Tropical Fruit Punch

We have forged a nation

Or is it that we made fruit punch

From the taino, spanish, english, africans, indians, chinese

From the guava, apples, mangoes, papayas, bananas, melons

We birthed a people strong and proud

We blended a mix rich and thick

Shades of black Africa, coolie royal, black chiney

Blue – black, white – black, yellow – black, red ibo, browning

The red of the melon blends with the juicy yellow flesh of the mangos

The banana thickened juice swirls over ice changing form and structure

Out of many one tropical fruit punch

Introduction

In the world of defining and definition it should be sufficient to say that we are inhabitants of the earth however more precise definitions make us English, American, Caribbean, African, Asian, Chinese, Indians etc.  But even as we are designating and specifying, the labels are becoming blurred as groups, once assembled in particular locations, move out to reassemble in other locales or have the uncertain pleasure of receiving those who have moved.  In the process these peoples of different geographies and cultures mix in and among others and each other to shape and form new groupings.   

Taíno Yamayeka played host to many members of differing groups as they dispersed beyond their primary congregations.  The Taínos themselves had moved beyond their borders of the South Americas into the Caribbean.  The various peoples who came after interfaced and integrated their cultures to accommodate and eventually reshape into a whole that benefited from and became the sum of all.  The now Jamaica is therefore a composite, a legacy of different fore- parents with a rich and diverse ancestral heritage. 

It is therefore no longer true to speak of the Taínos as an extinct group.  That which makes us Taíno, remains in place, alongside that which is still present from all those who came to this geographical space to make it what it is today.  We may go on to say then that it is also no longer entirely true to speak of Africans only as the people living in Africa as events and activities have resulted in their dispersion to different lands and the creation of diasporas in these lands. 

This fragmentation of African people has resulted in the movement of people, language and all other aspects of culture away from core and has contributed to ‘reshapings’ of Africa and Africans in both these other lands and the homeland.   

The peoples who came to Yamayeka (Jamaica), one of the Caribbean homes of the Taino people, included the Akan, Edo, Igbo, Fon, Ewe, Youruba, Congolese peoples from the African continent,  Indians, Chinese, Germans, Jews and Syrians/Lebanese (http://www.jnht.com/disndat_people.php).

As children of many ancestors we know that we have much to learn about the traditions and ways of life of those from whom we came.  These traditions and ways of life are, under normal circumstances, those that we would have been born into and lived with and up to.  Our geographical, mental, spiritual, social, cultural and other displacement, has resulted in a disconnection from these and has found us living mind, body, spirit invested in the tenets of other cultures.    

It is time for us to recall.  To remember who we are and who we are meant to be.  To take the journey forward from the ancestors we were to the ancestors we are becoming.  To find the powerful peoples that we are and to remember that we are responsible for our own evolution.  Let us not put our past behind us until we have placed it firmly, unashamedly in front of us and deeply examined it from all perspectives,   grab the learning, do the growing and ascend.