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ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the July 2, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from siliconshaman and see_also_friend. It also fills the "Spirit Island" square in my 7-1-24 card for the Games and Entertainment Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Peculiar Obligations.
"The Democratic Armada of the Caribbean"
[1600s]
Not long after the Europeans
arrived in the New World,
the pirates followed them.
In the 1500s, pirate havens
began to spring up all around
the islands of the Caribbean Sea.
San Juan, Puerto Rico was
among the first, and key in
smuggling throughout the area.
Portsmouth, Dominica became
a major port of call for the Spanish
and the English, which also made
the town into a prime hub for piracy.
By the 1600s, more had emerged.
Santa Isabel Village located on
Isla de Provedencia was one.
Some even appeared on
the Spanish Main, including
Xcalak and Portobelo.
In 1636, the Caribs drove
the European invaders
from their island Matinino.
After that, they preferred
to trade with the pirates.
Port Morgan, Île-à-Vache
near Hispaniola as well as
Tap House on St. Thomas
began to gain more traffic.
To the north, two towns in
Rhode Island grew popular with
pirates, Providence and Newport.
Tortuga Village on Tortuga Island,
part of the larger Hispaniola, was
the most famous for many years,
despite all of the giant turtles.
It was a golden age for pirates.
Then something interesting happened.
The Religious Society of Friends, who
were pacifists of all rare things, started
reaching out to the pirates in ports.
A few even started to take ship,
speaking of peace, and because
they were skilled at negotiation,
the Friends were ... tolerated.
The founder, George Fox,
annoyed a lot of stuffy people.
Pirates found that amusing,
and the Friends entertaining,
if more than a bit perplexing.
In the 1650s, female Friends
connected with female pirates,
teaming up to advance the rights
of women on an even wider scale.
The female pirates started to provide
escape routes for abused women
in general, frustrating men in power.
Bermuda had been stewing for a while,
and unrest finally erupted into revolt
in 1656 that made it a free pirate island.
Another great pirate haven arose in
Port Royal, Jamaica as people built
taverns, whorehouses, trading posts,
and other maritime attractions.
George Fox began to express
his doubts about slavery.
The pirates listened with
half an ear, because on
the one hand, freedom was
vital to their way of life, but
on the other hand, they were
mostly motivated by money.
The Friends were always
getting into trouble, though,
and pirates appreciated that.
In 1660, female pirates rescued
Mary Dyer from intended execution
and hauled her to the Caribbean
to prevent her from returning
to danger in New England.
It took her well over a year
to forgive them for uprooting her.
More pirate havens emerged as
foreign ships harassed older ones,
like Petit Goâve on Saint Domingue.
The British attempted to take control
of the Cayman Islands in 1670, which
ended with their official establishment
as free pirate islands -- and a lot of
British sailors getting fed to the basks
of truly enormous crocodiles that swam
around the beaches and the rivers
of the islands named for them.
Several Friends, including
William Edmundson and
George Fox, visited Barbados.
When they argued for treating
slaves humanely, the owners
became outraged and drove
the Friends off the island.
The pirates just laughed;
teasing the rich never got old.
Later they found out that George
published his Barbados sermons
in a little book that again urged
people to treat their slaves better.
Someone got hold of a copy
and passed it around the taverns,
spawning all manner of jokes.
A few years after those incidents,
Friend Alice Curwen traveled to
Barbados and pestered one of
the locals, Friend Martha Tavernor,
to release the slaves she owned.
It wasn't quite the catfight that
the pirates typically bet on,
but they bet on it anyway.
Eventually Alice won,
and her allies collected
their bets, and nobody
thought too much of it yet.
In 1683, William Penn
created a new colony
called Pennsylvania,
aimed at fostering love
and a spirit of brotherhood.
He insisted that the settlers pay
Indians a fair price for native land,
treat natives with dignity, and
respect their various cultures.
William even tried to enact
legislation against slavery.
The pirates just chuckled
about it over their rum.
Well, this ought
to get ... interesting.
By the 1690s, some of
the pirates ventured out
on long-distance voyages
from the Americas to raid
East India Company targets
in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
The island of Bermuda shifted
its economy to maritime business
and incorporated many former slaves
as blacksmiths, masons, carpenters,
coopers, shipwrights, and sailors.
Then in 1692, disaster struck:
an earthquake and a great wave
severely damaged Port Royal.
Pirates and Friends alike
flocked to Jamaica and
rendered aid to survivors.
They quickly rebuilt the town
on safer ground, leaving only
the docks at sea level, and
renamed it Port Liberty.
Some pirates still shifted
their routes to Nassau on
New Providence Island in
the Bahamas, which was well
placed and hadn't been flattened.
On October 23, 1696 the Friends
in Philadelphia ruled against bringing
in any new slaves, and urged those
who still owned slaves to treat them
well and to take them to Meetings.
By this point the pirates were
used to it, because their crews
were mostly mixed and if you had
Friends then you also had Meetings,
because any two or three of them
would stick together like burrs.
The Delaware River had
long been favored for piracy
because of the heavy trade
that ran up and down it.
In 1699, the Friends and
the Pennsylvania Assembly
negotiated with the river pirates,
giving them Tinicum Island as
well as Tinicum Township, with
the understanding that they could
trade in the state and its towns
but could no longer raid in either.
However, the pirates remained free
to attack any enemies of Pennsylvania.
Everyone was very happy with this deal.
[1700s]
Pirate havens continued to emerge,
with Tylerton on Smith Island off
the shore of Virginia, and Eden on
Ocracoke Island off the shore
of North Carolina which had
a sympathetic governor.
In 1701, the War of
the Spanish Succession
broke out, with France and
Great Britain joining the fray.
This offered plentiful opportunities
for privateers to make a profit.
The Pennsylvania Assembly
passed an Act to prevent
the importation of slaves
in 1713, but they had
a hard time enforcing it.
That still marked a step
toward the end of slavery.
After the Spanish Succession
concluded in 1714, many of
the sailors and privateers
were left unemployed.
Some of these turned
to piracy in the Caribbean
and the eastern seaboard
of North America, others
to the Indian Ocean and
the West African coast.
It made for some unrest,
because they were new to
the area and didn't know
all the local customs yet.
So local pirates took to flying
a black flag with a white dove
if they had a Friend in the crew,
and they taught the newcomers
that you could haul alongside
such a ship and ask for help if
you needed a negotiator or doctor.
Ships with a Friend for a captain
flew a white flag with a white dove
on a red-and-black 8-pointed star,
with similar offers of assistance.
In 1715, another antislavery tract
made the rounds of the Caribbean,
this one with a long list of reasons
why it was such a terrible idea.
In Jamaica, the Maroon War
made it a free pirate island in 1730,
and people banned slavery there.
It became a haven, not just
for raiders of all sorts, but
also for freedmen and
for runaway slaves.
In 1733, a publisher in
Rhode Island released
a testimony on slavery, and
this one circulated widely as
one of the notable conjunctions
between Friends and pirates
on the topic of abolition.
The pirates, who had
been drifting more toward
freedom over money, grew
more convinced that slaving
wasn't any way to make a living.
On November 23 of the same year,
Saint John became a free pirate island.
From there the rebellion spread to
the rest of the Danish West Indies.
Saint Thomas followed suit in
1734. Fighting in Saint Croix,
the largest island, continued
until it broke free in late 1736.
In April 1756, a group of Friends
from Philadelphia established
the Friendly Association for
Regaining and Preserving
Peace with the Indians by
Pacific Measures. They
used trade and health care
to cement alliances with tribes.
Louisiana became more and
more friendly to pirates, with
Saint Malo in St. Bernard Parish
becoming a haven for them.
The Carib War made Saint Vincent
into a free pirate island in 1773.
Then slaves in Tobago revolted,
freeing it in 1770, followed by
Trinidad where a long bloody war
left it free in the summer of 1774.
On April 19, 1775, years of
rising discontent in the colonies
boiled over into open war with
the battles of Lexington and
Concord, Massachusetts.
These marked the start of
the American Revolutionary War.
The American Continental Congress
ratified the Declaration of Independence
on July 4, 1776 but only included some of
the antislavery passages from earlier drafts,
and quite a bit from the Custom of the Coast.
On July 15, 1776 the Congress struck a deal
with a large group of pirates and privateers,
the Democratic Armada of the Caribbean.
They agreed to recognize each other
as nations and to work together as
allies against hostile European forces.
The Americans offered control
of Rhode Island to the Armada,
along with support of its claims
to various other locations, in
exchange for military support.
The Armada was happy to secure
Rhode Island and delighted to attack
every British vessel they could find.
A key feature of the Armada, however,
was that they based their identity on
ships as much as on pieces of land.
On July 8, 1777 the Vermont Republic
became the first state to outlaw slavery.
Then on March 1, 1780 Pennsylvania
passed an act for gradual abolition.
In 1781, the slave ship Zong ran
into trouble, and the crew debated
throwing its human cargo overboard.
Then the pirate ship Black Guillemot
discovered the slave ship and boarded
her, staging the Zong Rescue, in which
they freed all of the African captives.
Luke Collingwood and most of his crew
were either killed on board or thrown
overboard, by pirates or freed Africans.
A majority of the 132 Africans became pirates.
Due in large part to excellent alliances with
the Democratic Armada of the Caribbean
and several Native American tribes,
the Revolutionary War came to
an end on September 3, 1781.
In January of 1791, the island of
Dominica became a free pirate island
and thus outlawed slavery there.
A few months later, Spirit Island,
between Dominica and Martinique,
was set aside for the Carib People.
Pirates being a superstitious bunch,
they just didn't want to mess with it.
Also the island of Hispaniola, previously
divided as French Saint-Domingue and
Spanish Santo Domingo, became
a free pirate island, took the name
of Haiti, and banned slavery.
On February 1, 1793 France
and Great Britain went to war.
Privateers all over the Caribbean
rushed to seek Letters of Marque.
By 1795, the society of pirates
had gained considerable momentum,
with smaller groups joining the Armada
and more islands throwing off overlords.
In that year alone, Grenada, Saint Lucia,
and Curaçao all became free pirate islands
and banned slavery in their holdings.
[1800s]
In 1800, it became
a disownable offense
for Friends to own slaves
anywhere, even down in
the southern slave states.
Friends in those states who
owned slaves were obligated
to move somewhere else that
emancipating slaves was legal.
Some simply took up with pirates,
who generally favored freedom
and whose ships and crews
included many former slaves.
Louisiana became more of
a pirate haven with places such
as Manila Village in Barataria Bay.
The Friends had some successes in
sustaining fair treatment of tribal people.
These alliances helped the growing nation
develop good practices and withstand
pressures from foreign countries.
In 1803, attempts to enslave
free passengers of color from
ships docking in Cuba sparked
a rebellion that ended with Cuba
becoming a free pirate island in 1804.
A population of Taino, who had previously
escaped European invaders and hidden
in the mountains or settled elsewhere,
reappeared and became more willing
to trade with the current residents of
Cuba and the pirates who visited there.
In April of 1816, Bussa's Rebellion
made Barbados a free pirate island,
and they banned slavery there.
Then in 1821, Marcos Xiorro
led a great slave revolt against
the sugar plantation owners and
the Spanish Colonial government.
As a result, Puerto Rico became
a free pirate island, outlawing slavery.
During the 1840s to 1850s, Friends
hired freedom seekers and free blacks
to work on their farms and build cabins.
They encouraged black families
to send their children to school
and participate in community life.
Many of these families prospered
and in time bought their own land.
One such cluster of cabins, which
developed on property owned
by Friend James E. Bonine,
turned into Ramptown.
Eventually that became
a key black owned and
operated town, including
Friends among its residents
as well as closest neighbors.
Ramptown sent out missionaries
to teach other people, particularly
in the Caribbean, how to get along
and establish a healthy municipality.
This improved life and society there.
On April 12, 1861 the American Civil War
broke out over slavery, state rights, and
a bunch of other arguments that people
just couldn't seem to work through.
Then on April 29, 1861 the Union
met with the Democratic Armada
of the Caribbean and made a deal.
They offered the Armada control
of Florida and Louisiana along
with some coastal islands such as
Smith Island off the coast of Virginia
and Ocracoke Island off the shore
of North Carolina, which the nations
had previously been sharing and
sometimes bickering about.
In exchange, the Armada
blockaded the Gulf of Mexico
so that neither merchant nor
military vessels could easily
aid the Confederate States.
At this time, the Armada
also voted to ban slavery
throughout their territory,
rather than individually on
some ships and islands.
Similarly, female pirates
insisted on certain rights
for women of all stations.
On September 22, 1862
President Abraham Lincoln
issued new legislation, and
the Emancipation Proclamation
took effect immediately, freeing
all slaves held within America.
During the American Civil War,
the Bahamas followed by the Turks
and Caicos Islands became members in
the Democratic Armada of the Caribbean.
By this point, most of the islands had
shaken off European control and
taken charge of their own fate.
Despite having developed from
brigands and buccaneers, they
had learned enough skills from
the Friends to create societies
that were stable, comfortable
to live in, and most importantly
not based on enslaving anyone.
In May of 1863, the Civil War ended,
largely due to support from the Armada
which generally opposed slavery.
The Thirteenth Amendment to
the Constitution of the United States
was proposed on January 31, 1864.
It prohibited slavery and included
references to the penitentiary practices
by the Religious Society of Friends, so it
also forbade forced labor without pay.
Instead, prison wages must be saved
for payment upon release, giving
former inmates a temporary means
of support such that they could
secure a home and a legal job.
The Thirteenth Amendment was
ratified on December 6, 1864.
In the late 1800s, pirates
established a new haven
in Galveston town on
the island of Galveston
just off the Texas Shore.
The western states were
developing gradually, and
everyone wanted access
for trade or smuggling.
Texas just grumbled and
let them have it, lacking
the resources to dispute
possession so soon after
the South lost the Civil War.
Europe wasn't any happier,
but by then it was clear that
the pirates of the Caribbean
weren't going anywhere.
The Democratic Armada of
the Caribbean was just too
powerful and appealing for it
to fade away into the waves.
The United States and
the Armada enjoyed
a close if sometimes ...
peppery relationship.
At the turn of the century,
it looked like smooth sailing.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its map and content notes appear separately.
siliconshaman and see_also_friend. It also fills the "Spirit Island" square in my 7-1-24 card for the Games and Entertainment Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Peculiar Obligations."The Democratic Armada of the Caribbean"
[1600s]
Not long after the Europeans
arrived in the New World,
the pirates followed them.
In the 1500s, pirate havens
began to spring up all around
the islands of the Caribbean Sea.
San Juan, Puerto Rico was
among the first, and key in
smuggling throughout the area.
Portsmouth, Dominica became
a major port of call for the Spanish
and the English, which also made
the town into a prime hub for piracy.
By the 1600s, more had emerged.
Santa Isabel Village located on
Isla de Provedencia was one.
Some even appeared on
the Spanish Main, including
Xcalak and Portobelo.
In 1636, the Caribs drove
the European invaders
from their island Matinino.
After that, they preferred
to trade with the pirates.
Port Morgan, Île-à-Vache
near Hispaniola as well as
Tap House on St. Thomas
began to gain more traffic.
To the north, two towns in
Rhode Island grew popular with
pirates, Providence and Newport.
Tortuga Village on Tortuga Island,
part of the larger Hispaniola, was
the most famous for many years,
despite all of the giant turtles.
It was a golden age for pirates.
Then something interesting happened.
The Religious Society of Friends, who
were pacifists of all rare things, started
reaching out to the pirates in ports.
A few even started to take ship,
speaking of peace, and because
they were skilled at negotiation,
the Friends were ... tolerated.
The founder, George Fox,
annoyed a lot of stuffy people.
Pirates found that amusing,
and the Friends entertaining,
if more than a bit perplexing.
In the 1650s, female Friends
connected with female pirates,
teaming up to advance the rights
of women on an even wider scale.
The female pirates started to provide
escape routes for abused women
in general, frustrating men in power.
Bermuda had been stewing for a while,
and unrest finally erupted into revolt
in 1656 that made it a free pirate island.
Another great pirate haven arose in
Port Royal, Jamaica as people built
taverns, whorehouses, trading posts,
and other maritime attractions.
George Fox began to express
his doubts about slavery.
The pirates listened with
half an ear, because on
the one hand, freedom was
vital to their way of life, but
on the other hand, they were
mostly motivated by money.
The Friends were always
getting into trouble, though,
and pirates appreciated that.
In 1660, female pirates rescued
Mary Dyer from intended execution
and hauled her to the Caribbean
to prevent her from returning
to danger in New England.
It took her well over a year
to forgive them for uprooting her.
More pirate havens emerged as
foreign ships harassed older ones,
like Petit Goâve on Saint Domingue.
The British attempted to take control
of the Cayman Islands in 1670, which
ended with their official establishment
as free pirate islands -- and a lot of
British sailors getting fed to the basks
of truly enormous crocodiles that swam
around the beaches and the rivers
of the islands named for them.
Several Friends, including
William Edmundson and
George Fox, visited Barbados.
When they argued for treating
slaves humanely, the owners
became outraged and drove
the Friends off the island.
The pirates just laughed;
teasing the rich never got old.
Later they found out that George
published his Barbados sermons
in a little book that again urged
people to treat their slaves better.
Someone got hold of a copy
and passed it around the taverns,
spawning all manner of jokes.
A few years after those incidents,
Friend Alice Curwen traveled to
Barbados and pestered one of
the locals, Friend Martha Tavernor,
to release the slaves she owned.
It wasn't quite the catfight that
the pirates typically bet on,
but they bet on it anyway.
Eventually Alice won,
and her allies collected
their bets, and nobody
thought too much of it yet.
In 1683, William Penn
created a new colony
called Pennsylvania,
aimed at fostering love
and a spirit of brotherhood.
He insisted that the settlers pay
Indians a fair price for native land,
treat natives with dignity, and
respect their various cultures.
William even tried to enact
legislation against slavery.
The pirates just chuckled
about it over their rum.
Well, this ought
to get ... interesting.
By the 1690s, some of
the pirates ventured out
on long-distance voyages
from the Americas to raid
East India Company targets
in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
The island of Bermuda shifted
its economy to maritime business
and incorporated many former slaves
as blacksmiths, masons, carpenters,
coopers, shipwrights, and sailors.
Then in 1692, disaster struck:
an earthquake and a great wave
severely damaged Port Royal.
Pirates and Friends alike
flocked to Jamaica and
rendered aid to survivors.
They quickly rebuilt the town
on safer ground, leaving only
the docks at sea level, and
renamed it Port Liberty.
Some pirates still shifted
their routes to Nassau on
New Providence Island in
the Bahamas, which was well
placed and hadn't been flattened.
On October 23, 1696 the Friends
in Philadelphia ruled against bringing
in any new slaves, and urged those
who still owned slaves to treat them
well and to take them to Meetings.
By this point the pirates were
used to it, because their crews
were mostly mixed and if you had
Friends then you also had Meetings,
because any two or three of them
would stick together like burrs.
The Delaware River had
long been favored for piracy
because of the heavy trade
that ran up and down it.
In 1699, the Friends and
the Pennsylvania Assembly
negotiated with the river pirates,
giving them Tinicum Island as
well as Tinicum Township, with
the understanding that they could
trade in the state and its towns
but could no longer raid in either.
However, the pirates remained free
to attack any enemies of Pennsylvania.
Everyone was very happy with this deal.
[1700s]
Pirate havens continued to emerge,
with Tylerton on Smith Island off
the shore of Virginia, and Eden on
Ocracoke Island off the shore
of North Carolina which had
a sympathetic governor.
In 1701, the War of
the Spanish Succession
broke out, with France and
Great Britain joining the fray.
This offered plentiful opportunities
for privateers to make a profit.
The Pennsylvania Assembly
passed an Act to prevent
the importation of slaves
in 1713, but they had
a hard time enforcing it.
That still marked a step
toward the end of slavery.
After the Spanish Succession
concluded in 1714, many of
the sailors and privateers
were left unemployed.
Some of these turned
to piracy in the Caribbean
and the eastern seaboard
of North America, others
to the Indian Ocean and
the West African coast.
It made for some unrest,
because they were new to
the area and didn't know
all the local customs yet.
So local pirates took to flying
a black flag with a white dove
if they had a Friend in the crew,
and they taught the newcomers
that you could haul alongside
such a ship and ask for help if
you needed a negotiator or doctor.
Ships with a Friend for a captain
flew a white flag with a white dove
on a red-and-black 8-pointed star,
with similar offers of assistance.
In 1715, another antislavery tract
made the rounds of the Caribbean,
this one with a long list of reasons
why it was such a terrible idea.
In Jamaica, the Maroon War
made it a free pirate island in 1730,
and people banned slavery there.
It became a haven, not just
for raiders of all sorts, but
also for freedmen and
for runaway slaves.
In 1733, a publisher in
Rhode Island released
a testimony on slavery, and
this one circulated widely as
one of the notable conjunctions
between Friends and pirates
on the topic of abolition.
The pirates, who had
been drifting more toward
freedom over money, grew
more convinced that slaving
wasn't any way to make a living.
On November 23 of the same year,
Saint John became a free pirate island.
From there the rebellion spread to
the rest of the Danish West Indies.
Saint Thomas followed suit in
1734. Fighting in Saint Croix,
the largest island, continued
until it broke free in late 1736.
In April 1756, a group of Friends
from Philadelphia established
the Friendly Association for
Regaining and Preserving
Peace with the Indians by
Pacific Measures. They
used trade and health care
to cement alliances with tribes.
Louisiana became more and
more friendly to pirates, with
Saint Malo in St. Bernard Parish
becoming a haven for them.
The Carib War made Saint Vincent
into a free pirate island in 1773.
Then slaves in Tobago revolted,
freeing it in 1770, followed by
Trinidad where a long bloody war
left it free in the summer of 1774.
On April 19, 1775, years of
rising discontent in the colonies
boiled over into open war with
the battles of Lexington and
Concord, Massachusetts.
These marked the start of
the American Revolutionary War.
The American Continental Congress
ratified the Declaration of Independence
on July 4, 1776 but only included some of
the antislavery passages from earlier drafts,
and quite a bit from the Custom of the Coast.
On July 15, 1776 the Congress struck a deal
with a large group of pirates and privateers,
the Democratic Armada of the Caribbean.
They agreed to recognize each other
as nations and to work together as
allies against hostile European forces.
The Americans offered control
of Rhode Island to the Armada,
along with support of its claims
to various other locations, in
exchange for military support.
The Armada was happy to secure
Rhode Island and delighted to attack
every British vessel they could find.
A key feature of the Armada, however,
was that they based their identity on
ships as much as on pieces of land.
On July 8, 1777 the Vermont Republic
became the first state to outlaw slavery.
Then on March 1, 1780 Pennsylvania
passed an act for gradual abolition.
In 1781, the slave ship Zong ran
into trouble, and the crew debated
throwing its human cargo overboard.
Then the pirate ship Black Guillemot
discovered the slave ship and boarded
her, staging the Zong Rescue, in which
they freed all of the African captives.
Luke Collingwood and most of his crew
were either killed on board or thrown
overboard, by pirates or freed Africans.
A majority of the 132 Africans became pirates.
Due in large part to excellent alliances with
the Democratic Armada of the Caribbean
and several Native American tribes,
the Revolutionary War came to
an end on September 3, 1781.
In January of 1791, the island of
Dominica became a free pirate island
and thus outlawed slavery there.
A few months later, Spirit Island,
between Dominica and Martinique,
was set aside for the Carib People.
Pirates being a superstitious bunch,
they just didn't want to mess with it.
Also the island of Hispaniola, previously
divided as French Saint-Domingue and
Spanish Santo Domingo, became
a free pirate island, took the name
of Haiti, and banned slavery.
On February 1, 1793 France
and Great Britain went to war.
Privateers all over the Caribbean
rushed to seek Letters of Marque.
By 1795, the society of pirates
had gained considerable momentum,
with smaller groups joining the Armada
and more islands throwing off overlords.
In that year alone, Grenada, Saint Lucia,
and Curaçao all became free pirate islands
and banned slavery in their holdings.
[1800s]
In 1800, it became
a disownable offense
for Friends to own slaves
anywhere, even down in
the southern slave states.
Friends in those states who
owned slaves were obligated
to move somewhere else that
emancipating slaves was legal.
Some simply took up with pirates,
who generally favored freedom
and whose ships and crews
included many former slaves.
Louisiana became more of
a pirate haven with places such
as Manila Village in Barataria Bay.
The Friends had some successes in
sustaining fair treatment of tribal people.
These alliances helped the growing nation
develop good practices and withstand
pressures from foreign countries.
In 1803, attempts to enslave
free passengers of color from
ships docking in Cuba sparked
a rebellion that ended with Cuba
becoming a free pirate island in 1804.
A population of Taino, who had previously
escaped European invaders and hidden
in the mountains or settled elsewhere,
reappeared and became more willing
to trade with the current residents of
Cuba and the pirates who visited there.
In April of 1816, Bussa's Rebellion
made Barbados a free pirate island,
and they banned slavery there.
Then in 1821, Marcos Xiorro
led a great slave revolt against
the sugar plantation owners and
the Spanish Colonial government.
As a result, Puerto Rico became
a free pirate island, outlawing slavery.
During the 1840s to 1850s, Friends
hired freedom seekers and free blacks
to work on their farms and build cabins.
They encouraged black families
to send their children to school
and participate in community life.
Many of these families prospered
and in time bought their own land.
One such cluster of cabins, which
developed on property owned
by Friend James E. Bonine,
turned into Ramptown.
Eventually that became
a key black owned and
operated town, including
Friends among its residents
as well as closest neighbors.
Ramptown sent out missionaries
to teach other people, particularly
in the Caribbean, how to get along
and establish a healthy municipality.
This improved life and society there.
On April 12, 1861 the American Civil War
broke out over slavery, state rights, and
a bunch of other arguments that people
just couldn't seem to work through.
Then on April 29, 1861 the Union
met with the Democratic Armada
of the Caribbean and made a deal.
They offered the Armada control
of Florida and Louisiana along
with some coastal islands such as
Smith Island off the coast of Virginia
and Ocracoke Island off the shore
of North Carolina, which the nations
had previously been sharing and
sometimes bickering about.
In exchange, the Armada
blockaded the Gulf of Mexico
so that neither merchant nor
military vessels could easily
aid the Confederate States.
At this time, the Armada
also voted to ban slavery
throughout their territory,
rather than individually on
some ships and islands.
Similarly, female pirates
insisted on certain rights
for women of all stations.
On September 22, 1862
President Abraham Lincoln
issued new legislation, and
the Emancipation Proclamation
took effect immediately, freeing
all slaves held within America.
During the American Civil War,
the Bahamas followed by the Turks
and Caicos Islands became members in
the Democratic Armada of the Caribbean.
By this point, most of the islands had
shaken off European control and
taken charge of their own fate.
Despite having developed from
brigands and buccaneers, they
had learned enough skills from
the Friends to create societies
that were stable, comfortable
to live in, and most importantly
not based on enslaving anyone.
In May of 1863, the Civil War ended,
largely due to support from the Armada
which generally opposed slavery.
The Thirteenth Amendment to
the Constitution of the United States
was proposed on January 31, 1864.
It prohibited slavery and included
references to the penitentiary practices
by the Religious Society of Friends, so it
also forbade forced labor without pay.
Instead, prison wages must be saved
for payment upon release, giving
former inmates a temporary means
of support such that they could
secure a home and a legal job.
The Thirteenth Amendment was
ratified on December 6, 1864.
In the late 1800s, pirates
established a new haven
in Galveston town on
the island of Galveston
just off the Texas Shore.
The western states were
developing gradually, and
everyone wanted access
for trade or smuggling.
Texas just grumbled and
let them have it, lacking
the resources to dispute
possession so soon after
the South lost the Civil War.
Europe wasn't any happier,
but by then it was clear that
the pirates of the Caribbean
weren't going anywhere.
The Democratic Armada of
the Caribbean was just too
powerful and appealing for it
to fade away into the waves.
The United States and
the Armada enjoyed
a close if sometimes ...
peppery relationship.
At the turn of the century,
it looked like smooth sailing.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its map and content notes appear separately.
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2024-12-30 06:14 pm (UTC)I'm not enthusiastic about guns, but I'd probably be okay around one if proper safety protocol were followed (including /discussing it like adults/ if people have different opinions). Then again, I did go to college in the Bible belt, and being a sticker there won't get you very far!
If I ever did take gun lessons, I'd probably prefer to start with safety skills, how to check if it is loaded, and maintenance. Shooting...maybe once or twice to see what its like, but I probably won't find it much fun since I don't like loud noises. I'd also leave if anyone got judgy about me being a liberal pacifist learning about guns.
Adding goalball link in case anyone else wants to check it out (since I forgot to in earlier post):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goalball
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2024-12-30 08:04 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-04 12:55 am (UTC)I do agree that they are useful in certain contexts. Protection, particularly in rural areas, a useful tool for farming and or hunting. Some people like them for sports, and in that respect when used responsibly there not much different than footballs.
Also, there are cases when guns ideally would not be present, or at least should be safely secured. Some people cannot be around guns, for a variety of reasons, and (occasionally overlapping) some people may not be comfortable around guns, again for multiple reasons.
It definitely isn't a a one size fits all problem, and I would like to see more thoughtful discussion of it, without people being nasty about it.
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-04 04:17 am (UTC)And the Second Amendment doesn't mean every American needs to walk around with a gun in their possession all the time. But as I once read in an old issue of the Whole Earth Catalog, a gun is a tool, which is useful for certain purposes, but it has to be stored and handled carefully. I just took the opportunity to learn those skills when they became available to me.
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-04 07:59 pm (UTC)And if someone wanted to keep a gun in/around my living or working space, I'd definitely consider it neccesary to have a respectful discussion about safety concerns, including a place to keep it secured (for personal reasons, not moralizing ones).
If someone wants to keep a gun in a shared space but isn't interested in discussing safety, I'd be doubtful that I could safely/comftorably share space with them (again personal reasons, not moralizing).
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-04 08:32 pm (UTC)And I once visited my "brother from another mother" after he moved to Texas. He told me there was a lockbox built into the headboard of his guest bed which was where he stored his pistol. I asked him if he'd be insulted if I slept in the living room on the couch. His wife, who was in the process of divorcing him, brought me a pillow.
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-05 11:41 am (UTC)arsenals
Date: 2025-01-17 09:34 pm (UTC)My uncle was an NRA-certified instructor in pistol, rifle, and shotgun. I've only ever handled pistols, and would certainly take one up in defense of myself or my friends. When my dad died, my uncle "kept" Dad's guns for us; I think they have since passed on to his son, and I'm fine with that. Like you, I'm more likely to reach for a handy blade than fumble for or with a firearm.
Re: arsenals
Date: 2025-01-18 10:46 am (UTC)With any blade, the exact weight or length might vary, but the sharp end goes in your enemy. You can memorize the vulnerable spots on a human body and slash or stab with a pretty good chance of hitting something that will make your enemy stop bothering you in favor of stopping the blood from gushing out. Even someone aiming another weapon at you is exposing a lot of arteries unless wearing heavy armor.
In fact, over in Terramagne, Spadonari fights that way with his Cutting superpower. You can see it in "The Breaking of the Shell."
Re: arsenals
Date: 2025-03-05 05:06 am (UTC)Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-10 07:47 pm (UTC)*If anyone who is listening in politely disagrees, I am willing to hear out polite counterarguments, though I may still respectfully disagree..
>>He told me there was a lockbox built into the headboard of his guest bed which was where he stored his pistol.<<
I'd be uncomfortable if the stored guns were loaded (Which I think is not the usual Best Safety Practice). I'm not sure if I'd be uncomfortable if they were stored properly. Plus I tend to do a lot of stuff I am mildly uncomfortable with, just because I have a more nervous personality anyway.
>>I asked him if he'd be insulted if I slept in the living room on the couch. His wife, who was in the process of divorcing him, brought me a pillow.<<
That sounds like a good compromise.
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-10 08:41 pm (UTC)As a general rule, this is true.
>> In some cases, I'd even be worried about having someone carrying a gun in a holster,<<
A proper holster has a means of securing the gun so that it can't fall out or be snatched. This is a concern for soldiers and police, so look for equipment sourced from those manufacturers or with similar features. Your belt or pants pocket is not a holster but is a good way to shoot yourself.
Boss Blaster does still carry a personal handgun. It is in a secure holster, but also, he is a speedster and can outmaneuver anyone else but a faster speedster. T-America also has the option of biometric or other signature locks such that only one person can use a weapon. And hell, a super-gizmo only works for a super-gizmologist, super-intellect, or assigned user who has been trained in it.
>> or storing the gun in a supposedly-inacessable area,<<
Inaccessible = dedicated weapon safe designed for that type of weapon. It's called a safe for a reason, and nobody is getting into it without the appropriate access method or if they are a safecracker.
>> I'd be uncomfortable if the stored guns were loaded (Which I think is not the usual Best Safety Practice).<<
It is not good to store a gun loaded, even though the rule is also to treat every gun as if it is loaded. Only keep it loaded when you expect to use it or you might reasonably need it suddenly.
A couple other examples I didn't think of earlier:
* Any woman with a restraining order against man. Men give zero fucks about the paperwork and many women are murdered this way. That makes it completely reasonable to keep a loaded gun within ready access, but safety still requires a proper holster or a gun safe. It is absolutely a good idea to make all doors securable to buy time while grabbing a weapon.
* Anyone who lives in wilderness with hungry macrofauna that won't hesitate to attack a human lair. That's a large chunk of America, although not so large a population of people. If you need to put nailboards on your porch steps to discourage bears, you need a loaded gun and the ability to hit a large target moving quickly or you are just meat.
>> I'm not sure if I'd be uncomfortable if they were stored properly. Plus I tend to do a lot of stuff I am mildly uncomfortable with, just because I have a more nervous personality anyway.<<
Consider the context. Do you have another place you could stay? You might prefer to do that. Are you taking shelter with a veteran during a time of mayhem? You will probably be a lot more comfortable with that gun than you would on the streets.
People tend to forget the variables, and that starts a lot of arguments.
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-11 01:37 am (UTC)That would make sense, /if/ you have quality equipment and /if/ it is used correctly.
>>This is a concern for soldiers and police, so look for equipment sourced from those manufacturers or with similar features.<<
...but how would a trained cop or soldier respond to someone trying to grab their gun /even if the gun is secure/?
>>T-America also has the option of biometric or other signature locks such that only one person can use a weapon.<<
I heard that suggested once in L Earth, but I do not think it is something people are seriously considering here.
>>Only keep it loaded when you expect to use it or you might reasonably need it suddenly.<<
Reasonable.
>>Inaccessible = dedicated weapon safe designed for that type of weapon. It's called a safe for a reason, and nobody is getting into it without the appropriate access method or if they are a safecracker.<<
Some people would think that putting stuff in high places or similar would be inaccessible, but with a gun I would be reluctant to do that outside of a very brief emergency storage. (Not that I expect to be handling a gun anytime soon...)
>> Any woman with a restraining order against man. Men give zero fucks about the paperwork and many women are murdered this way. That makes it completely reasonable to keep a loaded gun within ready access, but safety still requires a proper holster or a gun safe. It is absolutely a good idea to make all doors securable to buy time while grabbing a weapon.<<
The most convincing argument I ever heard for expanding gun access was that men will commonly insist women are crazy...and women often get killed by male partners-exes.
That said, if needing to consistently carry a weapon, everyone in the house should have some basic safety training. You don΄t need to know how to shoot the thing, but you do need to know that they are dangerous, what the three Gun Safety rules are, and how to handle the gun without setting it off.
And if you have anyone in the house who is at high risk for gun violence (like, say depression) it would not hurt to brush up on that in an age-appropriate and spoon budgeting way. For a little kid it might be having a backup safe adult to call, for an adult, perhaps actual mental health training.
Also, I believe other non male genders may have similar problems, both in regards to cisgender bigots-terrorists and with cops.
>>* Anyone who lives in wilderness with hungry macrofauna that won't hesitate to attack a human lair. That's a large chunk of America, although not so large a population of people. If you need to put nailboards on your porch steps to discourage bears, you need a loaded gun and the ability to hit a large target moving quickly or you are just meat.<<
One of the reasons I mentioned Alasa. I recall something about someone needing to do cultural trainings so that folks (visiting law enforcement, I think?) would not freak out about the local elders puttering around with anti bear quality rifles strapped onto their snowmobiles.
>>Consider the context. Do you have another place you could stay? You might prefer to do that. Are you taking shelter with a veteran during a time of mayhem? You will probably be a lot more comfortable with that gun than you would on the streets.<<
Context is important. Most likely, familiarity with the person, knowledge of their temperament, my headspace at the time, current social context, and miscellaneous other factors would play into it.
I am not enough of a stickler to refuse to associate with someone only due to their politics, hobbies, or past professions. I would consider if I feel safe with that specific person, and a big part of that is if we could have a respectful talk about my concerns, if need be.
Also, my comfort level might change depending on the group I am in. I would be more concerned about certain types of bigotry if traveling with someone who has a different set of privilege than I do...
>>People tend to forget the variables, and that starts a lot of arguments.<<
I know what answers are right for me, and I agree that they are not the right answers for everyone. If people are respectful-polite-whatever about it, that's good enough for me.
Also, I prefer polite discussion to arguments. Less stressful, and I might learn something!
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-10 09:26 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-10 10:27 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-11 12:59 am (UTC)Also, I hope the kids are doing alright.
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-11 04:02 pm (UTC)The kids wound up in foster care in Texas, Ugh.
Re: Hmm ...
From:Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-05 11:33 am (UTC)A place where it's necessary to sleep with a gun in arm's reach is not a place you want to be anyhow. 0_o
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-10 07:37 pm (UTC)Realistically, I /do/ think that sleeping in shifts would be a better idea if living in a warzone, though perhaps, for less volatile environments a safe kept in a bedroom that bolts from the inside would be a reasonable compromise.
I think part of the issue is that these sorts of (loud/cultural/political) arguments tend to be most obvious at the far ends, so we far more often hear about the no-guns folks squaring off against the folks who think saying its dangerous to store loaded guns in an occupied bed is "an infringement of my personal freedoms!"
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-10 08:19 pm (UTC)You need to consider two aspects:
1) What is the realistic likelihood of an unsecured gun going off an injuring or killing someone in the household? This is fairly high but also fairly stable.
2) What is the realistic likelihood of needing immediate access to a gun for self-defense? This is quite variable. In some places is approaches zero, in others it's a common occurrence.
You are looking for the point where the likelihood of a breach exceeds the likelihood of household injury.
And that's a key cause for the split. Among the people advocating for easy gun access and unsecured storage are some who have needed fast, personal defense whether due to military service or rough neighborhoods. Those who argue against them include people who have not lived in such situations and/or have experienced household injuries. Different lived experience commonly leads to "You don't understand what it's like, you haven't been there."
>> Realistically, I /do/ think that sleeping in shifts would be a better idea if living in a warzone,<<
It's better if you have the personnel for it, which is easy in a military unit, possible in a large household, difficult in a small one, and impossible alone. Most Americans now live 1-2 per household and almost never more than 2 adults.
>> though perhaps, for less volatile environments a safe kept in a bedroom that bolts from the inside would be a reasonable compromise.<<
Plenty of people do that. If they're going to harden one room in the house, it is either a bedroom or a safe room, and often a combination of the two.
>> I think part of the issue is that these sorts of (loud/cultural/political) arguments tend to be most obvious at the far ends, <<
That's true.
>> so we far more often hear about the no-guns folks squaring off against the folks who think saying its dangerous to store loaded guns in an occupied bed is "an infringement of my personal freedoms!" <<
Talk is just talk. Passing a law about it is an infringement on freedom. It is a law that would routinely be broken in rough neighborhoods and by veterans who can't fucking sleep without a weapon in immediate reach. Never pass a law that you know people will break, because that just teaches them to break laws. Most people will sensibly conclude that an unsecured gun is an unacceptable hazard and store the thing in a safe.
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-10 08:40 pm (UTC)I think you missed one - demographic risks. A black person is more likely to be killed for having a gun. A woman shooting at an abusive partner or ex-partner gets a harsher sentence than a man shooting at a burglar. Some groups are more prone to conditions or contexts that make guns riskier.
Now, I am NOT saying we should decide who deserves to have a gun based on demographics, but I /am/ saying that ideally people considering gun ownership would ideally consider the risk of these sorts of social complications for themselves and their families - the same way people would need to be careful about food when someone has allergies, for example.
>>And that's a key cause for the split.<<
I do recognize that different people have different needs, and that guns are more commonly useful in say, rural Alaska than in Honolulu.
At the same time, I do consider 'have a gun safe if guns are in the house /and keep the guns there/' to be a minimum safety requirement for /myself/ and I would be really upset if someone insulted me for having that personal boundary.
>>Talk is just talk. Passing a law about it is an infringement on freedom. It is a law that would routinely be broken in rough neighborhoods and by veterans who can't fucking sleep without a weapon in immediate reach.<<
Well... there are things where I would react to talk as an infringement on my freedom, and be far more upset about it than plain words would suggest. (Think people saying birth control should only be allowed for married people, for example.) So I can see where the feeling comes from.
That said, I want to feel safe too. So, that means a reasonable discussion of how to handle shared spaces, and maybe not going into a space that is set up in a way I feel is unsafe.
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-11 04:10 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm ...
From:Re: Hmm ...
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Date: 2025-01-11 04:20 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm ...
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From:Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-11 04:54 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2025-01-10 09:29 pm (UTC)And my friend was in Dallas, Texas, where EVERYBODY believes that they have to sleep with a gun nearby in order to protect their families against armed break-ins.
I have heard people claim that the Second Amendment means that every adult in the US is REQUIRED to own a gun. And I've also heard people say, "If you want to shoot a gun, join the National Guard.