-Caveat Lector- "'It better to marry Jamaican girl. With two Germans, kids be too white. The black blood, it make me children stronger!' he said." ============================ In Jamaican Highland, a Gritty German Colony Withers Away AP 28-APR-99 SEAFORD TOWN, Jamaica (AP) -- Caressing his machete with a wrinkled white hand at the end of a day hacking bunches of bananas, Edward Graham seems a most unlikely Jamaican. Graham lives in a tiny settlement of ethnic Germans descended from impoverished villagers who arrived 160 years ago searching for prosperity in a rich sugar colony. "Me people come from Germany, yes, but me is Jamaican, for real!" said the sprightly 79-year-old. Blue eyes mischievously sparkling, he added: "Me grow bananas, peas, yams, cacao. Me never left Jamaica in me life!" But Jamaica's German community is dwindling. More than 500 people established Seaford, but the town's population is now below 100 -- the result of emigration, primarily to Canada, and, more recently, intermarriage. Few, if any, speak German. Leaning on a truck, Trevor, a shirtless, well-muscled 49-year-old with a mane of white hair, has seen much change since he left as a youth for Canada. "Back then, there were two black families in the whole area," he said, speaking in a Canadian accent with a bemused detachment even more alien to the village. "I returned a few years back, and now they're all mixed!" For years, the Germans resisted intermarriage. Graham held out until he was 58 and then married Charlene, an orphaned black girl from a nearby village who was only 17. She bore him four children whose mulatto features he considers a very fine thing. "It better to marry Jamaican girl. With two Germans, kids be too white. The black blood, it make me children stronger!" he said. Culturally, his people are long gone. Remnants of recognizable German heritage are found only in the tidy wooden museum, which features displays of German country dress, maps of Germany and sketches of Bavarian villages. Documents record that Seaford Town's settlers sailed from Bremerhaven to Montego Bay in 1839 and then were "dispatched into the bush" at the behest of a local planter. "Poverty exiled us from our native land," it says, in German, on a yellowing parchment. Was it a successful gamble -- crossing the ocean to wind up as poor mountain farmers, eventually scattering to the north or melting into African-dominated Jamaica? "I'm happy here," said shopkeeper Curtis Hacker, 37. "It's an easier life than in Canada." Hacker said that from visiting Germans he has observed one cultural thread still bonds them: "We do drink a lot of beer." Copyright 1999& The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================= Robert F. Tatman [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Remove "nospam" from the address to reply. NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml POSTING THIS MESSAGE TO THE INTERNET DOES NOT IMPLY PERMISSION TO SEND UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL E-MAIL (SPAM) TO THIS OR ANY OTHER INTERNET ADDRESS. RECEIPT OF SPAM WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION OF THE SENDER'S ISP. ____________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
