"Bussa I'm Sorry"
A popular Barbadian artist, Khiomal with Paula Hinds & Marisa and others, released this song, an apology to Bussa (Bussoe). It tells of the tragic betrayal of the 1816 war for the end of slavery, the unknowable and ironic consequences of that betrayal, and the contributions made to the quest for freedom and national independence, along the long way.
In a conversational way, as a means of drawing comparison that Barbadians would understand, I said that Gabriel was our Bussa. I was wrong. Our Bussa was Nat Turner.
Gabriel's Rebellion was a bit closer to the 1675 planned overthrow of the English on Barbados - in scale and organization and in the way it was betrayed and prevented, the punishments meted out, and the lessons learned by the plantocracy, and its effect on the long journey to abolition and independence. The leaders of Gabriel's rebellion do not get very far in revealing their intentions for governance, and testimony by fellow conspirators speaks to ending slavery and dining at the table with merchants--a metaphor most historians have taken to mean social and economic equity, access to the opportunities that should be available to all working, willing men.
In a conversational way, as a means of drawing comparison that Barbadians would understand, I said that Gabriel was our Bussa. I was wrong. Our Bussa was Nat Turner.
Gabriel's Rebellion was a bit closer to the 1675 planned overthrow of the English on Barbados - in scale and organization and in the way it was betrayed and prevented, the punishments meted out, and the lessons learned by the plantocracy, and its effect on the long journey to abolition and independence. The leaders of Gabriel's rebellion do not get very far in revealing their intentions for governance, and testimony by fellow conspirators speaks to ending slavery and dining at the table with merchants--a metaphor most historians have taken to mean social and economic equity, access to the opportunities that should be available to all working, willing men.
