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This paper looks at two source
documents from the colonial period of the Caribbean. Both documents reflect
upon colonization, in general, and specifically the issue of slavery its
effects. The first source is the paper “Discourse on Colonialism” by Aimé Césaire.
The second is a speech given by Moses Bon Sàam. Césaire was a poet from the
French colonial island of Martinique in the early 20th century, who
would later serve in various posts including mayor of the town of
Fort-de-France.[1]
Bon Sàam was a former slave on the island of Jamaica in the early 18th
century who had escaped slavery and led a group of former slaves in the
interior of the island determined to create their own society free of British
colonialism.[2]
While these discourses were promulgated nearly two hundred years apart, Césaire’s
work discusses the ideology of the effects of colonialism and slavery while
Sàam’s speech gives us direct insight into those same issues. It is for this
reason that these sources are discussed here as they shed light on both an
intellectual analysis of the issue of slavery as well as a first-hand account
that speaks directly to that analysis. Both sources discuss themes of the
effects of colonialism on both the colonialist as well as the slave, the issue
of religion as a raison d’être for colonialism and slavery, and the
conditions of slavery that were endured, both physically and mentally.
Césaire
begins his discourse with a discussion of the effects of colonialism and
slavery on the colonialist. He describes this idea of civilization as being
based on the “principles of treachery and deceit.”[3] Colonialism has the effects on colonialist of decivilizing
him, brutalizing
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him, and degrading him. He sees in the colonialist the
byproducts of being involved in the slave trade as bringing to the fore
characteristics that are the worst of human instincts, that of covetousness,
violence, race hatred, and moral relativism.[4] He holds harsher
criticisms for the emerging humanism that attempts to reverse slavery, which he
coins “pseudo-humanism.”[5] These attempts are both
incomplete and biased; based on ideas that in themselves are deeply racist. Slavery-based
colonialism is rooted in a culture of domination and submission. All colonial
activity, enterprise, and conquest finds it’s source in the contempt of the
native. That is to say, the dominating culture sees the dominated as an animal
and not as a human. The dominated begin to see themselves as less than human.
As Bon Sàam states, he is but “a Wretch, among Wretches.”[6] He continues about the
wrongs committed against the Negroes, but pointedly mentions one effect on
himself. Like Césaire’s description of how slavery turns the hearts of the
colonialist, Bon Sàam describes how his own heart was “deaden’d against Pity.”[7] Not only does the slaver
succumb to baser emotions, but the slave as well, hardening his own emotions
against the suffering of his people.
In pursuing
reasons for the extensive colonialism of European powers, as well as the
burgeoning imperialism of the United States, Césaire strikes against the
oft-used idea of God and religion. For him, this idea of colonial civilization
is not evangelization, and it is not for the “greater glory of God.”[8] Colonialism is about
economics. Colonization and slavery are for the
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benefit of the merchant, the grocer, the ship owner, and the
gold digger. Religion and God are often used as an inspirational idea to
justify actions. But ultimately, these are not the true reasons for the
activities. Césaire claims that it is the “competition of antagonistic
economies” that fuels the colonial drive, that leads men to force slavery and harsh
labor upon other men.[9] In Bon Sàam’s speech, he
recognizes that there is a disconnect between what the colonialists say about
their God, and what their actions reveal. To quote directly, he
poignantly muses:
“What Preference, in the Name of
that mysterious God, whom These Insulters of Our Colour pretend to worship…”[10]
Bon Sàam speaks directly about the God that he himself
discovered in “The Holiest of All Books,”[11] that is to say, the
Christian Bible. He notes that the story of his namesake, Moses, finds the
greatest moment in its history that of the emancipation of the Hebrews from
slavery in Egypt. How can it be that the Christian people, following a God who
rescues from slavery, can enslave others?
Bon Sàam
points out the lingering effects of slavery, beyond that of the current
generation. Significantly, the children and grandchildren of slaves, who will
be either born into slavery, or suffer from the legacy of slavery. He
reinforces the idea that they are leading a revolt, to throw off the shackles
of British colonialism, and live in the manner which they choose to live. As
Césaire points out, millions of slaves have been torn from their native lands.
They were
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separated from “their gods, their land, their habits, and
their life.”[12]
These individuals were instilled with an inferiority complex, where they
learned to tremble, to kneel, and to despair.[13] For Césaire, returning to
Africa was not an option for the freed slaves. Their native lands were now an
exotic location. As Bon Sàam realized, the former slaves had to make themselves
a new society. “Let us rather study to Support our new Liberty, than revenge
our past Slavery.”[14] Césaire knew that freedom
could only come at the hands of the former slaves, not from white Europeans or
Americans. Bon Sàam also knew this and surrounded himself with those who could
form their own new civilization.
While
Césaire and Bon Sàam were writing and speaking nearly two hundred years apart,
the former learning lessons from French colonialism and fighting off American
imperialism, and the latter rebelling against British colonialism, the insights
are similar in their introspection and as critique of colonial slavery. Both
individuals knew and commented on the need for free Negroes to work towards
building a new society. They also both knew and commented on the effects of
slavery on the slave, the slaver, and the generations to come.
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Bibliography
Bon Sàam, Moses. “Speech before Free Negroes.” Jamaica,
January 10, 1735. Trans. by Kate Nicoletti. The Prompter.
Césaire, Aimé. “Discourse on Colonialism.” The Birth of
Caribbean Civilisation.
Hale, Thomas A. “Aimé Césaire: A Bio-Bibliographical Note.” Callaloo,
no. 17 (1983): 134–36. https://doi.org/10.2307/3044019.
Hoffmann,
León-François. “An Eighteenth-Century Exponent of Black Power: Moses Bon Sàam.”
Caribbean Studies 15, no. 3 (1975): 149–61. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25612714.
[1]
Hale, Thomas A. “Aimé Césaire: A Bio-Bibliographical Note.” Callaloo,
no. 17 (1983): 134–36. https://doi.org/10.2307/3044019.
[2]
Hoffmann, León-François. “An Eighteenth-Century Exponent of Black Power: Moses
Bon Sàam.” Caribbean Studies 15, no. 3 (1975): 149–61. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25612714.
[3]
Césaire, Aimé. “Discourse on Colonialism.” The Birth of Caribbean
Civilisation. Pg. 211.
[4]
Césaire, Aimé. “Discourse on Colonialism.” The Birth of Caribbean
Civilisation. Pg. 213.
[5]
Ibid. Pg. 214.
[6]
Bon Sàam, Moses. “Speech before Free Negroes.” Jamaica, January 10, 1735.
Trans. by Kate Nicoletti. The Prompter.
[7]
Ibid.
[8]
Césaire, Aimé. “Discourse on Colonialism.” The Birth of Caribbean
Civilisation. Pg. 212.
[9]
Césaire, Aimé. “Discourse on Colonialism.” The Birth of Caribbean
Civilisation. Pg. 212.
[10]Bon
Sàam, Moses. “Speech before Free Negroes.” Jamaica, January 10, 1735. Trans. by
Kate Nicoletti. The Prompter.
[11]
Ibid.
[12]
Césaire, Aimé. “Discourse on Colonialism.” The Birth of Caribbean Civilisation.
Pg. 217.
[13]
Ibid.
[14]
Bon Sàam, Moses. “Speech before Free Negroes.” Jamaica, January 10, 1735.
Trans. by Kate Nicoletti. The Prompter.
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