NOVEMBER IS BRAZIL BLACK AWARENESS MONTH

 Murphy Browne © November 12, 2020 

 

BRAZIL BLACK AWARENESS MONTH 

 

Throughout the Americas (Central, North, South) and on the Caribbean islands, Africans were enslaved by members of various European tribes, from the 15^th century to the 19^th century. Wherever these unfortunate Africans were enslaved they resisted their enslavers in various ways, including armed struggle. Most of the Africans who resisted are famous in the communities where they resisted but hardly known elsewhere. Bussa in Barbados, Marie Joseph Angelique in Canada, Solitude in Guadeloupe, Cuffy/Kofi in Guyana, Cudjoe in Montserrat, Gaspar Yanga in Mexico, Nanny in Jamaica and Zumbi in Brazil are some of the countless African freedom fighters. Many of these freedom fighters are honoured in the communities where they waged struggle against their enslavers, but Zumbi is the only African freedom fighter who is celebrated for an entire month.  

 

 

In the Brazilian city Salvador da Bahia, “Black November” is celebrated similar to African Heritage Month in Canada and the USA during February. Salvador da Bahia has the largest number of African Brazilian citizens and art, dance, food, music and religion are influenced by African Brazilian culture. Capoeira is an African Brazilian martial art form that arrived in Brazil on the slave ships from the African continent. Candomblé is an African Brazilian religion derived from Yoruba belief systems developed by enslaved Africans in Brazil.  

 

 

Since 1960 Brazilians have celebrated “Black Consciousness Day” (Dia da Consciência Negra) on November 20. November 20 was chosen as Dia da Consciência Negra/Black Consciousness Day in honour of a famous Brazilian Maroon leader Zumbi dos Palmares. Zumbi dos Palmares (1655-1695,) the last leader of the famous Palmares Quilombo was beheaded on November 20, 1695 by the Portuguese and his head publicly displayed both as a warning to enslaved Africans and proof that Zumbi was not immortal.  

On January 6, 1694 Palmares suffered a surprise attack because of a careless sentry who failed to warn Zumbi of an approaching army of Portuguese. Although Zumbi and his followers from Palmares fought valiantly, they were surrounded and outnumbered. The Portuguese destroyed the Palmares Quilombo, captured 510 Africans and sold them in Bahia.  

 

 

Zumbi and a few others from Palmares escaped and continued the fight. Zumbi was eventually betrayed by one of his trusted men who bargained Zumbi’s life for his own with the Portuguese. Zumbi was killed in the ensuing fight on November 20, 1695 and his body was delivered to the officials of the city council of Porto Calvo. In her 2013 published “Zumbi of Palmares: Challenging the Portuguese Colonial Order” Mary Karasch, a white American historian writes: “An examination revealed fifteen gunshot wounds and innumerable blows from other weapons; after his death he had been castrated and mutilated. The last degradation by his enemies occurred in a public ceremony in Porto Calvo, in which his head was cut off and taken to Recife, where the governor had it displayed on a pole in a public place. His objective was to destroy the belief that Zumbi was immortal.” 

 

 

Zumbi is a National Hero to many Brazilians, with a Brazilian airport (Zumbi dos Palmares International Airport) named in his honour and a postage stamp (2008) commemorating his memory. He was once the bane of the Portuguese colonizers/enslavers in Brazil. Zumbi was born a free African in the community of Palmares where Africans had established a free Maroon community (quilombo) in 1594. Palmares was the most successful community of quilombos established by Africans who fled enslavement in Brazil and it survived and thrived for 100 years.  

 

 

Although the Quilombo of Palmares was one of several quilombos established by Africans in Brazil, it was the largest with a population of 30,000 and lasted longer than any other (100 years) from 1594 to 1694. Some of Zumbi’s followers who escaped the carnage visited upon them by the Portuguese attack on Palmares escaped to live in other quilombos. Enslaved Africans in Brazil continued to flee until slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888. Some of the quilombos were so well hidden that they were never discovered by the Portuguese and the inhabitants lived in freedom and seclusion. Since 1988, the quilombos have received protective status under Brazil’s constitution in an attempt to maintain the distinctive culture, history and language developed by these communities.  

 

 

In 2011 Dilma Rousseff then President of Brazil signed into law a bill that makes November 20 a Brazilian National Holiday although many Brazilian states had previously recognized November 20 with a public holiday. 

 In spite of the special day to honour Zumbi and the recognition of his place in Brazil’s history, African Brazilians continue to experience oppression in Brazil’s White supremacist culture. African Brazilians continue the fight for equality in education, employment, media, the workplace and the justice system. On November 20, the enslavement of Africans and other injustices since the abolition of slavery are discussed and the contributions of African Brazilians are recognized and celebrated. 

 

 

In his 1989 published book “Brazil, Mixture Or Massacre?: Essays in the Genocide of a Black People” African Brazilian scholar and historian Abdias do Nascimento wrote: “On the whole in this pretentious concept of ‘racial democracy,’ there lies deliberately buried the true face of Brazilian society: only one of the racial elements has any rights or power – whites. They control the means of dissemination of information, educational curriculum and institutions, conceptual definitions, aesthetic norms and all other forms of social/cultural values.”  

 

 

Nascimento who transitioned to the ancestral realm on May 23, 2011 was a Pan-Africanist who played a significant role in raising awareness among African Brazilians and also wrote "Racial Democracy in Brazil, Myth or Reality?: A Dossier of Brazilian Racism" (1977), "Race and ethnicity in Latin America – African culture in Brazilian art" (1994), "Orixás: os deuses vivos da Africa" (Orishas: the living gods of Africa in Brazil) (1995) and "Africans in Brazil: a Pan-African perspective" (1997.) Recognition of Zumbi would not be complete without recognition of Nascimento as the African Brazilian activist scholar who has been described as a “militant Pan-Africanist” and spent his life raising awareness of the struggle of African Brazilians to navigate a White supremacist culture/system. 

 

 

In 2020, 202 years after the Portuguese abolished slavery (1888) Brazil continues to discriminate against the African Brazilian population. During this Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024) African Brazilian freedom fighter and hero Zumbi remains a symbol of freedom and struggle for African Brazilians 325 years (November 20-1695) after he was assassinated by the Portuguese colonizers/enslavers. On Friday, November 20, 2020, amidst the Covid19 Pandemic, African Brazilians will celebrate Zumbi’s courage, leadership and heroic resistance to Portuguese colonial rule and enslavement. 

 

Murphy Browne © November 12, 2020 

 

 

REMEMBRANCE DAY IN CANADA 2010

 Murphy Browne © Thursday, November 11, 2010

REMEMBRANCE DAY IN CANADA 2010

Colored men!

Your King and Country need you!

Now is the time to show your patriotism and loyalty.

Will you heed the call and do your share?

Your Brothers of the Colonies have rallied to the Flag and are distinguishing themselves at the Front.

Here also is your opportunity to be identified in the Greatest War of History, where the Fate of Nations who stand for Liberty is at stake.

Excerpt from advertisement posted in the September 1916 issue of The Atlantic Advocate

The advertisement placed in The Atlantic Advocate encouraging African Canadian men to enlist in the military came after hundreds of African Canadians were turned away when they first tried to enlist in 1914. By 1916 the military higher-ups were ready to accept the services of African Canadians because the war had been raging for two years and the Allies had suffered heavy casualties. The authorities realised that they may have been a bit hasty when they told eager African Canadian men willing to enlist that the war was a “white man’s war” and there was no place for “coloured men” in what was essentially a European tribal conflict. In 1914 when the first major European tribal conflict of the 20th century broke out white Canadian recruiters turned away African Canadians and other racialized men who were eager to become involved in the battles raging throughout Europe.

The history books tell us that the cause of what became known as the Great War or the War to end all Wars was the killing of Franz Ferdinand (first in line to the Austro-Hungarian throne) and his wife. The unfortunate Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were killed on June 28, 1914 by a group of disgruntled Serbs and war broke out between Austria and Serbia. Apparently the disgruntled Serbs were part of a group opposed to the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and seized the opportunity to get rid of the next in line for the throne when the couple visited Sarajevo (capital city of Bosnia-Herzegovina.) After hostilities broke out between Austria-Hungary and Serbia other Europeans quickly picked sides (Britain, Russia and France on the Serbian side with Italy and Germany on the Austro-Hungarian side) and the war was on. By the conclusion of this “War to end all Wars” in 1918 there were more than 30 countries involved including the countries that had been colonized by the Europeans.

The advertisement urging “colored men” to enlist to serve King and Country is reproduced in the 1987 published book The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret written by Calvin Ruck. Documenting the struggles to contribute as they faced white supremacist policies and the contributions of African Canadians to the War, Ruck writes: “From the onset of World War I African-Canadians began to volunteer to serve their country in the conflict overseas. Many who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) were turned away at the recruitment offices. In November 25, 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Fowler, Commanding officer of the 104th Battalion, requested permission to discharge twenty black recruits on the basis of race. He wrote I have been fortunate to have secured a very fine class of recruits and I did not think it fair to these men that they should have to mingle with Negroes. This rejection was met with protest in the African-Canadian community.” The Canadian military was eventually forced to include large numbers of African Canadian recruits after enormous casualties among the white men fighting in Europe. However, these men served in a segregated African Canadian battalion where they were forced to serve under the jurisdiction of white officers.

Although African Canadians have been actively involved in every armed conflict in Canadian history there is no recognition of this fact. In The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret, Ruck writes: “Black Canadians have a long and honourable tradition of patriotism, sacrifice and heroism in the British and Canadian armed forces. From the American Revolution (1775-1783) to the Korean War (1950-1953), Blacks fought, bled and died on behalf of Empire, King and Country.” As quiet as it is kept, Africans have been living in this country since the 1600s (enslaved and free) and many African Canadians can trace their family’s history in Canada back seven and eight generations. In 2001, members of the African Canadian population who could trace the history of their ancestors in Canada back several generations represented significant numbers in the overall African Canadian population in several provinces. In New Brunswick (41%), in Newfoundland and Labrador (22%), in Nova Scotia (57%), in Prince Edward Island (31%) and in Quebec (31%). In spite of this history it is disappointing how little is known about the history and contributions of African Canadians because that history is not included in the curriculum from which Canadian children are taught.

On November 11, when there are images of those who are remembered and praised for fighting to maintain democracy and liberty for the free world those images hardly include racialized people. There is usually no mention of the African Canadian men who Calvin Ruck wrote about in The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret.

African Canadian men returned from fighting for Liberty, King and Country to find that their living conditions had not improved. They still were treated as third class citizens in the country of their birth where their ancestors’ blood, sweat and tears had contributed to the wealth and privileges that others could enjoy. In his book The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret Ruck acknowledges this by writing: “Following the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, Black soldiers were sent home. They returned, without fanfare, to their homes in cities, towns and villages across the country – from Cape Breton Island in the East to Vancouver Island in the West. The Blacks who were prepared to serve and die in defence of freedom came home to many of the same restrictions they had left behind. The Great War did not end all wars, it did not make the world safe for democracy, and it did not signal an end to racial prejudice. Blacks were still subjected to segregated housing, segregated employment and even some segregated graveyards.”

On Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. we will once again pause to remember the men and women who served in various capacities and even lost their lives during the several armed conflicts in which Canada as a colony of the British Empire and as a sovereign nation were involved. Ruck wrote with great optimism: “The authorization on July 5, 1916, of a segregated Black battalion exposed the latent prejudice in this country. In all likelihood, such a discriminatory policy shall never again be repeated. The Human Rights Act of the late seventies and more recently, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which prohibit discrimination based on race, colour etc., apply to all facets of Canadian society, including the armed forces.”

Ruck who transitioned to the ancestral realm on October 19, 2004, would have been very disappointed to see the recent image of a white man dressed as a member of the KKK leading another white man in blackface with a rope around his neck at an event held in a Legion Hall where they won first prize for their “costume.” The fact that people at the event did not understand that the “costume” was racist illuminates how far we have come and still have to go since the days when African Canadians were relegated to third class citizen status in this country. The following quote from an African Canadian man who attended the event at the Legion Hall in Campbellford, Ontario which appeared in an article from one of the white daily newspapers speaks to the harm that we experience when subjected to such racist incidents: “When I saw it and put down my beer and left and was walking out — I never felt as alone as I have in my life,” Mark Andrade said of the troubling spectacle he witnessed at a Campbellford, Ontario legion on Saturday night.

Murphy Browne © Thursday, November 11, 2020

VIOLA IRENE DAVIS DESMOND NOVEMBER -1946

 

VIOLA DESMOND NOVEMBER 8-1946 

 

Murphy Browne © November 4-2020 

On Friday, November 8, 1946, seventy-four years ago, Viola Irene Davis Desmond, a 32-year-old African Canadian businesswoman was arrested at the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. The “crime” for which she was arrested, was sitting in a seat designated for White people. Viola Desmond was harassed, injured, arrested and incarcerated for resisting the White supremacist system of Nova Scotia. On November 8, 1946, Desmond was traveling on business from her Halifax, Nova Scotia home when she experienced car trouble in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. She took her car to a garage and while the car was being repaired, she decided to see a movie at the Roseland Theatre. Desmond sat in a seat on the main floor which was reserved for White people, instead of in the balcony to which African Canadians were relegated. When Desmond was ordered to move, she replied that she could not see from the balcony and that she would not move from the main floor.  

The manager left the theatre and returned with a policeman. Together, the two burly White men dragged the slim, 4’ 11” Desmond into the street, injuring her in the process. She was incarcerated overnight and taken to court the next day without benefit of legal counsel. Without legal representation, she was tried and found guilty. The sentence handed down on November 9, 1946 was 30 days in jail or a fine of $20, plus $6 to the manager of the theatre. The manager was one of the two men who had injured her as he dragged her out of the cinema the night before. 

 

 Viola Desmond was brought up in a family of 10 siblings. Her parents were James Albert Davis and Gwendolin Irene (née Johnson) Davis. Viola opened Vi’s Studio of Beauty Culture in Halifax after studying at the Field Beauty Culture School in Montreal, one of the few institutions in Canada at the time that accepted African Canadian students. She continued her training in Atlantic City and in New York. Viola Desmond opened Vi’s Studio of Beauty Culture in Halifax, catering to the African Canadian community. She also opened a beauty school, the Desmond School of Beauty Culture, to train women in the beauty industry and expanded her business across the province. Her beauty school also attracted students from New Brunswick and Quebec. She created a line of beauty products, which were sold at venues owned by graduates of her beauty school.  

 

 

On November 8, 1946, at 32 years old Desmond was a successful entrepreneur. Desmond’s business success was almost unheard of for women in Canada at the time and especially for African Canadian women. On November 9, 1946, she paid the 26 dollars fine that was imposed on her in court and then challenged the guilty verdict in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Desmond was supported in her struggle for justice by fellow African Canadian and civil rights activist Carrie Best who publicized the case in “The Clarion” newspaper. 

  

 

Carrie Best was born on March 4, 1903 in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia to James and Georgina Ashe Prevoe. On June 25, 1925 she and Albert Theophilus Best were married and they had one son James Calbert Best. In December 1941, several African Canadian female secondary school students were forcibly removed from the Roseland Theatre when they refused to move from the "whites only" section of the cinema. Carrie Best investigated and found that segregation was practiced at the cinema. After writing to the owner and being ignored, on Monday, December 29, 1941 she and her teenage son James Calbert Best went to see a movie at the Roseland Theatre. They refused to sit in the balcony where African Canadians were forced to sit and sat in the "whites only" section. When staff ordered the mother and son to leave, they refused. Police were called and the police dragged them out of their seats. 

 

 

Best filed a civil suit against the management of the Roseland Theatre and the case, Best v. Mason and Roseland Theatre, 1942, was tried in May 1942 before Judge Robert Henry Graham of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. Judge Graham dismissed Carrie Best’s civil suit against the Roseland Theatre and ordered her to pay $156.07 to the owner of the Roseland Theatre. Carrie Best was galvanized into publishing her newspaper The Clarion after she lost to the Roseland Theatre in court. The Clarion became the first newspaper owned by an African Canadian in Nova Scotia.  

 

 

Viola Desmond challenged the November 9, 1946 guilty verdict to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Although she received support from many African Canadians and the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP) the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia upheld the guilty verdict. The guilty verdict remained in place until April 15, 2010 when a posthumous pardon was granted. On 15 April 2010, Viola Desmond was granted a free pardon by Nova Scotia Lieutenant-Governor Mayann Francis at a formal ceremony in Halifax. The pardon was accompanied by a public declaration and apology from Premier Darrell Dexter, recognizing that the conviction was a miscarriage of justice and that charges should never have been laid. During the ceremony, Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs and Economic and Rural Development Percy Paris said, “With this pardon, we are acknowledging the wrongdoing of the past, we are reinforcing our stance that discrimination and hate will not be tolerated.” 

 

 

While Desmond did not win her battle against segregation in Canada, she inspired others, including her youngest sibling Wanda Robson. Robson’s advocacy on her sister’s behalf set matters in motion that resulted in Desmond’s life story becoming public and recognized, followed by various honours. 

 

 

In 2010, the Viola Desmond Chair in Social Justice was established at Cape Breton University and in 2012, Canada Post issued a postage stamp bearing her image. A Heritage Minute short film, relating her November 8, 1946 ordeal was released during African Heritage Month, in February 2016. On July 7, 2016, a Halifax harbour ferry the “Viola Desmond,” was launched. In January 2018, she was named a National Historic Person by the Canadian government. On November 19, 2018, the $10 bill featuring Viola Desmond’s image was released. The bill also features a map of the North End of Halifax, where Desmond lived and worked, and a quote from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination.” The Canadian Museum of Human Rights is featured on the back of the bill. In April 2019, the Viola Desmond $10 bill won the “International Bank Note Society” Banknote of the Year Award for 2018. In February 2019, the Royal Canadian Mint announced the release of its first “Black History Month” coin, a silver coin featuring an engraved image of Viola Desmond. Her memory has also been honoured with an annual Viola Desmond Award ceremony at Ryerson University in Toronto, for the past 12 years. At 50 years old, Viola Desmond transitioned to the ancestral realm on February 7, 1965 while she was living in New York. She is buried at Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Sadly but not surprisingly, on October 3, 2020, “a sign directing visitors to Viola Desmond's headstone at the Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax was defaced with racial slurs.”  

 

Murphy Browne © November 4-2020