Heather Cole
Open Letter to:
The Director, Tourism Product Authority
The Director, National Cultural Foundation
The Chief Labour Officer

Dear Sirs,

RE: Cane Piece to Cask: Stories from Nicholas Abbey

It is February and it is Black History month. It is the month when black people celebrate the little that we know of Africa, the persons who have paved the way for the rights that we enjoy today and the dignity of our people.

I was therefore horrified when I read an article which was carried in both local newspapers on the 8th of February, 2018. In Barbados Today the title was “From Canepiece to Cask” while in the Nation Newspaper the title was ‘Hard Life on Plantation.’ Both articles were with regards to a production of the Barbados Tourism Product Authority in association with the National Cultural Foundation. The production was entitled “Cane Piece to Cask: Stories from Nicholas Abbey.” In the production, several individuals are cast as slaves.

Quoting Barbados Today, the Director of the skit Allison Sealy Smith said the purpose of the re-enactment was “to tell the story of plantation life through the slave’s perspective.” It may have been cute because I was not there to see it but based on the debauchery recorded in the history books; this was nothing more than a distortion of the truth.

In 2016 one Elizabeth Dolson in Brazil had the same brilliant idea of using persons employed as slaves on a plantation in Brazil and it was a tourist attraction.

Just imagine that Barbados is re-opening the gates of hell to descend on us just as it did to our ancestors. Slavery was not pretty. That skit can never repaint it in another colour. It was cruelty to blacks beyond measure and stripped them of their dignity. The slaves were abused, tortured, ravished and worked to death from morning till night on the sugar plantations and lived under conditions not fit for human habitation.

How can we find the sorrowful plight of our ancestors entertaining? Something has to be fundamentally and psychologically wrong if we are going to parade our people under the word “slave” to get a tourist dollar. It is dehumanizing. The entire idea of this is so offensive. It is an affront to every black Barbadian. It was a painful part of our history and no one should be so insensitive as to try to bring it back to life. Some may wish to glory in that former heyday but it no longer has a place in modern Barbados as we are all equal under the law. There are no masters and no slaves.

What is bothersome about this skit is that apart from distorting history it is normalizing slavery and is repackaging it as culture. It is nothing more than labour exploitation disguised. If it is not halted now, it will take root and we may very well find ourselves in a situation similar to Brazil where persons are hired to act as slaves for their employment at a local plantation to the whims and fantasies of the tourist. Slavery was abolished by the Emancipation Act of 1834. It is therefore illegal for anyone to work as a slave; skit or otherwise in Barbados. Does the Chief Labour Officer know that persons were hired to play the roles as slaves?

I am therefore seeking to have the production halted and never again be enacted in Barbados. It is disturbing on so many levels.

Sincerely,

Heather Cole

242 responses to “A Heather Cole Article – Canepiece to Cask: Stories from Nicholas Abbey Must be Stopped!”


  1. At least I don’t copy other people’s work!!!

    You have to admit, you are hearing my theories for the first time.

    I am unique!!


  2. Negroman Jeffrey Cuffley, …. my Kunta Kinte!!


  3. John, you misunderstood that enjoyment. It was one of acknowledgement that the world could have a visible understanding of the story of western slavery. Slavery was never portrayed by Hollywood prior to this film. This led to the acclaim and ownership of this film by black people. The second class citizens finally had their story told. Roots was no hoax, slavery was no hoax if it were so we would not be here communicating.

    It is a pity that the vast majority of us are unable to connect the dots and find out who exactly their ancestors were and where they came from in West Africa.

    It is therefore true that if you do not know where you come from how will you know where you are going? Anybody can wag slavery in your face and you will be unable to recognize it.


  4. Slavery was never portrayed by Hollywood prior to this film.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    You never watched “Gone with the Wind”


  5. @ John
    Boss, Bushie did NOT enjoy watching Roots…. It was painful….
    Bushie was vex as shiite yuh!!!

    One word from you about ‘Quakers’ back then
    …and your ass would have been grass skippa….

    In fact … now that you have raised the matter……
    🙂


  6. The pride ànd industry of which EWB spoke and wrote means nothing to people who are careless with words.I am not used to hearing Karen Best.She doesn’t seem to speak but seem to prefer to pass her comment to GIS.I heard her speaking at length on the fallout of the Grantley Adams incident.Poor speaking skills for a CEO particularly dropping consonants like they never exist.
    Back to the subject matter.People who take pride in themselves and in their people do not allow others to use and abuse them.Its the same with these comedians I see dressed up in an outfit like the local monkey.Its entertainment they say.No bloody pride.


  7. … or Uncle Tom’s Cabin” or Mandingo … plenty others


  8. I did not enjoy Roots but I could not help watching. It was painful. I flinched with every blow and winced with every indignity. It was personal. When we went to school the next day we could hardly bear to look at our white classmates. The atmosphere was charged. As for the depiction in question, it would depend on how it was done, obviously. It should not gloss over the ugly parts.


  9. Never read the book nor seen the motion picture.Its Hollywood after all.What does one expect from that lot like Weinstein when it comes to marginalizing and glorying in the destruction of black people.
    I pass St Michael’s School occasionally and every time I pass at break time there is a cluster of albinos by themselves.I notice juniors by themselves but apart from the average brown or black student and seniors,also in a cluster by themselves under the tree near to the entrance to the school.This crap has to stop.Its taking too long.Integrate or leave the place and don’t come back.


  10. Its Hollywood after all.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    That’s the point.

    It’s all make believe!!

    Depending on the era you will see different portrayals of slavery.

    None are true, they are all make believe!!

    The problem today is that people cannot separate fact from fiction!!


  11. I did not enjoy Roots but I could not help watching. It was painful. I flinched with every blow and winced with every indignity. It was personal.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++

    … ie, you were brainwashed into believe something untrue!!


  12. Bush Tea February 11, 2018 at 10:21 PM #
    @ John
    Boss, Bushie did NOT enjoy watching Roots…. It was painful….
    Bushie was vex as shiite yuh!!!
    One word from you about ‘Quakers’ back then
    …and your ass would have been grass skippa….
    In fact … now that you have raised the matter……

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    You see what I say about pseudo fascist/communist.

    You were brainwashed and were powerless to fight it.

    This was cultural penetration through the medium of Television!

    Hollywood is taking big time lashes as people find out just how meaningless it is!!


  13. Do you realise a whole generation was taught to hate through lies told to them!!


  14. Does anyone know the email address of the NCF?


  15. @Heather
    Yours @8.55 pm Feb.11

    After reading the Nation’s article I would be upset too as per the Nation:
    “She called “six of her slaves” to show an English dance she taught them. At the end of their performance, they “naughtily” dipped and moved their waists to tuk music. Only to be chased away by Lady Nicholas.”

    I am not going to parse the Nation’s words but the author and editor (presuming that someone actually edits) ought to be sent for further training. What white washed version of slavery is this that attempts to portray the “lady” of the mansion teaching slaves to dance? Who wrote this version of slavery for Ms. Sealy? Genteel depictions of slavery do not pass the smell test. That this version is palatable to the NCF is abominable, slavery is not some song and dance show for the entertainment of others.

    I still believe in the portrayal of historical events on stage or film but in this case Ms. Sealy and the NCF could use a lot of guidance.

  16. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @John seriously!…”It’s all make believe!!”, “Depending on the era you will see different portrayals of slavery”, “None are true, they are all make believe!!”. And the piece that caused my resistance “The problem today is that people cannot separate fact from fiction!!”

    The gentleman who SLAVISLY parrots all right wing news now proclaims that separation of fact from fiction is a problem. Not sure whether to LOL or steeupse loudly.

    YOU who embraces that dissembling term ‘fake news’ which deliberately creates a false discourse of fiction portraying it as “alternative news” fact yet have the gall to write that. Steeupse!

    Was ‘Platoon’ the war movie enactment of real events which was done in the stylized make believe fashion of Hollywood but with the gritty, grimpy texture of soldiers’ stories and too with the writer’s license to smudge historical facts a brainwashing too!

    When PO Serpico’s story of how fellow police officers attempted to kill him because he told the tales of their illegal actions was presented by Hollywood was that the brainwashing that started a dislike for cops !

    Thus it is your contention that Alex Haley’s plagiarism of the Roots story and his embellishments of the historical realities of slavery with the fictional Kunte Kinte and more is an elaborate psychological brainwashing for Black folks. What balderdash.

    After centuries of the African slave trade followed by thousands of books, essays and official reports since and before abolition of that ACTUAL era it is now profoundly noted by our resident Bajan scholar that ONE very extensive reenactment of ONE author’s perspective of a slice of that era has brainwashed us. What RH balderdash.

    I always thought the psyche ploy came from the likes of Parry & Sherlock, Hoyos et al in their sometimes slanted historical texts and that the Roots series simply added much needed texture to a harsh, painful narrative in as ‘enlightening and refreshing’ a way as was humanely possible to watch.

    SMfreakingH!

  17. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    “Who wrote this version of slavery for Ms. Sealy? Genteel depictions of slavery do not pass the smell test. That this version is palatable to the NCF is abominable, slavery is not some song and dance show for the entertainment of others.

    I still believe in the portrayal of historical events on stage or film but in this case Ms. Sealy and the NCF could use a lot of guidance.”

    Black people in positions of power are still too stupid for their own good, Sealy should know better after living in Canada, but obviousky dont, they are a clear and present danger to their own people and will end up as slaves again before this century is over….how can grown black men and women still be this dumb, despite the detailed, brutal experiences of their ancestors.

    This is just another repulsive, demonic white experiment concocted to use against the weakest black minds in the hemisphere….of which Barbados and Brazilian Blacks are the weakest and most vulnerable in the hemisphere. …

    ….the idiot governments will pass it off as a way to lure tourists, for foreign exchange, just as Brazil is doing, these uneducated jackasses.

  18. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    John Liesalot…stop with your evil white crap…those of us who never bought into the british brainwash, miseducation, experiment on Black people know exactly what you evil bitches are doing.

    Gabriel…if you think it’s bad in majority Black schools, you should check out the Ursulines…another majority Black school and St. Winifreds …we all know what the demon Binks left there….for the segregation that starts in the very young..

    I am all for diversity, but if the minority racists in the islands cannot integrate with the MAJORITY BLACK population without believing they are superior slave masters because of the vile and disgusting house negros that still exist in the parliaments and throughout the society like bacteria…am all for chasing them the hell off the islands.

    Let them carry that nastiness to the big countries and see how well it will work out for them, many of them will not find work once they are exposed as racists and white supremacists. …this is a new era being ushered in of not tolerating destructive racists, period.

  19. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    And if the house negro bacteria cannot restrain and prevent themselves from demeaning the memories and experiences of their ancestors, they should also be chased off the islands, to join their minority masters.


  20. Many some of these posts are too RH funny. which is a pity as slavery and the enactment of it is real RH serious business … ha ha ha

  21. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Barbados and Brazilian Blacks are the MENTALLY weakest and most vulnerable in the hemisphere.

    That right there is the honest truth because there is not a racist on earth will feel safe enough, arrogant enough or brave enough to try that shit in Trinidad or Jamaica…without being brutally murdered.

    Good to see you Baf…

    They will end up in shackles in these 2 countries Barbados and Brazil again, just a matter of time….that is what happens to weak ass negros.…

    This time John Liesalot and his family will end up as slaves as well…the minority cockroaches on the island just dont know how far reaching this will go yet….they think they are safe and special…but when ya digging a grave for others, always dig two.

  22. NorthernObserver Avatar

    Still confused how one can lump Fraser and Watson together. They are like night and day. A Professor in the Medical Faculty with a historian?
    Why should I get involved with John? He is the favourite punching bag in the BU halls.

  23. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Northern….I thought you knew about everything Bajan…do some homework, research on Fraser and see his role, years old, of disseminating fairytales and fantasies about the island’s history.

    ….I will not do it for you,


  24. Was ‘Platoon’ the war movie enactment of real events which was done in the stylized make believe fashion of Hollywood but with the gritty, grimpy texture of soldiers’ stories and too with the writer’s license to smudge historical facts a brainwashing too!

    When PO Serpico’s story of how fellow police officers attempted to kill him because he told the tales of their illegal actions was presented by Hollywood was that the brainwashing that started a dislike for cops !

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Both of these films were made about events in living memory!!!

    Therefore, true … with grains of falsehoods!!

    Any reenactment of events centuries earlier must by definition be false, with grains of truth!!

    Of course they were embellished.

    But any reenactment of slaver was completely made up.

    The best you will get are grains of truth!!

    Hollywood thrives on the make believe and the impressionable minds of the consumers of its products!!

    People like fantasy, just part of humanity.

    Me, I prefer facts!!

    I rarely watch movies now, unless they are documentaries and have enough material I can cross reference with other “truer” sources.


  25. “Several scenes in Serpico never happened”!!!

    “Al Pacino known for overacting”

    Straight from the real Serpico!!


  26. Here are the Platoon Bloopers!!


  27. Hollywood is for gullible, impressionable children which to some extent, we all are.

  28. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    John,, I must believe that you are trying to be insightful so let me say this.

    It was accepted that all movies are embellishments. Those which portray real historical events will always have the poetic licence of the script writer. EVERY educated person KNOWS this.

    If you can research the Quakers etc from beyond living memory and come to this blog and offer commentary based on that research as verifiblle factual evidence of the various claims you make but others like Hayley who do similiar research and give their facts in video and sound enactments cannot do the same…then OK.

    I believe you said previously that you are unique and your factoids are never plagiarized or embellished…so how can I question your unique logic and scholarship. SMH.

    Many years ago as a neophyte I was actually amazed when a group of folks attacked with some big or the veracity and motives of Bajan historian FAB Hoyos. I knew nothing more than the fact he was a learned fellow who I presumed recounted factual history…the issues of his biases or motivations were lost to me as I automatically accepted he brought awesome scholarly rigueur to his work.

    Suffice to say I am no longer a neophyte.

    You sir appear legitimate but you too should be attacked similarly. Yours is a shockingly extreme example of the flawed biased scholarship which does BRAINWASH us.

    We can disagree on the methods to success but there must always be a legitimacy and logic of basic standards….you clearly display a horrendous failure to be truthful even on standards of right and wrong.

    I gone.


  29. @Dee Word

    You could have added that history is ‘embellished’ through enculturated eyes.

  30. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ John February 11, 2018 at 11:03 PM #
    “Its Hollywood after all.
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    That’s the point.
    It’s all make believe!!
    Depending on the era you will see different portrayals of slavery.
    None are true, they are all make believe!!
    The problem today is that people cannot separate fact from fiction!!”

    Want to agree with you here, John!

    Yes John, pure fiction. Slavery was indeed a most beneficial period for the civilizing of the ‘Africanus’ wild primate.

    Let’s not use that ‘brutal’ word “slavery”. Why not bring a bit of sophistication to that process of black civilizing by calling it the ‘domesticating of the wild west African beast’?

    If the brutality of black slavery is pure fiction then the lynching of black men is a big lie ‘passing’ for tall tales of fantasy and “To Kill a Mocking Bird” is nothing but a flight of pure imagination of a nigger-loving Harper Lee redneck.

    Those “strange fruits” hanging from the Southern trees were indeed black scarecrows put there to frighten wayward piccaninnies.

    Is that why you believe in ‘fighting fire with fire’ by giving the ex-slaves another work of pure fiction, the ‘wholly’ bible, to control those wild raging beastly passions of the blacks?

    Your Uncle Remus speaking, thanks to D W Griffith.

  31. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    The only focus of the racist, invader, colonizer, indentured servant descendant is to enrich themselves off the backs of Black people generation after generation, because the only thing racists got going for them, they are lazy, greedy and full of hate, their one goal is to keep Black people in a perpetually brainwashed state to paint themselves as superior.

    South Africa is still fighting these demons on a much larger scale.

    We see daily on BU the destruction of the brainwashed black mind, whether through religion, as in GPs case, who might at one time had a fine mind but now it’s been degraded to pure mush….or destruction through politics as we see here often enough with the most stupid of garden variety yardfowls….who never have a sensible post unless they plagarize it or their masters who are one level above them in intelligence, gives it to them….

    Too many Black people easily and readily, because of their still weakened mentally enslaved state, over ten generations later, allow themselves to be brainwashed to such a degree, so they can be manipulated by anyone….it is like a disease they are unable to treat or rid themselves from.

    That is the stark truth.

  32. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    because the only thing racists got going for them, they are lazy, greedy, VIOLENTLY SAVAGE and full of hate, their one goal is to keep Black people in a perpetually brainwashed state to paint themselves as superior.

    South Africans are being advised by bloggers to chase their racist demons out of Africa, whether there were born there are not, they are savages and will never change, the US is also being advised to send their racist demons, all of them to an island, but give them no food, they are savages and do not know how to interact with real humans..

    Barbados and the Caribbean would do well to do something about their racist savages and stop enabling, kowtowing to and colluding with them against their own people….and calling the evil bullshit tourism.


  33. I believe you said previously that you are unique and your factoids are never plagiarized or embellished…so how can I question your unique logic and scholarship. SMH.

    +++++++++++++++++++

    Simplicity itself …. go check them yourself.

    Are you shy, …. or just lazy.


  34. South Africans are being advised by bloggers to chase their racist demons out of Africa

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    South Africa has run out of water ….. why would they want to waste time doing this?

    Google it and you will see!!


  35. David February 12, 2018 at 9:09 AM #
    @Dee Word
    You could have added that history is ‘embellished’ through enculturated eyes.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    That’s why I don’t read historians!!!

    In fact, only recently I pointed out the errors in Schomburgk and the ensuing effect those errors have on modern historians, regardless of colour!!

    I go to source data, wills, deeds, parochial records.

    I pointed that out on BU it seems like centuries ago!!

    I am not interested in generalisations historians give …. well I am, just for the amusement of how easy it is to prove them wrong!!

    I feel generous sometimes and share the results of my labours on BU …. and again, … I enjoy watching the reactions from people who won’t read or think but are brainwashed and don’t even realise it!!

  36. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    John Liesalot…..dont need to Google, they dont run out of water until April….and they had rain in the last few days, it is drought causing that misery…

    ….it did not stop racists from being racists and assaulting Black people, they just had to line up for water right along with Black South Africans…or die of thirst, so much for being superior.


  37. Thnx Well Well … the level of discourse like it has shifted sideways into the humor zone… My God wunna funny


  38. So far I have not read one person who has actually seen this at St Nicholas Abbey, so why all the rhetoric? Shouldn’t somebody at least see the thing and then comment? Steupse!


  39. Peltdownman February 12, 2018 at 11:56 AM #
    So far I have not read one person who has actually seen this at St Nicholas Abbey, so why all the rhetoric? Shouldn’t somebody at least see the thing and then comment? Steupse!

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    …. but there is an actual film made in the 1930’s of plantation life at Nicholas Abbey.

    I enjoyed it immensely, it was a while ago but I know it exists.

    So, Ms. Sealy Smith has a source she can rely upon, visual actual recorded history!!!!

    That’s the joke and that’s why this article is so ridiculous.

    They used to show the film to anyone who went to Nicholas Abbey before, when it was owned by Colonel Cave.

    The film was made by an ancestor of Colonel Cave who visited Nicholas Abbey.

    The film covers the trip through Bridgetown and up to Nicholas Abbey and also life at Nicholas Abbey.

    So, Ms. Sealy Smith I am betting will have the last laugh!!

    That is a film of actual life, nobody is posed or has lines to say … dat dere now is the real McCoy!!

    Nothing play play bout dat!!

  40. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    If people are protesting at just the thought of a reenactment that makes light of slavery of Africans, glossing it over and turning it into some comedy to poke fun at, that means it is offensive to the senses, something house negros always find difficult to comprehend.

    Do you know what the fake jews in israel do to people who make fun of the holocaust, they send out hits ….cant say hitmen, cause now women are equal opportunity earners….to take out not only the perpetrators of their ancestor’s misery, but anyone dumb enough to piss them off while they at it.

    These are descendants of real African slaves who should not tolerate any mockery or disrespect of their ancestor’s brutal experiences or memories.

    When ya have ministers like that mental dwarf for a culture minister….who would enable any malicious mischief against his people to boast about tourism….or any other twisted misguded fantasy that he thinks makes him look good. same can be said about any of the other ministers…you have to be vocal about what is off limits…and expose them when they are pretending to be deaf.


  41. What people should have done was to first actually see the skit, then … compare it with the reality that existed and is on film, recorded for posterity!!


  42. This article is not only ridiculous, it could also become hilarious.

    People have not checked their facts

  43. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    ….and neither should the centuries old brutality of African slaves be reenacted into comic relief skit for mental midgets like John Liesalot and his racist ilk either.


  44. John would you have to see a skit about the what Ann Frank endured to draw a conclusion when there is documented evidence?


  45. Heather Cole February 12, 2018 at 12:57 PM #
    John would you have to see a skit about the what Ann Frank endured to draw a conclusion when there is documented evidence?

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    No, I would have read her diary!!

    The fact is that an actual movie of life on Nicholas Abbey Plantation exists from the 1930’s.

    I don’t know Ms. Sealy Smith except by reputation so I know she is going to cross her eyes and dot her tees before she puts her name to any production!!


  46. There is documented evidence at Nicholas Abbey, it has been on display long before the new owners took over.

    That was part of the museum tour of the property!!

    Before I jumped in to berate a production I would want to see that documented evidence.

    If I then found the production did not match that evidence, then is when I would raise hell!!

  47. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    there is enough documented evidence in museums worldwide, from UK to Africa to Spain, to Belgium to Germany to Portugal to France to US and back….400 years worth…..

    no one is interested in the pretensive contrived, concocted lies by a bunch of racist criminals and slave masters living off the backs of black slaves like parasites…200 years and more dead and in their graves.

    and no modern day racists like yaself should be entertained by the misery of the ancestors of others, turned to comic relief by dumbass negros.


  48. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service February 12, 2018 at 2:50 PM #
    there is enough documented evidence in museums worldwide, from UK to Africa to Spain, to Belgium to Germany to Portugal to France to US and back….400 years worth…..

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    … and you have read none of it ….. too lazy!!

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