Black Power in Bermuda: The Struggle for Decolonization

257 Pages·2009·2.376 MB·English

by  Quito Swan (auth.)

Black Power in Bermuda
CONTEMPORARY BLACK HISTORY
Manning Marable (Columbia University) and
Peniel Joseph (Tufts University)
Series Editors
This series features cutting-edge scholarship in Contemporary Black History, underlining
the importance of the study of history as a form of public advocacy and political activism.
It focuses on postwar African-American history, from 1945 to the early 1990s, but it also
includes international black history, bringing in high-quality interdisciplinary scholarship
from around the globe. It is the series editors’ firm belief that outstanding critical research
can also be accessible and well written. To this end, books in the series incorporate dif-
ferent methodologies that lend themselves to narrative richness, such as oral history and
ethnography, and combine disciplines such as African American Studies, Political Science,
Sociology, Ethnic and Women’s Studies, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, and Criminal
Justice.
Published by Palgrave Macmillan:
Biko Lives!: The Contested Legacies of Steve Biko
Edited by Andile Mngxitama, Amanda Alexander, and Nigel C. Gibson
Anticommunism and the African American Freedom Movement: “Another Side of the Story”
By Robbie Lieberman and Clarence Lang
Africana Cultures and Policy Studies: Scholarship and the Transformation of Public Policy
Edited by Zachery Williams
Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Clinton
By Duchess Harris
Mau Mau in Harlem?: The U.S. and the Liberation of Kenya
By Gerald Horne
Black Power in Bermuda: The Struggle for Decolonization
By Quito Swan
Neighborhood Rebels: Black Power at the Local Level
Edited by Peniel E. Joseph (forthcoming)
Black Power Principals
By Matthew Whitaker (forthcoming)
Black Power in Bermuda
The Struggle for Decolonization
Quito Swan
BLACK POWER IN BERMUDA
Copyright © Quito Swan, 2009.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-61906-7
All rights reserved.
First published in 2009 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the
world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers
Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-0-230-10958-2 ISBN 978-0-230-10218-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230102187
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Swan, Quito.
Black power in Bermuda : the struggle for decolonization / Quito Swan.
p. cm.—(Contemporary Black history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “A transnational, Pan-African youth movement, Black power
in Bermuda sought freedom for Blacks from the island’s White oligarchy
and independence from British colonialism. It was spearheaded by
activists such as Pauulu Kamarakafego and the Black Beret Cadre. The
Cadre maintained relationships with revolutionary organizations across
the African diaspora, such as the Black Panthers. Emerging in the late
1960s, the movement witnessed the assassinations of Bermuda’s
British chief of police and governor (1972–1973). Swan carefully details
the island’s colonial government’s attempts to destroy the movement
through military tactics, extensive propaganda, and the implementation
of token social concessions”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-230-10958-2 (hbk)
1. Black power—Bermuda Islands—History—20th century.
2. Blacks—Civil rights—Bermuda Islands—History—20th century.
3. Civil rights movements—Bermuda Islands—History—20th century.
4. Youth movements—Bermuda Islands—History—20th century.
5. Black Beret Cadre (Paget, Bermuda Islands)—History. 6. Political
activists—Bermuda Islands—Biography. 7. Bermuda Islands—Race
relations—History—20th century. 8. Decolonization—Bermuda
Islands—History—20th century. 9. Bermuda Islands—History—
Autonomy and independence movements. 10. Bermuda Islands—Politics
and government—20th century. I. Title.
F1640.B55S93 2010
323.097299—dc22 2009034119
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: December 2009
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Pauulu, Habib, Akinwunmi, Ifasadun, Ayah, and
the beautyful ones unborn
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Contents
List of Figures, Maps, and Tables ix
Preface xi
List of Abbreviations xv
Introduction The Truth is an Offense:
Black Power in a British Colony 1
1 Negroes Dressed in Insolence:
Boycotts, Black Muslims, and Racial Uprisings 11
2 Another Unknown Soldier: Pauulu 35
3 A Bermuda Triangle of Imperialism 53
4 Blueprint for Freedom: Bermuda’s Black Power
Conference of 1969 77
5 Wake the Town and Tell the People:
The Black Beret Cadre Emerges 95
6 The Empire Strikes Back:
The Government’s War against the Berets 113
7 We Don’t Need No Water:
The Cadre Burns the Union Jack 137
8 Robin Hood was Black in My Hood:
“Erskine” Buck Burrows and the Assassinations (1972–77) 163
Conclusion Babylon Give Them a Ride:
Blackness in Contemporary Bermuda 183
Notes 197
Bibliography 225
Index 233
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Figures, Maps, and Tables
Figures
0.1 Flag of Bermuda xvii
0.2 B lack Berets, 1972 (L-R, Dennis Burrows, John (Dionne)
Bassett, Philip Perinchief, Jennifer Smith, Calvin Shabazz) xviii
0.3 B lack Berets with Free Panther Sign (L-R, Jerome
Perinchief, Eliyahtsoor Ben Aaharon, Cal Shabazz) xviii
0.4 P auulu’s brother, Pauula, his grandfather, and friend
(courtesy of Rronniba Kamarakafego) xix
0.5 P auulu Kamarakafego at the University of Columbia,
1954 (courtesy of Rronniba Kamarakafego) xx
0.6 Pauulu Kamarakafego in Liberia, 1960 (courtesy of
Rronniba Kamarakafego) xxi
C.1 T ea & Crackers 189
Maps
0.1 Bermuda xvi
0.2 Map of Bermuda xvi
0.3 Bermuda and the Americas xvii
Tables
1.1 Number of resident Blacks and Whites in Bermuda,
1834–1970 17
4.1 Black Power organizations in Eastern Caribbean,
latter half of 1969–70 90
5.1 Political movements/leaders studied by the Cadre 108
C.1 British overseas territories decolonized since 1970 188
C.2 Occupational distribution of employment and
average income by race, 2006–2007 191