Quilombo: Self Savior and Slave Revolts

Paz! Peace! Tau!

El grado en el supremo alfabeto es 'salvador es un mismo'.

So often when learning about our history do we place emphasis on slavery, both mental and physical. The effects of it have been documented and the rammifications of it are undeniably seen in the ways and actions of the people. Not only did it do so much in the stripping away of our identity, it also served as an incubator for many elements of African and Indian culture, to be nurtured into other displays of dignity and identity. So much is made of the eventual conquest of our people and so little is mentioned of the uprisings and rebellions. It should be no surprise to understand that such events would no doubt serve as the seeds to usher in further rebellion and restlessness in the people. The oppressor has subsequently worked hard at the propaganda for their campaign against us, for the last 516 years and miseducation has been a major pipeline for the dispersal of lies and 'his-story'. Another important factor in the silencing of the resistance movements against colonialism has been to instill in us a sense of being docile, of being naturally 'unable' to even conceive of revolting against our oppressor. This is especially true when discussing the history of Boriken (Puerto Rico) and the false identity painted for us by the likes of various politicians and elitists throughout the last 110 years.

One thing that has also been in the forefront of our agenda was 'saving of selves'. Self-preservation is the first law of nature and a mechanism inherent in all creatures. However, in order to make someone think that you have complete control over them, you have to get them to the point where they think they have no power over themselves. You make them think they are incapable of relieving themselves from harsh conditions with the intent of lodging into the brains of their generations to come, the assumed inevitably of their servitude.

The reality is far from what we are cordially given. Indians and Africans frequently rose up against the colonizers and planned escapes into the deep forests and jungles of Amekikia- North, Central and South. In the Caribbean, these 'runaways' were called 'maroons'. They fled to the hills, mountains, jungles and caves to live a life of freedom and harmony. Many of these settlements or 'quilombos' flourished for years and waging multiple battles against the Europeans. As William Lorenz Katz points out in his article entitled, "Africans and Indians- Only in America":

Centuries before the Declaration of Independence talked of natural rights and sanctioned rebellion against tyranny, African-Indian alliances acted on these concepts as they pursued their American dream in the mountains beyond the white settlements dotting the coastline. In 1537 Viceroy Mendoza of Mexico, lamenting an insurrection by Africans, admitted, "the Indians are with them." As slave revolts rocked the new European outposts in the Americas, they also enjoyed Native American support.

In hard-to-reach backwaters of the Americas, two people of color people began to build their own "maroon" colonies. Some were outlaw bands, raiders who preyed on whites, slaves and Indians alike, and lived a short, brutish life. But other maroons depended on family farming and herding and built peaceful relations and trade with Indian villages, slaves, and former masters.

European officials judged maroons, in the words of a French historian, "the gangrene of colonial society." Their success as independent economic societies refuted white claims of African inferiority. Each day Maroons proved once slaves wrenched free they could govern themselves and prosper. Further, maroon encampments served as beacons for discontented slaves in a radius of a hundred miles, and stood as a clear and present danger to the European conquest. Some whites saw maroons as a knife pressed against the thin line of their rule, and they had a point.

In a clockwork of military and legal reflexes, European authorities sought to eradicate Black Indian contacts and pit Red against Black. In l523 a Royal Order to Hernando Cortez banned Africans from Indian villages. "Division of the races is an indispensable [control] element," said a Spanish officer. "Between the races we cannot dig too deep a gulf," announced a French official.

Well-trained European armies ordered to crush maroon colonies met their match in distant mountains and jungles. "[Maroon] self-respect grows because of the fear whites have of them," a white Brazilian wrote to King Joao of Portugal in l719. Maroon songs resonated with victorious pride:

Black man rejoice. White man won't come here.
And if he does, the Devil will take him off.
(from- http://www.williamlkatz.com/Essays/History/AfricansIndians.php)

One of the most famous was called Palmares, in Brazil. By the 1690's , the population of Palmares was around 20,000. There was a movie produced in 1984 called "Quilombo" that goes into the details of the struggle against slavery in Brazil, by are enslaved brothers and sisters there. It in many ways can be likened to a South American version of Alexis Haley's "Roots" saga. Please check out the following clip:

Fast forward to the here and the now. What you see is the government taking the necessary steps to dismantle what could be precieved as modern-day 'quilombos'.

Through 'genetrification', we see the battle against crime and poverty by the reinvestment and redevelopment of previous undesirable lands, lands we were forced to reside within. And being very well aware that the power resides within the people to change their own conditions, the government is dismantling the once communities of color and attempting to break the bond that fo so long allowed brothers and sisters living next to each other had, the common denominator of 'struggle'. The oppressor also knows and understands that power is in numbers and by dispersing our communities they quell even the 'potential' for uprising.

To be the savior of one's self we most be self-sufficient...

Protect and Preserve Community! Only the 'hood can save the 'hood!