelenaisland.info/slavery.htm
  

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.

Spelling of Afrika 

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.

About Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF)

Ubuntu Connected Front is a political party in the Netherlands founded in 2017. It participated in the 2021 Parliamentary election and although it did not receive enough votes to win a seat in the House of Representatives, it was the most popular party in St. Eustatius, receiving 50,8% of the votes. Motto: “Equality is a human right, not a privilege”. UCF focuses on equal rights for people of Afrikan descent.

Ubuntu means "humanity" in Afrikan Bantu languages. It is often translated as "I am because we are", or "humanity towards others". It is Ubuntu Connected Front’s core belief that all people have rights, which promotes equality of treatment and eliminates marginalization and deprivation.

The Black Agenda

The 'Black Agenda' of Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) can be found in the "Manifest for NL Transformation" at the UCF website (Chapter 5).

The Black Agenda consists of three pillars:
1.    Recognition concerns the impact of our slavery past as a crime against humanity.
2.    Justice is about historical restoration of rights.
3.    Development aims to achieve equal development opportunities for people of Afrikan descent throughout the diaspora meaning “Equality is a human right, not a privilege”.

PRESS RELEASE: Protest group responds to outcome research on controversial excavations St. Eustatius

 

Six months after its installation, the Statia Heritage and Research Commission finally presented its findings to the public on January 27, 2022, during a town hall meeting. The commission was tasked with investigating the controversial excavations on an 18th century burial ground of enslaved Africans that were carried out by the local archaeological center SECAR. Protests of Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean and others led to the establishment of this commission but, despite multiple requests to the government, UCF Caribbean was not involved in any way during these six months. We decided to do our own research and forge international alliances with endangered burial grounds around the world. This resulted in the creation of the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance, which other organizations and individuals joined. One of these individuals is marjolijn kok from Rotterdam. She is an artist and independent archaeologist, who helped us understand the practices and regulations in archaeology. In this press release the Alliance provides an initial response to the report. We will also make our findings known to the parliamentary Kingdom Committee and the National Agency for Cultural Heritage in The Hague.

Way forward with proposed standards and guidelines

The report of the Commission was released on the same day as the town hall meeting, leaving the public with no time to read the report thoroughly. Already at the start of the protests in June 2021, it seemed very problematic for the present Executive Council to inform the public in a rightful manner. We find the chapters in the report on international standards and guidelines for archaeological research a way forward with archaeology and heritage on St. Eustatius. The problems indicated in the report about the present situation where the government turns a blind eye towards the execution of projects by SECAR and the incompetence of SECAR itself, leaves one to wonder what will happen now. The proposal to create a Heritage Agency will not happen in a day, so we are now in a period of uncertainty with all indications that it will be business as usual.

Marjolijn kok: “If the recommendations of the report on the guidelines for archaeological research are followed, it will be the first policy where the Malta convention and the Faro convention are combined at a basic level. This would be a great step forward in heritage management.

Limitations and concerns

A major problem with this part of the report is that private landowners are seen as owners of the archaeology on their property. This may be the case in the USA but is not part of Dutch legislation on heritage. Especially as more and more foreigners and non-residents of St. Eustatius buy property this would mean that the common heritage is taken away from the St. Eustatius Afrikan community and they are left with just paper reports.

Furthermore, the new to form heritage agency and project for a monument should be careful not to work with the usual suspects as they have shown inappropriate behavior when it concerns Afrikan descendant communities. We are thinking here of Mr. Jay Haviser, the chairman of the committee, who, against all proper conduct in community heritage projects, inserts his own idea about what the monument should look like before anyone else of the community has been consulted. This shows he wants to put a personal stamp on a project that hasn’t started yet for his own personal gain. Another person is Mr. Ruud Stelten, who deliberately withheld information about Afrikan enslaved burials as he knew the St. Eustatius Afrikan descendant community would want to have their say in the excavations of their ancestors. SECAR as the supervisor of these projects also has shown not to care about the people of St. Eustatius and their heritage and has conducted these projects for their own interest.”

Old days and old habits

We are critical as well of the first two chapters of the report which appear to be written by a different hand. The background information contains inaccuracies and is lacking critical events, which raise questions as to whether people or groups are being kept out of the loop. We heard the chairman of the board say that the old days (of science for science only) are long passed, but that’s exactly what took place at the Godet excavations in 2019, and the Golden Rock excavations in 2021. Some parts in the report read like an open application which is inappropriate, just like it highly inappropriate to make a detailed proposal as to what the memorial should look like (see page 38 of the report). We mentioned that earlier.  

What happens now?

“As St. Eustatius is still under colonial rule where the Dutch government makes all the major decisions either directly or through the two government representatives, it is our hope that the new Heritage Agency is not an all-white and colonial thinking affair”, says Kenneth Cuvalay, chairman of the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance. “We need Afrikan-centered leadership with people who understand our culture and community, respect our beliefs and traditions and who we can trust to do the right thing and involve us. There may not be many Dutch archaeologists of Afrikan descent but there are plenty in the Caribbean to choose from. Let the problems surrounding the excavations of Afrikan enslaved burials be a lesson for the future and together not make the same mistakes. To empower us, as the Afrikan descendant community, we have to have a genuine say and lead in the matters and be part of the decision-making process.”

The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance will closely monitor future developments and inform stakeholders about our findings. The report is now in the hands of the St. Eustatius Executive Council which, according to the report, cannot handle specialist archaeological matters, and it is unclear whether the Statia Heritage and Research Commission is still functioning. Marjolijn wrote a very insightful academic article on the controversial excavations that is available for the public: "A Future That Does Not Forget: Collaborative Archaeology in the Colonial Context of Sint Eustatius (Dutch Caribbean)"

We will continue the debate on decolonization in archaeology and academia in general. We do not allow colonial thinking people to determine for us how we deal with our heritage and the honoring of our ancestors.

Kenneth Cuvalay, chairman of the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance 

marjolijn kok, member of the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance, independent archaeologist


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Information for the Editor

Website: https://afrikanhistoryandconsciousness.blogspot.com/

Contact:
Kenneth Cuvalay, chairman UCF Caribbean / St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance

The St. Eustatius African Burial Ground Alliance protests the excavations of African free and enslaved Africans at an 18th-century African burial ground in St. Eustatius (see https://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsInPeace).

About Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF)
Ubuntu Connected Front is a political party in the Netherlands founded in 2017. It participated in the 2021 Parliamentary election and although it did not receive enough votes to win a seat in the House of Representatives, it was the most popular party in St. Eustatius, receiving 50,8% of the votes. Motto: “Equality is a human right, not a privilege”. UCF focuses on equal rights for people of African descent.

Ubuntu means "humanity" in African Bantu languages. It is often translated as "I am because we are", or "humanity towards others". It is Ubuntu Connected Front’s core belief that all people have rights, which promotes equality of treatment and eliminates marginalization and deprivation.

Black Agenda. 

The 'Black Agenda' of Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) can be found in the "Manifest for NL Transformation" at the UCF website (Chapter 5).

The Black Agenda consists of three pillars:
1.    Recognition concerns the impact of our slavery past as a crime against humanity.
2.    Justice is about historical restoration of rights.
3.    Development aims to achieve equal development opportunities for everyone.

See also: https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/abga-considers-report-way-forward-for-archaeology-and-heritage-in-statia
 

PRESS RELEASE: Report Commission on suspended excavations African burial ground St. Eustatius long overdue

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

Report Commission on suspended excavations African burial ground St. Eustatius long overdue

 

 ST. EUSTATIUS / 21 January 2022 / -- Ubuntu Connected Front

 

Last year, July 2021, the Statia Heritage Research Commission (SHRC) was initiated, and official installed in September to investigate the controversial excavations at the African burial ground of former plantation Golden Rock. The purpose of this Commission was threefold. First, the compilation of recommendations for the local government of St. Eustatius concerning the handling of human remains; in particular ancestral remains of African descent. Secondly, including the engagement of the community, through practices relating to archaeological research; and thirdly the evaluation of the St. Eustatius Center of Archaeological Research’s (SECAR’s) processes as it relates to the excavation of the Golden Rock Burial Ground site.

 

It was indicated that at the end of the year the final report by the Commission will be presented to the local government. We are now nearing the end of the first month of 2022 and no formal mention has been made to the presentation of this report in question.

 

Kenneth Cuvalay, Chair Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean: “The composition of the Commission, with its strong ties to Leiden University, already raises concerns about its ability to operate independently. The reputation of the Chairman of the Commission is also at stake. He is portrayed in the media with a skull of an excavated African in his hands. He called me racist because I called on young black people to pursue careers in archaeology, anthropology and journalism which all makes clear that he is incapable of understanding what the protests are all about. And now this delay.”

 

What is also quite alarming is, that based on an article of the same local government “Starting November 28th 2021: SECAR conducts test trenches near animal shelter”, that consultation was sorted by the government of St. Eustatius from the same Commission. The Commission in turned apparently had no objections and agreed that the research could be carried out by SECAR. What is questionable thus, is that the same Commission that is investigating SECAR’s practices approves that the institution continue with business as usual.

 

Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean is publicly calling on the government to release this report, demanding transparency, seeing that the deadline has past, compounded by the facts that excavations still continue, under water and on land, in absences of knowing what standards and policies may apply to safeguard the already disrespected manner in which our ancestry have been dealt with.

 ###

Information for the Editor 

Contact: Kenneth Cuvalay, chairman UCF Caribbean 

 About Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF)

 Ubuntu Connected Front is a political party in the Netherlands founded in 2017. It participated in the 2021 Parliamentary election and although it did not receive enough votes to win a seat in the House of Representatives, it was the most popular party in St. Eustatius, receiving 50,8% of the votes. Motto: “Equality is a human right, not a privilege”. UCF focuses on equal rights for people of African descent.

 Ubuntu means "humanity" in African Bantu languages. It is often translated as "I am because we are", or "humanity towards others". It is Ubuntu Connected Front’s core belief that all people have rights, which promotes equality of treatment and eliminates marginalization and deprivation.

 Black Agenda. The 'Black Agenda' of Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) can be found in the "Manifest for NL Transformation" at the UCF website (Chapter 5).

The Black Agenda consists of three pillars:

1.     Recognition concerns the impact of our slavery past as a crime against humanity.

2.     Justice is about historical restoration of rights.

3.     Development aims to achieve equal development opportunities for everyone.