About being a Jamaican-American

[dahjah]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

Originally posted by wiggin:
[qb] F.J.C.d. said:
well wid mi speculation hat tun tuhde leff side, mi jus a wundah a how smaddy een finland decide seh "ok lets study jamericans"
How will this better their life ot the life of the jamericans?

Will they use this information in good or to slight the population?

Are they gonna come up with some formula about what causes these jamericans to... and why... further slighting the population?

mi nuh mind de topic atall, but what good can it do?

Will it make the US gov more appreciative towards the subject?


Really got no masterplan on this, shoul I have?
But since we're on the topic, do tell more. [/qb]

well I'm glad unno nuh ha any master plan.
What was the process or how did it go in deciding to choose the study of jamericans?
Were you studying black ppl before and then said ok lets now look at different black segments...
Just wondering on the process here.

[Wahalla]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

I am always astonished when I say something that I know about history... and I get your response..... MG I really thought this was common knowelege....

Here's what I know.... Tituba one of the early witches was either an Native American, a Jamaican or a Bajan...She is refered to as a servant.... I am almost certain slavery was still practised in Massetuthess at the time..... I also am reliably told she may have been a Taino / African heritage.... And is connected to my line of Taino ancestry [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

One aspect of the Witch trail that is ignored was the reality of slavery, nothing makes sense even the theory there was a LSD erget derivative on the locally produced grain till you factor in the fear of a rebellion by the servants indentured and otherwise.....

As I have stated there are aspects of so called black history that the accepted black authorities wont touch because it will highlight the fact that Africans had culutres with sophisitcated religions that predated the chrisitisation.... And this reduction of the African religion into Witch craft or devil worship makes calls into question the whole basic of the mass conversion of Africans into blacks / negro's ect by the translocation but also principally by the removing their culture... And teh principal means was Chrisitanity... If you recall I got shirty with Jesus Dread for posting an article that called Boukman a devil worshiper... (I know Jd did not write it but he did not pull up the issue)

The Boukman and the Tituba saga are issues that highlight my tethis...

What do I know any way? I am just your potential renta dread if I was not so damn ugly [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Wahalla]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

Oh on Salem there were at least another 2 women of African decent killed...... One was named Mary Black.... She was a Bajan... And a Rev Paris ????? was a trader.....

[mountaingal]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

wahalla, my reaction to that bit of info was sincere, and i thank you for your response. if it's common knowledge, then it escaped me, and i'm glad to learn this part of my history now.

i take your point on the lack of discussion in our community of certain aspects of black history because it conflicts with Christian beliefs.

what do you mean by this: "a LSD erget derivative"? are you saying they used to put drugs in the grain to keep the slaves subdued?

[djrosen1]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

Dear Cecil:

I keep hearing claims that the Salem witchcraft trials were the result of poisoning by grain infected with ergot fungus, which caused convulsions and other symptoms that the simple souls of the day interpreted as signs of demonic possession. Any truth to this, Cecil? --Daniel L., Kenosha, Wisconsin

Cecil replies:

Not likely. While it's rarely possible to prove or disprove these things conclusively, evidence for the ergotism-made-them-do-it theory is unpersuasive. The whole project, in fact, smacks of a refusal to face unpleasant truths about human nature. Who needs an organic cause to explain murder in the name of righteousness? Ignorance and superstition aren't enough?

Let's start with the facts. During the winter of 1691-'92, several girls in Salem Village, a county-size jurisdiction surrounding what's now the city of Salem, Massachusetts, came down with a strange illness, experiencing pain, fever, and convulsions and behaving oddly. After a doctor suggested that the girls might be under supernatural influence, someone proposed baking a "witch cake" containing urine from the girls, which was then fed to a dog as a test for witchcraft. That set the pot boiling. More girls began having seizures and claiming they'd been approached by specters of their neighbors with wicked intent. Soon a witch hunt was underway. The first three accused were a Caribbean Indian servant named Tituba; Sarah Good, a beggar; and Sarah Osborn, a quarrelsome older woman. The frightened Tituba cracked, confessing that she was a witch and that she and the other accused women had flown on "poles."

With the jails filling with suspected witches (one was four years old), the colonial governor convened a special court to hear the cases. The girls' satanic manifestations became highly stylized on the witness stand--when confronted with an accused, they immediately began to convulse or, in later stages, were struck dumb. Neighbors chimed in with stories of ominous coincidences. The court admitted two unusual (and to us, stupid) kinds of evidence: "spectral evidence," consisting of tales of supernatural encounters, and a touch test--if an accuser's convulsions ceased when you touched her, you were guilty. As many as 200 people were jailed; about 50 confessed to witchcraft. From June through September of 1692, 19 accused witches were hanged and one was pressed to death with stones. Several other defendants died in prison.

By fall the frenzy had begun to subside. After the governor disallowed the use of spectral evidence, most trials ended in acquittal. Eventually the proceedings were halted, the imprisoned released, and damages paid to the estates of the dead. Embarrassed colonists began asking themselves a question that historians have debated ever since: What the hell was that all about?

In 1976 psychology grad student Linnda R. Caporael proposed the ergotism hypothesis, and history professor Mary Matossian elaborated on it in 1982. The core contentions: A cold winter followed by a moist spring and summer prior to the witchcraft hysteria favored the growth of ergot fungus in rye that the colonists were obliged to eat due to crop failure. Ergot contains toxins known to cause convulsions, hallucinations, and other symptoms similar to those reported by the accusers.

Doubters were quick to raise objections: Evidence of a cold winter and crop failure is dubious, and none of the accusers displayed the full array of symptoms needed to support a diagnosis of convulsive ergotism. More importantly, the symptoms appeared only at opportune moments during the trials, strongly suggesting a psychosomatic origin if not fraud. The counterarguments seem to have persuaded most historians, but a credulous 2001 PBS documentary has helped keep conjecture about ergotism alive.

What really happened? Space won't permit a thorough analysis, but it seems clear a concatenation of circumstances was at work, the most obvious being a bedrock belief in the reality of witches held by a theocratic society having only a superficial acquaintance with the rule of law. We'll probably never know what was up with the first girls to act strangely, but the simplest explanation for the remainder is that they were dramatic types who enjoyed the attention and were egged on by overzealous judges. Their wild testimony might have been discounted had it not been for the confessions of defendants hoping to elude the noose--in Salem, in a departure from traditional witch-hunt practice, admitted witches were spared while those insisting on their innocence courted a death sentence. In the hysterical atmosphere of the trials few skeptics had the nerve to speak out initially lest they too wind up in the dock. Local rivalries and such may have played a part; it's been suggested that the more energetic partisans hoped to divert attention from their failures during the Indian wars of the era. Be that as it may, history abounds with examples of the madness of crowds; to suggest that grain fungus is necessary to precipitate such episodes borders on the bizarre.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050114.html

[Night Nurse]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

Originally posted by Wahalla:
[qb] I am sure there was Jamaicans at James Town...; Another Jamaican was Denmark Vissey... [/qb]

From what mi come tuh undastann, Jamaicans went to Jamaica via James Town, VA. They were originally sent to Jamaica because they were too rebellious and were henceforth, influencing di "well-behaved" slave dem. They were henceforth and forevermore, suppose tuh guh get brukk eeen tuh become more subservient and obedient slaves.

As history has taught us, Jamaicans were not having none a dat ish.

Mi nevah kno dat Denmark Vesey was J'can. Tell wi more dey nuh Walhalla plz.

A wanda if Dr. Ben know dat?

[Night Nurse]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

Originally posted by mountaingal:
[qb] are you saying they used to put drugs in the grain to keep the slaves subdued? [/qb]

Mi hear dat all di time, and it was not only in the grain nieda... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

Waiting for Walhalla to elaborate pon dis.

[mangoskin]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

[QUOTE]Originally posted by wiggin:
[qb]

Originally posted by Wahalla:
How do you say I love you in finnish ???


Minä rakastan sinua [/qb]

mi like dat deh wud "rakastan"
soun bad doah: [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
"a wha de rakastan.....

[Wahalla]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

See Ramble on explanation..... Basically the girls description sounded like a bad trip.... By taking small amounts of the contaminated grain they were having visions...... There is only circunstancial evedence of this happening..... I beleive it is part of the picture..... Young girls having haluciogenic experience, the society is theocratic the only explanation being satanic... Couple that with the fact that the laws were given by peoples whos beleif were even more out rageous than a fundamentalist who handled snakes... Add to this mix a fear of a slave rebellion.... All the parts come together.....

There is evidence of a ergot out break around the same time in Germany... Also there is some evidence that Witch finding occured during similar climatic condtions in europe......


As for Denmark Vassey... He was from the Caribean originally..... Since no one else claims him I claim him for Jamaica..... Not sure where in the arcehepelago he came from.... (Though I did know once) After all he did have some obeah man working for him... Although he was more of your out of Egypt bondage alogaric leader...

By the way one of his co conspitritors Gullah Jack used Obeah like Boukman.... Guess he could be described as selling his soul to the devils.....

Its is interesting if we fast forward to this centuary and examine the relationship between Ali and Fraser... Fraser the Gullah is described as ugly by the faiere Ali......

Gullah as you all know are from those islands off the Carolinas...... Were the purest Africans till this centuary.... Frasiers parents were both Gullahs.....

Hell this is only Wahalla... You all know this stuff already..... And Wahalla is thick as the perverbial short planl...

Sorry MG I re-read my post..Sounded strident didnt mean to be.....

[Wahalla]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

Vasey might have been born in St Thomas... The Island... not the Parish..... (Well it might be the parish....) Or he might have been born in Africa... Mi still sey ah Jamaica.....

http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/vesey_d.htm

[Gen]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mangoskin:
[qb]

Originally posted by wiggin:
[qb]

Originally posted by Wahalla:
How do you say I love you in finnish ???


Minä rakastan sinua [/qb]

mi like dat deh wud "rakastan"
soun bad doah: [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
"a wha de rakastan..... [/qb]

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] a same ting me dida wondah [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[Gen]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

Originally posted by Free JAH CURE dahjah:
[qb] out of all the cultures in the world why the combination of jamaican/american I wundah [/qb]

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[COOLCAT]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

Originally posted by justalittlerain:
[qb] Holla at You!

Being a Finnish student studying English and different English-speaking cultures, I'd like to have a Jamaican-American perspective.. My question goes: What's it like to be Jamaican-American? Any thoughts, opinions or whatever about the subject, be free to tell me anything about it. Thanks! [/qb]

Well it spoil mi bad, but at the sametime its ok. It mek pay bills so till mi fool, don't now mi head from mi toe.

Again it really spoil me bad bad bad, Cause when some big insurance money a come, it mek mi, fling out di old furniture dem and buy new one.

If down a yard, I don't think I could do dat. Jah know been a Jamaican American really poil me bad bad bad. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[justalittlerain]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

Hey Free JAH CURE!
It's early here in Finland, just woke up and, before going to the class I could write a quick reply. Uh, no one came to us saying :"You guys, make a represantation on J-A's."

We were talking about minorities in the U.S. Latin-Americans, African-Americans, Asian-Americans etc etc and Islanders. So Wiggin and I thought, why not Jamaican-Americans. No particular reason really, just popped into our heads. Have a nice day! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[wiggin]

Re: About being a Jamaican-American

Could U tell us more of the relations between U and the main population? Discrimination? Is there still much of that in the USA? Does it matter what colour a person is? To you or to the whites in Amreica?
Any examples of this?

Sorry if I seem a bit nosy but it is kinda hard to understand this since there still is a rather small population of Africans/ Jamaicans/ etc. in Finland and none in a small town like the one I live in...