Dutty Boukman in Bwa Kayiman (Bois Caiman)

Dutty Boukman in Bwa Kayiman (Bois Caïman) 

It is told that on the steamy, Caribbean night of August 14th, back in 1791 a slave named Boukman  ignited the Haitian Revolution during a secret vodou ceremony in Bwa Kayiman (Kreyol meaning literally, Alligator or Caiman Woods: Bois Caiman in French) in Morne Rouge, which is in northern Haiti. Boukman was a hougan (priest) and along with mambo (female priest) Cecil Fatiman, officiated the meeting where they planned the insurrection and held religious, vodou ritual, in preparation for what would become the most successful revolt and the greatest, far-reaching event in Caribbean history - The Haitian Revolution.

Dutty Boukman

Boukman is said to have been a big, strapping, fierce man, and like many of the early leaders of the Haitian Revolution, he held a position of power on his plantation (he was a slave driver and eventual coachman). Many of the 200-300 attendees at the Bwa Kayiman ceremony held such positions, or were chosen leaders of their specific plantations. The meeting held both political and religious significance - it culminated months of insurrectionist planning and strategizing; and, it served as spiritual, inspirational rally for the impending revolution. At Bwa Kayiman, the beginning of the Haitian Revolution was set for one week later.

Much of the information about Boukman and Bwa Kayiman was written many years after the event, so it's difficult to separate fact from myth. Many say that he was a literate Jamaican slave, Bookman, who taught other slaves in Jamaica to read and so was sold to a plantation in Saint Domingue. Some staunch Haitian historians insist that he was pure Haitian, and suspect that foreign people of African descent are trying to high jack Haitian history to support their own agendas. Since the 1990's, there has been a mostly African-American movement (but which included former Haitian president Aristide) to "Islamasize" Bwa Kayiman and Boukman, claiming Bookman was a "man of the Book" (Koran) and that Bwa Kayiman was in fact Bwa Kay Iman ( the woods by the Iman's house).

To be continued

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Boukman's Prayer in Kreyol

"Bon Dje ki fè la tè. Ki fè soley ki klere nou enro. Bon Dje ki soulve  lanmè. Ki fè gronde loray. Bon Dje nou ki gen zorey pou tande. Ou ki  kache nan niaj. Kap gade nou kote ou ye la. Ou we tout sa blan fè nou sibi. Dje blan yo  mande krim. Bon Dje ki nan nou an vle byen fè. Bon Dje nou an ki si bon,  ki si jis, li ordone  vanjans. Se li kap kondui branou pou nou ranpote la viktwa. Se li kap ba  nou asistans. Nou tout fet pou nou jete potre dje Blan yo ki swaf dlo  lan zye. Koute vwa la libète kap chante lan kè nou."

Boukman's Prayers as translated by C.L.R. James 

"The god who created the sun which gives us light, who rouses the waves and rules the storm, though hidden in the clouds, he watches us. He sees all that the white man does. The god of the white man inspires him with the crime, but our god calls upon us to do good works. Our god who is good to us orders us to revenge our wrongs. He will direct our arms and aid us. Throw away the symbol of the god of the whites who has so often caused us to weep, and listen to the voice of liberty, which speaks in the hearts of us all." 

Boukman's Prayer as translated by IBW21.org

"Good Lord who hath made the sun that shines above us, that riseth from the sea, who maketh the storm to roar; and governteth the thunders. The Lord is hidden in the heavens, and there He watcheth over us. The Lord seeth what the blanc (whites) have done. Their god commandeth crimes, ours givethe the blessings upon us. The Good Lord (Bondye) hath ordained vengeance. He will give strength to our arms and courage to our hearts. He shall sustain us. Cast down the image of the god of the blanc, because he maketh the tears to flow from our eye. Hearken unto Liberty that speaketh now in all your hearts."

Boukman's Prayer Translation by thelovertureproject.org

"The god who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light.The god who holds up the ocean; who makes the thunder  roar. Our God who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds; who watch us from where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer. The white man's god asks him to commit crimes. But the god within us wants to do good. Our god, who is so good, so just, He orders us to revenge our wrongs. It's He who will direct our arms and bring us the victory. It's He who will assist us. We all should throw away the image of the white men's god who is so pitiless. Listen to the voice for liberty that sings in all our hearts."

Cecile Fatiman

Abeng Interviews Clairmont Mali Chung from Roots and Culture Media (Part 2):The Cuffy Project

A documentary on slave revolutionary leader Cuffy is Roots and Culture Media's next project

Kaya @TheAbeng: So Clairmont, what new projects you got going on?

Clairmont Mali Chung: The new work is, I'm working on a documentary on Cuffy. As I said before, you cannot understand that history, or it's of less value, if you are not able to put in into the present; not just the information, the story, but the feeling, the ethos of revolution should be taken from the past and be placed into  present context. This is my belief. And this is what I tried to do with W.A.R.. Stories, the documentary of Walter Rodney, and this is what I'm trying to do with Cuffy. Because you cannot understand Walter without understanding the history from which Walter came - the personality, the ideas.

The idea of self emancipation didn't begin with Walter Rodney, it started a long, long, long time ago. He contextualized it and made it present; but Cuffy, when he stood up and said, "I'll never be your slave again!" to the governor, the Dutch governor at the time of Berbice, that's what he was talking about- self emancipation.

And so, doing a documentary on Cuffy is an attempt to bring that ethos into the present, but also to introduce Cuffy, not just as a figure in Guyana, as Guyana's national hero, governor of Berbice as he declared himself, but to introduce him as a world figure, someone who understand the way the world was working and  he needed to revolt and to lead a revolt. Because often times these figures are just seen in the context of their time, and never, we never extrapolate their feelings and place it amongst the present.

And so it's important for me to show the world that Cuffy was not just an enslaved African fighting for freedom, it was much more than that. Secondly, when Europeans write about enslaved men that revolt, they often contextualize it as though it were some kind of revolt or complaint about the series and the kinds of punishment that were being meted out to them. For example, in the trials that followed the Berbice revolt, many of the enslaved who testified, testified to the violence of the punishment that they received and European writers wrote about this violence as though it was something the Africans were revolting against; when in fact, it wasn't the violence, but the system that they were against. And so when, it makes sense that when Cuffy says, "I will not be your slave!" he was not talking about treatment he was receiving, it wasn't as though he was saying, "OK. I'll be your slave, just don't beat me as much." It was a much larger view, a world view.

And when you see the documentary, I hope that is the sense I am able to convey, that this was a world figure, operating in a context thirty years before Toussaint L'Ouverture, before the French Revolution and before the American Revolution - those are important points.

Kaya +The Abeng World-wide: 1763. I would always refer the whole thing as more than a revolt...more classify it as a revolution...that it wasn't something so much reactionary, it was something revolutionary.

CMC: Well, without a doubt, in my mind and in my view, after reading his letters that he dictated and  reading the journals of the sailors who visited both with captive cargo and as part of the hierarchy, it is clear to me that Cuffy and his lieutenants were much larger figures and much more informed.

"...it was a revolution because the government, the local government, the Dutch representatives, were forced to flee their seat of government. Whenever that happens anywhere in the world that's called a revolution. Why wouldn't it be a revolution simply because it was Africans who had been captive?" ~ Clairmont Mali Chung

It was a revolution because...it was a revolution because the government, the local government, the Dutch representatives, were forced to flee their seat of government. Whenever that happens anywhere in the world that's called a revolution. Why wouldn't it be a revolution simply because it was Africans who had been captive? See if the government, if you're forced to flee the seat of government, you're no longer in control.You see.  If you were to remain in control and were able to quell the revolt then you can call it a rebellion. But this was not just a rebellion, this was for control of the government of Berbice because Berbice was a separate colony. It was not attached then to Demerara or Essequibo which now makes up the Guyana border. Berbice was a separate Dutch colony, separate administration. So when they fled the seat of government, politically and otherwise, this was a revolution. The fact that they were able to come back and recapture it years later, a year later, does not change what happened. I often compare it to a heavyweight boxing match: you can beat me next week but if  I beat you today, and you're the champion and I beat you, I am the champion. You may come back two days later or a week later and regain your crown. But for the time that I was, remained unbeaten, I was the champion and so I am the government, I am the King, I am the Governor of Berbice.

And this is what Cuffy said, that he is the Governor. And so yeah, you couldn't be the governor of Berbice unless you were successful in a revolt, in a revolution.

Kaya Omodele interviews Clairmont Chung from rootsculturemedia on Vimeo.

Canto das Três Raças (The Chanting of the Three Races) by Clara Nunes ~ Translated by Cecilia Beatriz Silveira-Marroquin

Canto das Três Raças – by Clara Nunes

(The Chanting of the Three Races – by Clara Nunes)

Composed by: Mauro Duarte e Paulo César Pinheiro

Song Video (Click here to listen to Clara Nunes' The Chanting of the Three Races)

Ninguém ouviu
Um soluçar de dor
No canto do Brasil
Um lamento triste
Sempre ecoou
Desde que o Índio guerreiro
Foi pro cativeiro
E de lá cantou

Negro entoou
Um canto de revolta pelos ares
No Quilombo dos Palmares
Onde se refugiou
Fora a luta dos Inconfidentes
Pela quebra das correntes
Nada adiantou
E de guerra em paz

De paz em guerra
Todo o Povo dessa terra
Quando pode cantar
Canta de dor
ô, ô, ô, ô, ô, ô ô, ô, ô, ô, ô,
E ecoa noite e dia
É ensurdecedor
Ai, mas que agonia
O canto do trabalhador
Esse canto que devia
Ser um canto de alegria
Soa apenas
Como um soluçar de dor ...

Nobody heard
The sobbing of pain
In Brazil’s chanting
A sad cry
Always echoed
Since the Indian warrior

Went in captivity
And from there, he sang
The Black echoed
A revolt chanting through the air
In the Palmares Kilombo
Where he took refuge
Besides the fight of the Inconfidentes
By the breaking of the chains
Nothing else worked
And from war to peace
From peace to war
All the People of this land
When they can sing
Sing in pain
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
And it echoes night and day
It is deafening
Oh, what an agony
The worker’s chanting
This song that should have been
A song of joy
It just sounds
Like a sobbing of pain ...
________________________________

Translated by Cecilia Beatriz

 Silveira-Marroquin

Abeng and My Conscious Pen readers, for starts I decided to translate this song for you, not only because it is one of my very favorite Brazilian songs of all times and because it is sung by this amazing singer, Clara Nunes who is no longer amongst us, but because it is about the Palmares Kilombo. I urge you to listen to it, following the translation.
What is interesting about it, is that it shows how the collaboration of the three races was important for the survival of the Kilombos. For some reason, it is almost never mentioned that the Indigenous Natives and the Inconfidentes (Whites who were actively working against African slavery in Brazil) were fundamental for the success of the Kilombos.
This singer, Clara Nunes, was very outspoken about the cultural mix in Brasil and the richness that it brought us, especially from our African roots. Most of her songs are about that. She was an amazing musician and human being…. her premature death due to medical error during a minor surgery, left a hole in the hearts of Brazilians of all heritages.
~ Love,
 Cecilia


Cecilia Beatriz Silveira-Marroquin was born and raised in Brasil but
lived most of her life in the San Francisco Bay Area, California where she mostly worked in the legal field. Cecilia has a degree in Paralegal Studies
and Criminology. Now back in Brazil, after 37 years, she makes a living
by teaching English and is a published writer. Her book Real Dreams and Daydreams: Sonhos Reais e Devaneios 
can be purchased on Amazon.

DUB POETRY: Coramantee Heart (The Revolt)

Abeng Dub Poetry: Coromantee Heart (The Revolt)

copyright 2013 K. Omodele

                    

Re-volt noun 

1 an act of rebelling. 2 a state of insurrection. 3 a sense of loathing. 4 a mood of protest or defiance

              

 Medsing* thru mind window beyond barred sills, pass the mill,

Lift mine eyes up to the hills from whence come Jah will,

I sight Boukman, Bwa Kaiman, Palmares in Brazil,

Feel like Djuka to de bush and go Maroon in the hills,

'cause teLIEvision, pure derision, images unreel,

Vanity innoculate me like snake under heel,

Meh Granny used to warn me "hard ears goin' feel"

From chopping cane in the field, now life behind steel.

The wicked carried we away in slave bangles and rope,

We leggo cutlass and hoe, now tote the corporate yoke,

But revolt deh in meh soul like gold in Guyana dirt,

Pull on me Kwamina** pants, button me Cuffy***-link shirt.

Sight, that great Zimbabwe Wall deh masoned by us

Lalibela stone churches carved from rock and such.

Pyramid and Jah Eye inked 'pon the dollar they trust.

Timbuktu we build that up outta sand and the dust.

Thru the Door of No Return herded to hell in a rush,

Plantation by ship, prison complex 'pon de bus,

Rather chuck miself overboard, "freedom is a musss"

With meh Coromantee heart and meh Black Carib**** gut.

Wicked carry we away in rusty shackles and chains

Tried strip we culture and we pride, give we heckles and pain,

Revolt run thru me like oil under Trinidad soil

Sharpen meh Coramantee thoughts with meh Ashanti file.

The wicked Cari we beyond Mama Africa breast,

Far from de River Niger, just niggas in de West,

But Revolt boil meh blood like the Caribeyon' Sun,

Meh heartbeat...Coromantee; Hands beat Congo drum.

             

* medsing- meditating

** also Quamina, Kwabena (in Twi). Referring to the slave leader of the Demerara Slave Revolt

*** also Kofi (in Twi). The leader of the 1763 Berbice Slave Revolt

**** In the Eastern Caribbean (St. Vincent), slaves escaped to the hills, joined Caribs and intermarried.  Their offspring became known as Black Caribs.