Ian Joseph, one of the founding members of the Bethesda School Heritage
Foundation Inc., a community group established to preserve the memory and
legacy of Vigo Blake, who established the first school to educate the enslaved
people of Bethesda, represented the Caribbean at the annual Pan African Expo held
recently in Germany.
He used the opportunity to celebrate the many Caribbean nationals whose works
and deeds helped to free Caribbean people from the enslavement of the plantations
to the mental enslavement of colonialism and its derivatives.
“We Africans are not defined by borders. We are the chosen people; hence we are
found all over this planet. Part of our history in the Americas began when we were
kidnapped and trafficked across the Atlantic to provide labour to enhance and build
the countries of the colonizers. Many of us came from royalty to be enslaved. We
were never slaves. We were enslaved, even when our ancestors were controlled by
whips and guns, they never surrendered their customs and beliefs. This is the very
reason we are here celebrating Africa and in the process creating the Africa we
want to see,” he stated in his address to the conference.
Noting that many of the conditions associated with slavery and colonialism still
exist today, such as poverty and poor health. Joseph said the struggle of the
Africans in the diaspora, as well as in the Mother Land must continue until the
conditions change and improve for all peoples.
He paid homage to freedom fighters and activists such as Toussaint L’Overture of
Haiti, Bob Marley of Jamaica, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. of the
United States, Maurice Bishop of Grenada, Tim Hector and V.C. Bird Snr. of
Antigua and Barbuda, Walter Rodney of Guyana and Eric Williams of Trinidad
and Tobago.
Joseph spoke reverently of Vigo Blake and his tremendous contributions to the
education of his fellowmen at a time when this was prohibited. “I proudly
represent Vigo Blake, an enslaved black man who built a schoolroom before
slavery was abolished. This happened in 1813 in Antigua at Bethesda. It was the
first school for black, enslaved people in the British West Indies.
The historian expressed admiration for National Hero, Sir Vivian Richards, who
turned down millions of dollars to play cricket in South Africa. Sir Vivian refused
to go until the system of apartheid had ended. He also recognized the work of Fidel
Castro who not only engineered the overthrow of a despotic regime in Cuba but
who sent Cuban soldiers to help fight for liberation in Southern African countries
such as Angola and Mozambique.
