By Nelson A. King
José Francisco Ávila, the
Honduran-born chairman of
the Board of the Bronx-based
umbrella Garifuna Coalition,
USA, Inc., has announced the
title of his forthcoming book,
saying that the struggle to reconcile
social perceptions of his
multiracial and ethnic heritage
led him to research his Garifuna
ancestry.
“I embraced my Garifuna
identity and took pride in it,”
Ávila told Caribbean Life over
the weekend in revealing the
title of his proposed book, “Pan-
Garifuna Afro Latino Power
of Pride: My Quest for Racial,
Ancestral, Ethnic and Cultural
Identity.”
“The power of Garifuna ethnic
pride led to my lifetime mission
to inform, empower and advocate
for Garifuna People, which
led to the modern Garifuna and
Afro descendant movement in
Latin America,” added Ávila,
the managing partner of Garifuna
Caribbean L 8 ife, JULY 23-29, 2021
The Great Mossaic
Afro-Latino Entertainment
LLC, a Bronx-based full-service
entertainment company.
“Ancestry is our place of origin
or where we came from,
therefore, our biogeographic
history,” continued Ávila, stating
that, while he was born in Honduras,
his research revealed that
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
is the ancestral homeland of the
Black Caribs, or Garifuna, before
they were forcibly deported by
the British to Honduras.
“I discovered that my Black
Carib/Garifuna Ancestors were
the true reflection of a dynamic
symbol of resistance to colonization
— brave and courageous
people who successfully
resisted slavery,” he said, pointing
out that they fought the
British Empire for over 30 years
in defending their homeland,
which they called “Yurumein”.
Ávila – also an author, selfpublisher
and social justice
activist — noted that the British
ordered two regiments from
North America to subdue the
Black Caribs.
“Unable to subdue them,
they offered honorable terms of
peace,” he said. “The terms of
the treaty, which were printed
in the government Gazette of
1773, was the first time the
British Empire signed a treaty
with non-European people.”
Ávila said that Paramount
Black Carib/Garifuna Chief
Joseph Chatoyer was immortalized
in 1823, when William
Henry Brown recognized as
the first American playwright
of African descent wrote “The
Drama of King Shotaway.”
“The Drama of King Shotaway”
is a play that is recognized
as the first Black drama of the
American Theatre and had as
its subject “The 1795 Black Caribs
(Garifunas) defense of the
Island of St. Vincent against
Colonization led by Paramount
Chief Joseph Chatoyer,” Ávila
said.
“Learning their history
Jose Francisco Avila. Illusion Photo Studio
increased my sense of ethnic
pride, and led me to place
the nurturing and promotion
of Garifuna pride at the center
of my grassroots social justice
advocacy,” he said. “The
renewed pride led me to organize
the First Intercontinental
Garifuna Summit Meeting in
1991 in New York City.”
Garifuna leader makes book
title announcement on ancestry
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