Creole should be promoted as the second language of the Caribbean

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 Making the case for the promotion of  Creole as the second language of the Caribbean
 
By Jean H Charles
December 25, 2007

The Creole language might have been the first and the most fundamental creation of the Africans brought into slavery in the Caribbean. As French derived from Latin and as Latin derived from Greek, the Creole language is a derivation from English, Portuguese and especially French. It is spoken right now in the following countries and states: Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Louisiana, Dominica, St Lucia, Reunion, Mauritius, Madagascar, Trinidad, Comoros, Grenada, French Guyana and of course in the Diaspora.

I am making the case that the Creole language and the Creole culture should be taught officially in all the islands of the Caribbean as well as in the Diaspora to the youngsters for the benefit of the younger generation. As such we will start fresh and de novo with a new generation well rooted and well grounded into the ethos and the language of their ancestors.

The Haitian experience is very significant. The institutions, that taught the sons and the daughters of the elite, such as St Louis Gonzaga (for boys) and St Rose de Lima (for girls), were subjected by the government to introduce the teaching of the Creole language to their pupils. The Faculty of those institutions resisted. The Haitian government did not blink. The Christian brothers and the Nuns of St Joseph requested a two year moratorium to prepare the curriculum. They did conform themselves and to their gallant surprise, the boys and the girls became more conversant in English, in French and of course in Creole. They became smarter and more vocal. The lesson is simple, bring the fish back to its roots, it will grow fatter and tastier.

In this world of globalization when the influence of the United States and of Europe is threatening to create an homogeneous society for the best or for the worst in cultural values; it is definitively imperative that each nation and each region takes steps to go back to its roots to study, maintain and transmit their own culture and their own values unto the next generation.

In Genesis of the Bible we find that God scattered the tribes in different regions of the world with different languages and values so they will stop creating the monstrous Babel of mono culture. It was a divine manifest; it should remain as such until He comes again.

I was recently at a party given by the Guyanese Nurses Association. The excellent Guyanese group, the Ninja band played all types of music, reggae, calypso, salsa, and compas. But when it came to the original Creole music, the whole crowd was jumping, singing in Creole: “Here Auntie Bess, Color girl in the ring, Brother Willie, Sly Mongoose” and many more with the band. We were of different nations finding similar roots. I was maybe the only person from Haiti, yet I was at home with my brethren singing in Creole the songs created by the older generation.

What is the lesson? It is clear Creole is the vein, the lifeblood of the Caribbean. The French first, the British later have tried to destroy and suppress the soul of the people. It would be easier to subjugate the natives into the slavery of the body and of the mind if they do not speak their own language. I have seen how in one generation the people of the City of Roseau, Dominica have lost the skill of speaking Creole. They have been thought they should distinguish themselves, from the people of Colihaut a village located at some 10 miles from Roseau, by ignoring and insulting those who spoke Creole.

 
I have seen also how St Vincent and the Grenadines have lost the ability of speaking Creole. It was seen by the Colonial governance as an instrument of subversion against the ruling order. It was forbidden by the British. There was no resistance from the people. It died of its own death. Some thirty years ago, while in school at Tulane, Louisiana, I could barely find someone who spoke Creole in New Orleans.

Luckily Creole has found its place at the dinner table today. It is being taught at five American Universities with the University of Indiana taking the lead. It is mandated in all the primary and secondary schools in St Lucia and in Dominica. Haiti is a champion of the Creole language and of the Creole Culture.

Having the Creole language taught to and infuse in the mind of the children from Havana (Cuba) to Georgetown (Guyana) will be such a monumental feet. It will hasten by thousand miles the creation of the true integration of the Caribbean. It can be done if we start with the class of 2008. It will be a gigantic gift to the next generation. This proposal is not for the older folks, those of us who did not have the benefit of the Creole culture or language, shall content themselves with a Creole Day celebrated once a year, on or around Independence Day.

I am urging the governments of Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana and the Diaspora to take steps to introduce the Creole language in the curriculum taught to the youngsters in the primary and the secondary schools. Creole will be taught along (of course) with the dominant language: English, Spanish or French. The students will be smarter; they will stand stronger valuing their culture and the ethos of their ancestors.

It is a giant and beneficial dream that can start with a small step.