Changing Skin, From One Zombie to a Next

October is the month of dressing up in costumes, especially zombie consumes, and “Trick or treating” from house to house for candy and other treats. It is a fun and festive time especially enjoyed by children. I am speaking here of Halloween, a celebration that has its roots in the European Celtic culture, known as Samhain. In its original form, Halloween marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Of course, Halloween is not a celebrated in the Caribbean, as far as I can remember. Certainly not in Grenada. However, the zombie aspect of Halloween do relates to two aspect of Grenada's culture. Its African past and its Christian present.

The Caribbean is filled with the presence of Africa. This presence is shown through its people and what became known as the Caribbean culture. Although Grenada is virtually 100% religious, with Christians making up about 95% of the population, the Afro-Grenadian cultural aspect is displayed all the time, and often go unnoticed by the people. In fact the superstitious aspects of the African culture once dominated our parents and grand parents minds, dominates the country’s collective minds to this very day. In fact, they are still believe to be facts.

Growing up in Grenada, I witnessed how these superstitious beliefs literally shaped and dictated the lives of people in my neighborhood. I witnessed, for example, people being afraid to pass next to cemeteries for fear that spirits – the deceased/zombies – would emerge from their graves and cause harm to them. What was interesting, however, is that these fears were built upon the knowledge that someone before them were taken by these spirits. Of course, there were no facts or evidence to support these stories. The fear was built purely on hearsay, and propagated down the line.
The fear of walking where little or no light shines griped most Grenadians during those days, and like in the vampire movies, in which the cross is portrayed as the kryptonite to the vampire, which repels and/or vanquishes them when placed in front of these creatures, Grenadians developed prayers, adopted biblical psalms and used curse words, which they repeated in hopes that these mantras would vanquish away these terrifying imaginary beings that lurked in these dark places – under large trees, for instances – awaiting your arrival.

One such being that dominated the imagination of Grenadians was the Lougawou (Lugbawoo). This was a being believed to have been human. However, these Laugawous are believe to be "humans of questionable character accused of becoming vampires at night, entering locked doors and assaulting victims while they sleep”- (Murrell, 2010; p.81). At night these "questionable" humans are accused of removing their skin and take to the sky looking to feast on the blood of other humans; blood drinking skinless flying humans. Of course, back in the old days these beings were believe to be real. Everybody was certain that they existed, but no one ever really laid eyes on one. Today, however, one may be inclined to believe that these beliefs were left behind. Not so fast. Just last week I was in conversation with some of my people who insisted that Lougawou, not only existed then, but still does today; and who are the human beings accused of being Lougawou. The elderly who is most often living by his or herself with no family support? I was surprised when one young lady ensured me that she was certain that her father was one of these peculiar beings.

Indeed, Lougawou haunted the living in Grenada. However, this is so because Laugawou has always been an integral part of our African religious past, Obeah. It was an aspect of our ancestors’ faith that speaks to the belief in “Zombies”, part of their mythic story. Most of us have come to understand that fact. However, for many Grenadians, this fact matters not. Although many Grenadians today believe that these creatures do exist, they certainly do not accept Lougawou as a benevolent being. Indeed, Laugawou may have been an inhabitant of the malevolent African spirit world, however, these sprites were not view as evil in the same context we have come to learn through Christianity.  The dread that Lougawous visited upon the collective minds of Grenadians was planted by the colonial masters, making “the practice (of Vodou/Obeah) a primary target for legal regulations and control”- (Murrell, 2010; p.233). They did not simply try to control Obeah, but they sought to eradicate its practice because, like the use of the Black church to facilitate the Civil Rights struggle in the United States, “Obeah facilitated resistance and revolt among the slaves (in the Caribbean). It provoked an ideological rallying point in sanctioning rebellion, afforded meeting places and leaders, and formed a repository for the collective of the slave by preserving African traditions which could be opposed to the dominant colonial culture”- (Murrell, 2010; p.233). Thus, the European branded the African religion evil, and, of course, planted another zombie myth in its place; the myth of Jesus. And as we did with our African belief, our parents and grandparents accepted the Jesus mythic story without asking for any evidence. In fact, they digested the European’s Jesus story so strong that even today some Grenadians will negatively brand you an Obeah worker if you are seen with a book that has black images in it.

I remember, for example, being amused by a friend who humorously informed me that if he did not want any Grenadians to go close to his house, all he has to do is attach a black doll to a pole and place it at the front of his house. They will not dare enter his yard. Obeah exists there, they are certain. This certainly sounds funny, but it is true. Sadly!

 In addition, most, if not all, Grenadians were obsess with capturing a Laugawo, so they will employ their time in a weird exercise in hopes to do so. Thus, like praying to Jesus in hopes that he literally assists in changing their conditions, these Grenadians littered their steeps with sand, believing that this was a legitimate way to capture these blood sucking skinless flying humans. The belief claims that as a Lougawou approached your house, placing sand on your steeps, distracted him/her from entering and instead become preoccupied in trying to count every single grain of sand. As a result of the Lougawou’s compulsive disorder, its insistence to count every grain of sand, allows daylight to come upon the creature and thus the homeowner or a passerby to capture and expose the creature’s identity to the community. This, however, never happen. The Laugawou eludes us to this day. Why, because its a myth, and so too is the Jesus character. We have merely traded the position of two superstitions; replaced one zombie story for another. And as we enter into “All Hallows’ Eve” or “Hallows’ Evening” (Halloween), which is derived from the Christian's “All Hallows” or “All Saints Day” (Hallowmass) celebration, remember that anyone that supposedly comes back from the dead/grave (Acts: 2:24) is a zombie. However, since this also has never happened and most likely will not, it is safe to brand these stories as mythical stories. Indeed, both Lougawou and Jesus are mythic creatures of the imagination.
Remember that, not only has Jesus came back from the dead, but he also "...said unto them (his followers), verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" - (KJV John: 6:53) - is this zombie behavior? You decide.

Happy Hallows' Eve....

Wrong Direction

The carnival season is over and, as far as I can tell, the fiesta was enjoyed without any major criminal incidents. As a result, for our safety, we commend the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) for doing such an outstanding job for keeping the carnival revelers safe especially coming on the heals of the spike in violent crimes just weeks leading up to the festival.

Within this backdrop, we are reminded that, for a society to function properly, safety is paramount. Societies constantly improve their rules and regulations in an effort to meet the best collective needs of its people. Since this carnival season has passed without any major incidences; this has pleased us so greatly, constantly sustaining such a safe society should be our major goal moving forward. No! I am not speaking of creating a utopia. I am saying the as a nation, we must find ways so that each citizen, without being restricted or being afraid, can explore and live fulfilling lives.

Since, however, creating an ideal society with the perfect socioeconomic, political and legal system seems out of reach, societal problems will continue to be with us for sometime or forever. Knowing this means, that finding real solutions to the seemingly inescapable problems that will surface within our society must become one of our main concerns. But, how do we achieve such a goal? Certainly, appealing to pre-enlightenment, dark-ages solutions of appealing to a god or gods, for instance, is not an option. As I have alluded to above, we can accomplish this by each of us accepting our duty to be responsible moral agents - good citizens - and contribute positively to our immediate society and, of course, to the world at large. Kirani James has indeed demonstrated this to us during the past London 2012 Olympic games. This is indeed one way, and a very important one at that; being good for goodness' sake. However, despite each citizen, on an individual and community level, doing his or her part, acting on a national political level is also extremely important. We must seek to be informative citizens and exercise our voting rights in order to place the right people in the positions that are designed to solve the problems we face. Our elected officials must have the ability to properly diagnose these problems. They must be able to understand or at least be capable to identify the root causes of societal ills. Thus, we must critically evaluate actions taken by our elected officials at all times.
Take the call put fourth by Her Majesty's Opposition Party, The New National Party (NNP), for  National Days of Prayers, as a case in point. As a concerned citizen, I am very interested in knowing whether these elected officials sincerely believe that the prayer option is a real, viable solution to the problems they are trying to solve. In other words, do these officials actually believe, as objective facts, that praying will provide a change in our experience. Can they provide certainty of change. My vote is at stake here! Indeed, the fact that these officials are calling for prayer as a means to solve real problems appears to expose them as not having the slightest understanding of the source of societal ills. To this position, however, I am desperately trying not to adhere. But this knee-jerk reaction taken by supposed intelligent men and women in an effort to quell what appears to be an increase in killings leading up to the carnival celebrations, seems to confirm my fears. Society's safety must be among our ultimate concerns, but reverting to the old adage of appealing to God as a valid policy to contend with very real problems isn't very reassuring. Therefore, as a citizen working for the best of my country, here is what I believe the source of some of these crimes are. 

Taking the recent crime wave as the point of diagnostic entry – and I am concerned here with what is normally classified as “crimes of passion”, a category most of the crimes in Grenada seems to fall into – some troubling characteristics become apparent.

• The sexual relationship between adult males and teenage females. These relationships are normally built on male control. Indeed, much work is being directed into preventing child abuse. However, many parents, who suffer financially, continually allow older men, who can provide them with well needed funding, to sexually bond with their underage daughters. As a result, these predators exhibit high level of control over these young girls. However, if these young girls mature and gain an education and sort to sever themselves from the illegitimate,abusive relationship, the men becomes angry and act out in often deadly and gruesome ways.
• Domestic violence in almost all cases of these "crimes of passion" are a noticeable factor, and highlights the relationship between many Grenadians – old and young couples alike. Take the killing of Marsha Cherman of Pearls, St. Andrew, which happened in August, making her the 4^th woman to be killed for 2012, as an example. Her relationship appeared to have been riddled with instances of domestic violence. However, according to police “it’s a problem where we have the victims start the process (of persecuting the abusers), we encourage them to continue by all means and then they decide that they should not continue because they would ‘make up.’ (The killing of Marsha Cherman)
• Insecurity. Many of these men exhibit lack of self-confidence, a problem that is exacerbated when someone losses his or her means of income. This then means that his or her relationship with his wife/husband or girlfriend/boyfriend becomes strained. Indeed, women that find themselves in these situations normally revert to removing themselves from the situation by either getting rid of the husband/boyfriend or sometimes she will secretly cohabit with another, as it appears to have been in Marsh Cherman’s case. Thus, not being able to cope, many of these men because of their insecurities and inability to cope with rejection react in extremely violent ways.
• The abuse of alcohol. Grenadians are living in a society where the consumption of alcohol is pervasive.  Alcohol use is vigorously promoted in Grenada, leading to its abuse, mostly done by men - both underage young male and adult male- creating a high amount of alcoholics, which contribute to the domestic violence, which certainly leads to other crimes.  

I am not contending that the points highlighted here are the only aspects that contribute to crimes and other problems. The stellar job done by the RGPF  this carnival by ensuring that everyone entering a celebration area was stopped and searched, revealed the melancholy nature of many Grenadians. Hundreds of weapons were found on individuals who certainly intended to cause harm on others. What this shows, is that the human being's ability to personify negative characteristic for no apparent reasons is certainly a factor. But these points I have pointed out here are obvious ones, which, I believe, are the major underpinnings for most of these “crimes of passion”. Moreover, they all seem to point to one common denominator - economics; the lack of sustainable living, and this, my friends, prayer cannot and will not fix. My argument, of course, is not that if we happened to create a society where  one hundred percent employment exists, crimes will disappear. Certainly not! What I am saying is this; our elected officials are looking in the wrong direction. I am  certain that there cannot and will never be any direct causal effect of positive change on societal problems that can or will be, as a result of prayer. Calypsonian Elimus Gilbert - The Inspector - reminded us in 1989 that we were going the wrong way - the title of one of his calypsos that year. This is a warning, I will argue, is relevant here. This is, the wrong way; we are looking in wrong directions. These officials should stop the knee-jerk reactions; refrain from engaging in wishful thinking, and instead, take the time to properly diagnose and understand the cause of our problems, then real solutions can be developed. Certainly, as highly religious people, they are moved by their religious faith in their God. However, to invoke the word of the American inventor, journalist, printer, diplomat and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, "the way to see by faith is to shut the eye to reason".