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Carib Territory,Dominica (AP) -The leader of the last remaining pre-Columbian tribe in the eastern Caribbean says outlawing marriage to outsiders can save Dominica’s dwindling indigenous population, but legislators are balking at deciding who can marry whom.

Chief Charles Williams has proposed a law requiring ethnic Kalinagos to marry only each other for self-preservation. He also requested that foreigners be barred from living on the tribe’s 3,800-acre reserve.

“We would like as many Kalinago people to respond and pair off so that we can multiply and protect the race,” Williams said during a recent news conference.

An estimated 1,000 Kalinagos of the roughly 4,000 who live on the reserve are considered full-blooded Indians. Carib women who marry non-Indians traditionally leave the reserve, while men who do the same are allowed to stay.

Several legislators said Friday that they refuse to entertain the marriage proposal. Such a measure would be “legislating who a person can marry, and this cannot be so,” Sen. Claduous Stanford told The Associated Press.

Kent Auguiste, a member of the Carib Indian council that oversees the reserve, said the culture should be preserved but not at the expense of personal freedom.

——- Personal Note ——-
I was appalled to read that such a law was even proposed! We had ridiculous anti-miscegenation laws in some states in the USA; as a matter of fact, Mildred Loving, who successfully won a case in our Supreme Court to overturn such laws, died only last week. Were such a law in place, it would only result in making some children illegitimate. Marriage should be legal between any pair of one adult man and woman not too closely related.

Dan Tanner

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Inspired by one of my favorite Personal Development bloggers Steve Pavlina, who recently published an article titled How to be a Man; I’m following up with my own take on what I believe takes to be a man - particularly in a society like ours where most of the time the idea of being a “real” man falls between the amount of money he has or women whether or not his good with the ladies. Sad but true.

So what does it mean to be a man today? How can men in the Caribbean consciously express their masculinity with becoming cold-hearted on one hand…or a wimp on the other? In the next week or two I will be posting on what are the most loving ways for a man to live and express himself.

The first way I’m going to touch on is the aspect of Making Real Decisions.

Any man should understand and respect the power of choice, and lives a life of his own creation. He knows that life stands still when he fails to make decisions and flourishes when he chooses a clear path for himself or his family.

When a man makes a decision, he opens the door he wants and closes the doors he doesn’t want. For example, when most men decide to pursue a beautiful woman; he will do also anything to win her heart – knowing clearly there is no guarantee he’ll win her over. But a man doesn’t need such guarantees; he simply enjoys the sense of certainty that comes for opening that door.

A man doesn’t require the approval of others. He’s will to follow his heart wherever it leads him. A quality which is lacking in most Caribbean men – fearing that their piers might disapprove of their decision and think of them differently. When a man is following his heart–centered path, it’s of little or no consequence if the whole world is against him.

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