Impassioned Discussion on Stigma, Faith, and Ancestry: SUPA-NATURAL

On Saturday, April 29th, just about 60 people filled Island SPACE’s art gallery to listen to a spirited panel discussion on Afro-Caribbean Faiths. and the stigma surrounding them. The evening began at 3pm, where attendees started arriving to enjoy some light refreshments and the museum. A few moments later, guests were seated for the panel discussion to begin. 

Attendants were divided into groups and tasked with finding a unique fact about their assigned country of either Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and Trinidad, each county with their own Afro-Caribbean traditions.  After minutes of research, each group presented their unknown fact about their chosen country. The activity, with the new knowledge gained, led right into the main discussion. 

President of the Island SPACE Board of Directors, Calibe Thompson. describes the museum’s desires with the SUPA-NATURAL: “The goal is to demystify the stigma around non-Christian Caribbean Faiths,” Thompson shared. “Often painted with a broad brush, many of these ‘unusual’ practices are just the African way of celebrating divinity.” Thompson finished. She then introduced a short video to bring us into the Caribbean Faith discussion. The video discusses how many different religions outside of Christianity have had influence into Afro-Caribbean faiths, including East Asian and African faiths. 

With that, the panel officially started. 

High Chief Nathaniel Styles ,Osun-Yoruba  and Ashanti priest, Florida native, and promoter of African Caribbean Cultural Arts, utilizes West African arts and cultural elements to synergize and connect multicultural communities in South Florida. “The African tradition is still observed and celebrated as it was 400 years ago,” Chief Styles stated. Having traveled on many occasions to more than 12 countries in Africa, Chief has had the opportunity to work with traditional craftsmen and practices while respecting their Ancient traditional design practices. 

Dr. Charlene Desir is a Vodou priestess, an accomplished educator, author, researcher, and a professor with numerous publications. “Vodou is an understanding of self in America, an understanding that all of us are connected as one.” Desir stated when presenting the correlation of Vodou, the Slave Trade, and Haiti. “You can take away things but you cannot take away my soul. “Our philosophy is liberation… we come as liberated souls. When we think about the consciousness Vodou, it is filled with every fabric of how we are of course it will be vilified, they we vilify us as the worst most disgusting thing and as African people we must say ‘I don’t believe you.’”

Dr.Clyde Bailey is a Marriage & Family therapist, counselor, professor, and pastor. “Western religion by day, African Religion by night.” Enslaved peoples resisted what was being imposed on them, they were not able to escape the physical nature of slavery but through their culture and their religion that’s how they were able to sustain their sanity and their sobriety. “Rastafarianism is a religion, a social-political movement, a body of philosophies, an understanding, an ideology, it’s a body of philosophies, it is all of that.”

Moderated by Dr. Owen Facey, pastor, author, and professor who has been involved in academia for over 15 years. 

After an invigorating discussion, the floor was open to the audience for questions. President Thompson had this to say for closing remarks: “The purpose of Island SPACE so we could have these conversations that we do not have anywhere else.”

If you didn’t make it in person, catch the livestream here: https://islandspacefl.org/faithstream.

Funding for this program was provided through a grant from the Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the following funds at the Community Foundation of Broward: Mary N. Porter Community Impact Fund, Jack Belt Memorial Fund, Ginny and Tom Miller Fund, Stearns Weaver Miller Fund for the Arts, Harold D. Franks Fund.

Don’t miss our Mothers Day show at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center. Featuring Ingrid Griffith as Shirley Chisholm, this interactive solo show will take us through the first African-American woman to run for Presidency of the United States. RSVP now at: https://islandspacefl.org/mothersdayshow

If you liked this event make sure you come to our Emancipation: Free Yourself from Mental Slavery panel on Sunday, May 20th.  

The public is invited to visit the museum Thursdays through Saturdays from 11:00am through 7:00 pm and Sundays from 11:00am to 6:00pm. General museum entry is $10 per adult and $5 per child. Visit islandspacefl.org to learn more. Visit us at https://islandspacefl.org/