IHRAAM Associate/Gullah/Geechee
Ambassador
Marquetta L. Goodwine
With thanks and homage to the
Creator and my ancestors, my journey to Geneva,
Switzerland in March 1999 was
a success. I am honored and thankful that the
International Human Rights Association
for American Minorities made the
presentation possible.
Based on my experience with going
before the Commission on Human Rights, I
would suggest that all associates
be briefed on the protocol and procedure
that is required for such presentations
to be made. This would allow the
associates to be better prepared
and more efficient.
When I arrived on Monday, it
was a holiday. Thus, sessions were not
occurring. I was picked
up by IHRAAM affiliates and escorted to my
accommodations in Geneva.
I had expected to be briefed on the protocols and
the procedures for the rest
of my week, but I was left to rest. I did not
have a contact number to anyone
in the city in case of an emergency or for me
to ask questions. Thus,
I was left to myself to figure out how to obtain
things that I required.
I was awakened with a telephone
call the next morning regarding the time that
I should be ready to go to the
session. I was rapidly taken down to a taxi
and driven to the location to
received identification for the session. Once
this procedure was completed,
I was again rushed into the car and taken to
the United Nations building.
Once inside the building I was
shown where to pick up agendas each day. I
was taken into the room in which
the session was under way and I was told to
sign IHRAAM in the book under
the proper session number. When later looking
at the agenda for another item,
I saw that IHRAAM was listed there and I
thought that another representative
must be present and would speak during
that time. However, I
found out later that there was no other representative
there and IHRAAM did not have
a statement done under that segment. Again, I
would suggest that preparation
be done for associates so that these types of
occurrences are considered.
If more than one person is prepared for the
different items that are to
be covered, one can serve in the place of the
other if there is an emergency
or one party is not present.
Tuesday through Thursday, numerous
countries and ethnic groups from various
countries presented information
on what was occurring in their lands and
amongst their people.
The most interesting observation was that the things
that the NGO representatives
would present would appear totally opposite from
what the member countries would
say is being done in their countries to
combat “all forms of racism,
oppression, and xenophobia.” It seemed that
EVERY member country used that
sentence in their statements. Yet, the
people that lived in those countries
that had opportunities to speak could
bring out information that showed
that these things were still occurring on a
large scale.
Given that I am a citizen of
the United States by birth, I had a keen awarenes
s to the statements that the
United States representatives made. They spoke
of a number of programs that
were happening in the United States in order to
combat racism. I wondered
where were these things taking place because I had
never heard of any of these
things of which they were speaking until that
day. I have not heard
of them since that day either.
As the week progressed and people’s
patience wore thing due to long hours,
member country representatives
began to point out each others records and
history on the floor of the
session. The Chair had to bang the gavel on
some occasions as people began
to accuse each other of even “living in
Wonderland” and such.
This proved to me that I was not the only person in
the session that realized that
a lot of lip service was being provided in
order for the member countries
to appear as if they were adhering to the
things that the United Nations
stands for based on its various declarations.
However, the reality of
global change wherein ALL people would have equal
rights was still a far target
to be reached.
The news channels did not carry
information regarding the 55th Session of the
Commission on Human Rights because
they had their cameras and sound equipment
focused on the situation in
Kosovo. While the media was tuned to that
situation numerous cases of
genocide, ethnic cleansing, and abuse were being
spoken of by representatives
from numerous countries. The crisis in Sierra
Leone which has gone on for
more than eight years was another of keen
interest to me given the relationship
between the Sea Islands and the
countries of Africa’s west coast.
As the stories of mass graves
and refugees were followed by those concerning
the enslavement of women and
children in many countries and the abuses they
had to endure, I could only
mentally and spiritually revisit the story of my
own people, the Gullah.
The fact that various people of African descent
were now scattered and continuing
to scatter throughout the world as a result
of turmoil in their country
was no different than why my ancestors were sold
as prisoners of war and later
taken as captives to the New World now called
America.
As I listened to numerous indigenous
people from the Americas speak of being
denied access to certain parts
of their homeland and being denied
opportunities to continue to
practice their customs and traditions, I again
saw all the parallels to the
destruction of my homeland-the Sea Islands-and
my people, the Gullah.
As I heard each representative speak of having their
own language and customs, but
could hear them speaking in Spanish or English
and sometimes, French, I wondered
if anyone hear was realizing that this was
the greatest testimonial to
the mass cultural destruction that has occurred
in the world. If a person
is in a place that is supposed to represent the
world-the United Nations-why
would one not hear all the tongues of the world?
Why would we be limited
to primarily hearing the tongues of the Anglo
peoples of the world?
Why are these tongues appropriate hear and not those
that the indigenous people are
saying they have? Can the indigenous people
actually still speak their own
tongues?
As I sat through the latter part
of Item 7, through Item 8, and the
Commission was about to begin
Item 9 which I was to present under, I was able
to observe the interaction of
the people that were present. It was akin to
what I had seen on Capitol Hill
in Washington, DC in the United States. Many
people were rushing to have
their points made, but they were not necessarily
giving the same focus and respect
to the others that were presenting. There
was a great deal of traffic
and private conversations in the room. The
Chair had to address this on
more than one occasion when the noise level got
to be clearly beyond reason.
Just as Item 9 was to begin,
the Chair called for them to take time to allow
those that wanted to make a
statement regarding Kosovo to sign up to do so.
They would then allow each member
country to speak and then each NGO. When
they announced how many countries
and NGOs had signed up to present, I
calculated that this was now
going to take up approximately two hours and ten
minutes.
Once I checked the listing of
those to present under Item 9, I found that
this would mean the session
would close for the day without me being able to
present. There would
not be a session on Friday due to another holiday.
Therefore, I began to try and
figure out how I could get my number changed to
one of the early spaces.
I could not locate the men that had been my only
contacts since I arrived in
Geneva. Thus, I had to think of how to find out
who held these early numbers
myself.
>From the time that I had arrived
in Geneva, I had a recurring vision that I
was not going to be able to
speak. I kept seeing that something was going to
happen and my number was not
going to be called for some reason. Once I
calculated this unexpected delay
and realized what could potentially happen,
my heart raced as it had each
night during that week when this vision had come
.
I went to the recorder’s desk
and asked how and if I could change my
presentation number given that
I would not be present next week. I was told
that if I could locate someone
and they were willing to change places with
me, I should come back with
them and he would rearrange our presentation
order.
I remembered seeing faces of
some activists that I knew from New York City.
However, I had not seen them
the entire day. I started asking women that
were sitting near me if they
knew any of the representatives of the other
NGOs that were listed ahead
of me. They knew some of them, but did not feel
that they would exchange places
with me. I still went and spoke to them.
One person was not cordial and
simply dismissed the possibility and another
told me that he would, but he
had already swapped.
I was eventually lead by someone
to a lounge area that I did not know
existed. Here is
where I found one of the people that I thought I knew from
New York City. I
introduced myself as Marquetta L. Goodwine from the
Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition
and asked if he was a part of the
December 12th Movement.
To that end, he said, “Yes.” I asked if he would be
present at the session the following
week and again he said, “Yes.” I
stated, “Well, I won’t.
Is it possible for you to switch places with me
because given my number, I will
not be able to present before they close the
session for the week since Kosovo
was now added to the agenda.” He asked,
“Are you going to present on
Gullah?” I replied, “Yes.” He said, “Let’s do
this.” We then walked
into the session and had our numbers changed. I
gave him a copy of my audio
tape, “Hunnuh Hafa Shout Sumtime!!!” as a token
of appreciation for what he
had done. He said, “Thanks. Good luck.”
I sat through the next few hours
in meditation. I stayed focused on no more
delays or possibly disruptions
occurring to prevent this presentation. Just
before me, a Mexican brother
presented about his homeland and so much of it
sounded like what has occurred
in my home that I new that this had to be
spiritually ordered.
Even as I listened to him, I watched the clock and
knew that I may be the last
one called if I was called.
The Chair finally said, “International
Human Rights Association for American
Minorities.” I quickly
sat in the NGO seat near the back of the room and
raised my hand.
The microphone light was on and the clock began to tick
down as I opened with “Giving
thanks to the Creator and in homage to my
ancestors....”
As soon as I said my opening
words, the buzz in the room settled down. Most
of the member country representatives
turned around or moved their seats to
look at me. I had not
noticed them doing this throughout the other
presentations. Yet, I
knew that the clock was ticking and I had already
noted the key sections of my
speech to speed through in the five minutes
allotted.
I had been directed by my ancestors
and elders to speak in my own language,
Gullah. Thus, I
stated that as directed, I would speak in my own tongue.
When I did this, the room began
to buzz again with confusion and amazement.
The interpreters had to stop
speaking and people could only hear me speaking.
An Anglo woman that I had noticed
all day due to how she stood out given that
she was wearing a traditional
African outfit was sitting to my left as I
spoke and she threw her hands
up in frustration. I took it that she could
not understand my language.
However, I was also annoyed that she would be in
THIS PLACE-a session to discuss
protection of HUMAN RIGHTS and she could not
take seconds of trying to understand
that which she did not know. She was
the epitome of a living example
of why there is a continued need for the work
that is being done by numerous
groups in the world in regard to cultural
preservation and education on
and protection of human rights.
Although the annoyance was present,
I stayed focused on my goal of touching
on major issues that were in
my fifteen minute written statement that I had
to present in five minutes.
I switched back to English and said, “This is
Gullah.” The room again
got quiet and there seemed to be more intent focus
on me. I was not sure
if this was going to take a positive or negative
context when I was through.
However, as the clock hit 00:00, I was saying,
“Thank you.”
When I stood to move from the
seat, I was surrounded by aids to
representatives and members
of NGOs and such who all wanted copies of the
statement. I had been
left with only 15 copies instead of the 50 that was
requested. Thus, I quickly
ran out. A gentleman took me to copying
machines and several people
made it a point to help me get the copies I
needed because they thought
that what I had to say was compelling and they
wanted to know more about these
people of which I spoke. So, I was able to
go back out to the room and
give copies to those that asked for them and I
had some to leave on the table
where other statements and press release were.
As I left the session, I was
floating and could easily have walked the
distance back when a group of
us realized we had all missed the last bus from
in front of the United Nations.
Instead, I had to walk several blocks and
then ran and got on a different
bus at another stop. I was content to make
my call to IHRAAM headquarters
and state, “Mission accomplished.”
As I walked near the water on
Friday, I encountered others that had been at
the session. A representative
from Iraq wanted to know about the language
that I spoke in and where it
came from. He told me that I should keep doing
what I am doing because it is
outstanding. He had never heard of these
people and people need to know.
After that brief conversation in one of the
tourist stores, I knew that
an impact had been made and that now the world
could say they had at least
heard of the Gullah.
Since the April 1, 1999 presentation
before the 55th Session of the
Commission on Human Rights of
the United Nations, I have been interviewed by
several newspapers and radio
programs. I have also been the featured guest
on some television shows.
It has been made a point in the midst of these
interviews to mention that I
was the first Gullah to speak before the United
Nations on behalf of Gullah
and Geechee people. This has lead to many other
people including Gullah people
beginning to ask questions about why this
would be of interest to the
United Nations. They also realize that if it is
of interest to the UN, it should
be a major focus for them as individuals and
that the work to preserve this
heritage, culture, and language must continue.
It also must be joined
with the work to give global recognition to and
enforcement of the human rights
of all people.
“Hunnuh mus tek cyare de root fuh heal de tree.”