VICE News will be featuring the land battles in the Gullah/Geechee Nation on an upcoming episode to conclude 2015.
The response to help save the Gullah land has been very poor. Even some of the Gullah descendants aren't responding to the cry of their people to preserve their land. Without the land the culture is done. Gullah culture is African culture mixed in with a little bit, not much, of Native American and European culture. But I think the issue is that most of you are ignorant as to what is culture. Pretty much like I was at one point in my life. Culture is the way a people does a thing. That sounds simple and that's the best way to give a definition is to stick with the simple one. But to get to the substance of culture, it is much more than just the way people do things, culture is life. Like how would you survive if there was no water and you have to go to the river to get water? How would you carry that water? Seeing we need water to drink, bath, wash clothes, clean the house, wash dishes, and we need water to push waste through sewage. Women invented jugs, they took clay and formed that clay into jugs many lifetimes ago to carry precious water back to their villages. The art of making jugs was taught to the children. That is culture passed on. The art of planting seeds so that food could grow that is culture. The making of clothing so we don't go around naked that is culture. The art of cleaning, cooking meat and preparing food is culture. All of the country living skills, all of the living off grid knowledge is culture. At the heart of every culture is Mama.
Do you know what would happen to civilization if the economy collapses and no one knows how to survive? Many people would die and children will suffer. There's a story of two old women abandoned by their tribe in ice cold region of Alaska. The tribe was nomadic and they traveled with the season. Along the way they got tired of these two old women complaining, so the chief made a decision to leave them behind because they were a burden. Well these two old women survived and lived to save the tribe. How did they do it? It's because the two old women knew how to hunt, store food, make traps, make hats, gloves and coats that many of the young people in the tribe just didn't know. Go check out the story, it is an amazing story. You can go to the library and get this book. I recommend that you read it so you can understand culture and survival.
Mainly the Gullahs were women who didn't want their children being slaves. Most of the people who fought slavery and organized as maroons were women. Blackmen did mostly what they are doing today, fighting with each other or fighting with Whites. The men saw the importance of war and being strong, but the neglected the cultural aspect. Without the culture the maroons could not have survived in the woods. Without the herbal medicine you would get sick and die in the woods from snake bite, fever, etc. The women saw the importance of the maintaining the culture and Her Majesty Queen Quet dedicated herself so much to the cause, that when the Gullahs formed a nation, they crowned Margaret Goodwine Robinson, aka Queen Quet, as their Queen. This is not a fairy tale story this is a real story.
The Gullahs are still enduring and fighting to save their land. Some rich racist Whites came into the Islands some years ago. They worked their way into the county administration and changed the laws. These racist crackers increased the property taxes up 500%. This gave alot of struggling Gullah farmers huge tax bills that they have never had before. And no means to pay because they didn't live off of money they survived off of culture. Suddenly people unable to pay the taxes started losing their lands. This is what Dr. Umar Johnson speaks of when he says, "The U.S Government is behind stopping any sovereign power from rising in its midst". They don't want the Gullah culture to survive, neither do they want Black Atlanta or Black D.C to thrive. But I don't have to tell you how White Supremacy works because you know already. The joy in this story is that we have beat them before and we will beat them again. We need your material support to keep the land.
On the land the Gullah culture continues they have the Gullah Traditions School which teaches various trade skills to the youth and adults looking to start their own businesses. The Gullah Gee Chee have the St. Helena Island Market, which is a ran like a traditional African market, with food vendors, entertainers, arts and craft vendors, information seminars and other services. Many of the Gullahs have businesses in fishing, boating, tour services, farming, auto mechanics, restaurants, repair services, etc. These are a very industrious people pretty much like the people of Mother Africa where there's no safety net, might I add. The Gullah Gee Chee have partnership with OyoTunji African Village Kingdom, which is the first African village in America, founded in 1970 in Gullah land. Oyotunji is an authentic Yoruba and Dahomean kingdom with its own King, Alase Oba Adefumi II, and town council called the, "Ogboni Town Council". The people take actual participation in government and are encouraged to do so. This isn't an experimental government, Oyotunji is based upon 2000 years of Oyo Empire history, it has a very sophisticated constitution. Yet it is into the bosom of the Gullah Gee Chee that His Royal Majesty Oba Adefumni I, placed the precious seed of Oyotunji. Oyotunji has full temples dedicated to the Orishas like Sango, Ogun, Osun, Oya, Orunmila, Esu, Egun, Obatala, Yemaya, Ogboni, etc. Oyotunji has Oyo institutions, an university, market, farmland, businesses, library, shops, residential areas, palace and government buildings. But despite, I doubt, if Oyotunji would have survived without the Gullah Gee Chee. We have the Gullahs to thank for alot of things that we don't mention or even know. Please donate now to save the land of the Gullah Gee Chee culture.
Pale Skins' Threats Against Land of Gullah Geechee Blacks
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation is one of the voices featured in this piece that was shot in South Carolina and in Georgia. Although the site uses the word “vanishing,” the piece will highlight why Gullah/Geechees are fighting back to insure that their culture is continuing!
Tune in to the trailer:
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