Caribbean and African Languages(excerpt) by Morgan Dalphinis

Caribbean and African Languages(excerpt) by Morgan Dalphinis

...The system however, which is designed to oppress Caribbean peoples [read Africans], has not changed, firstly because many Caribbeans sadly, do not want to take the hard and lonely path towards independence: economic, cultural or otherwise. Either the chorus is 'It's the white man's fault' or White people are the best and we should not rock the boat'.
[parentheses mine]

Secondly many Europeans do not like the idea of real equality with Caribbeans, whether in language or otherwise. Either the chorus is 'Blacks are inferior anyway' or 'Let's pretend that we are offering equality by giving a few token jobs to a few safe blacks, but let's not rock the boat with changes that affect the economic or the political'.

It is only within this context of the struggle for the improvement of the material conditions of Africans and their descendants inside and outside Africa (a) by their own efforts and (b) by a wish for equality with Africans by those who at present profit from their oppression that any meaningful improvement in the role of both Caribbean and African languages can be expanded. Our(sic) languages are the symbols of our struggles, our defeats and our victories.

If we are to return proudly, on the other side of the grave, to face the spirits of the ancestors like men and women, we must, on this side of the grave, justify their previous struggles and sacrifice on our behalf by reconstructing the political and economic context within which our culture can have its respected place.

There can be no defence of African and Caribbean culture except through continuation of our struggle.

(pg 16-17, Caribbean and African Languages: Social History, Language, Literature and Education by Morgan Dalphinis)