It is with great honor and privilege that I join millions of people in Africa, in the African Diaspora, and others across the globe in commemorating and celebrating 24 January as World Day of African and Afro descendant Culture.<\/p>\n
Our ancestors are watching and are also celebrating as their children in the Motherland and their children in the Diaspora unite on this day to uplift and amplify the rich and vibrant culture of Africa, and the many ways in which African culture and the culture of people in the African Diaspora continue to thrive and flourish. Today is a reminder that from Ghana to Grenada, African culture is the thread that weaves us together as African people.<\/p>\n
As Grenadians, we know quite well that even though African culture is being celebrated today\u2014 January 24th\u2014 that Africanism is an integral part of our daily lives. From our foods to our festivals; our music and storytelling\u2014our culture is alive and well. Every time we eat Cou-Cou or dance to the beat of a drum, and remember or recite the childhood stories of Anansi, the Spider man\u2014we are celebrating African culture.<\/p>\n
Africanism is in our souls\u2014it is what makes us who we are as a people. Our Grenadianism is because of our Africanism. It is a link that cannot be broken\u2014 despite efforts to separate and disconnect people in the Caribbean from our brothers and sisters on the African continent\u2014it is our shared cultural heritage and traditions that bind us and bring us together.<\/p>\n
Today, as the Covid 19 pandemic continues to change our way of life here in Grenada and across the world\u2014it is our culture, it seems that still keeps us connected. And as we have seen over the past two years\u2014 when we have been forced to cancel carnival and many other cultural events\u2014we were reminded that our carnival is not just an event\u2014it lives and lingers in our souls and in our spirits. We can play mas wherever we are, and, with whatever we have at our disposal\u2014it is what our ancestors were forced to do!<\/p>\n
That\u2014my brothers and sisters is the strength and power of African and Afro descendent culture\u2014it is encoded in our DNA. It is that same power that guided fueled and, inspired our ancestors to make music, and dance, and tell stories while toiling under the brutality and inhumanity of slavery. Our beautiful jab-jab, j\u2019ouvert and, carnival festivities are testaments to our ancestors connecting and transferring the culture and traditions of Africa\u2014their motherland to their lives in a new and unfamiliar place\u2014Grenada or should I say Camerhogne.<\/p>\n
From the Djembe drums of West Africa to the steel drums of Trinidad; from traditional face painting on the African continent to Jab-jabs painting their faces and bodies here in Grenada\u2014we know that African and Afro descendant culture is alive and well.<\/p>\n
However, it is our work\u2014 each and every one of us to nurture and preserve these cultural traditions by: becoming ambassadors of this rich cultural heritage; committing to passing on these cultural traditions to the next generation of culture workers\u2014 dancers, musicians, storytellers and others engage in the cultural industry, and publicly recognizing our cultural heroes and heroines\u2014 the likes of Auntie Tek, Don Charles, James Clarkson, David Peck Edwards, Bubbler, African Teller, Natty Nuclear dread, Tangler, Winston Fleary, Peter Bain, Brother Resistance, Shadow, Singing Sandra, Bunny Wailer, Frederick \u201cToots\u201d Maytals, Lee Scratch Perry, Robbie Shakespeare and many more unsung and uncelebrated cultural ambassadors who ensured that the cultural bond between Africa, Grenada and the Caribbean remained strong and vibrant over the years.<\/p>\n
Finally, January 24 \u2013World Day of African and Afro descendant Culture is a day that the entire world must celebrate the important contributions that Africans and Afro descendants have made to World Culture and we must\u2014 as a humanity\u2014 recognize the need to protect and preserve this rich cultural heritage for future generation\u2014 here in Grenada and across the globe.<\/p>\n
Congratulations on this important day, and let us do\u2014each and every one of us\u2014what we know must be done\u2014 to keep our rich African cultural heritage alive and well here in Grenada!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is with great honor and privilege that I join millions of people in Africa, in the African Diaspora, and others across the globe in commemorating and celebrating 24 January as World Day of African […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?fit=623%2C480&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?fit=623%2C480&ssl=1",623,480,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg",623,480,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg",623,480,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?fit=300%2C231&ssl=1",300,231,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?fit=623%2C480&ssl=1",623,480,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?fit=623%2C480&ssl=1",623,480,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?fit=623%2C480&ssl=1",623,480,true],"mh-magazine-slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?resize=623%2C438&ssl=1",623,438,true],"mh-magazine-content":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?resize=623%2C381&ssl=1",623,381,true],"mh-magazine-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?resize=623%2C480&ssl=1",623,480,true],"mh-magazine-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?resize=326%2C245&ssl=1",326,245,true],"mh-magazine-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Ambassador-Arley-Gill-chairman-of-the-Grenada-National-Reparations-Committee.jpeg.jpg?resize=80%2C60&ssl=1",80,60,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"adminrfm","author_link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/author\/adminrfm\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Local News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"It is with great honor and privilege that I join millions of people in Africa, in the African Diaspora, and others across the globe in commemorating and celebrating 24 January as World Day of African [...]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9934,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9932\/revisions\/9934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}