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ACROSS THE POND
Is Michael B. Jordan a Colonizer?
Renaming J’Ouvert rum doesn’t change the fact that Killmonger woulda beat his ass
The popular African American phrase coined by Zora Neale Hurston “All my skinfolk ain’t kinfolk” was dramatically expressed in the behavior of actor Micheal B. Jordan when he launched his Caribbean rum brand J’Ouvert. Yes, he did an about-turn and apologized when Trinidad-and-Tobago-born Nicki Minaj suggested he change the name of the rum, but the revelation of Jordan’s mindset is clear.
Jordan is a Black capitalist, and for millions of Caribbean people in the islands and the diaspora, he’s the worst kind — a colonizer.
Jordan wanted to bottle and gift-wrap African Caribbean culture characterized by exclusion, enslavement, rebellion, extermination, and, finally, celebration to the world. He did this with no consideration for J’Ouvert’s originators or their descendants who, like him, are members of the ex-slave diaspora.
J’Ouvert is a celebration that emanated from Trinidad and Tobago and was later exported to other Caribbean islands and is linked directly to the enslavement and freedom of Africans. It is a contraction of the French phrase jour ouvert, the morning time referred to as “day open.” French influences became dominant in Trinidad after a decree from Spanish colonizers in 1783 offered generous land (plantations) and tax incentives to settlers on the sugar and cotton produced by enslaved Africans.
The French also brought “carnival” and “masquerade balls,” but of course enslaved people were banned from participating, just like they were in New Orleans during Mardi Gras festivities.
J’Ouvert evolved from the Canboulay festivals in the 1800s — nighttime gatherings where plantation owners dressed up and imitated their slaves. But, following emancipation in 1838, newly freed Africans took over Canboulay, imitating the former “masters” who once mocked them. This practice was banned by authorities but eventually was reestablished as the J’Ouvert festival. In London, there is even a play called J’Ouvert set during the Notting Hill Carnival that encompasses all of the themes above and aims to make its way to Broadway.
