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Highlights

Yankee Bajan

About

Fed up with the continuing violence and racism in America, Hugh and Keryl, a Black couple with two teenage children, decide that it is time to leave the country. Spurred on by the presidential election of 2016, they begin to make plans to move to Hugh’s ancestral home, the island of Barbados. The family’s search for a space where there is a Black majority, Black leadership and Black power has been ongoing, taking them to and thru Atlanta Georgia, where the dangers of the day become apparent to Xavian, their son, as he joins the protests in the “Black Lives Matter” Movement, after he is the victim of a racially motivated attack. Barbados will be their final move as each struggle with identity, place and purpose. Preparations for the move take much longer than anticipated, and the family find themselves making their move in the middle of a pandemic and with a pending second term of Donald J. Trump. Feeling the urgency of the moment, they wind up in quarantine on the island as they navigate the cultural, economic, educational and generational shifts that they encounter. Will they be able to embrace the expatriate life? Will Xavian and his sister Maya successfully meet the challenges of their coming-of-age story as Bajans? Will their “Yankee” culture have a negative impact on friends and family. Will they fight, or fly to the next potential homeplace in England or Canada where once again they will be in the minority? The family dreams of the Bajan past and the Barbadian future, each dreaming of their legacy and their future. Led by the lost souls of enslaved Africans, heroes of the slave revolts and flying fish, they confront their own PTSD (Post Traumatic Slave Disorder). They embrace their legacy and each one finds his/her way home. Through musical soundscapes, traditional music and contemporary song, we journey with them as they travel homeward.

Featured 

+ By Linda Parris-Bailey.
+ Directed by Dahlak Brathwaite
+ DVCAI

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