The year of the Green Monkey (A case study)

Who are we creating for?

2022 with seats and moving (on the Reggae bus) lol

the Green Monkey, A case study

Happy New Year, it’s 2022!!!!!

We’ve all heard of the Chinese New Year where the significance of each year is determined by one of the 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac. In fact this year, 2022, is the year of the Tiger. Even though in the region we can boast of significant Chinese populations I’m not going to talk about the year of the Tiger. In the West Indies, I am claiming the year 2022 as the Year of the Monkey, the Bajan Green Monkey. The Year we start putting our foot down and shouting from the roof tops “This is Wi culture!”.. and we’re not changing it (anymore) to make you happy.

Why the Green Monkey you may wonder. If you have been keeping up with Made in the West Indies (if not you still have time to right this grievous wrong) you will find a recurring theme. Which is; we need to take a more active role in how we are portrayed and like many cultures before us and around us, teach the world the nuances of our society and way of life. In order for us to start designing, branding and promoting creative work that is a better reflection of our likes and dislikes as a people. Not what we currently create which panders to the last remaining fragments of Touristy-Caribbean-Culture, which is clinging to relevancy like the US Cavalry at Custer’s Last stand.

I digress, let’s get back to the Monkey. In the 1990’s we added the Green Monkey Character, later to be known as the Bajan Green Monkey, to our folk character canon. However, like all other folk characters, whose creation stories have nothing to do with tourism including the Bajan Green Monkey, it made its way into the tourist circuit. Over the years though and especially in more recent times the Bajan Green Monkey Character has slowly but surely received push back with the local hotel community and what I will call misguided race sensitivity.

Let’s cut straight to the chase, de men saying the Green Monkey Character is racist and making their guests uncomfortable. It reminds them of blackface and when most likely their ancestors (or not necessarily “their” ancestors cause they always “got a black friend”) referred to black people as apes. So here’s the thing, are we now going to have to suffer from white guilt too? Haven’t we suffered enough? Can we just have our culture please and teach you about it when you get here? Cause if you can sing “Circle of Life” with Rafiki, you can leave our monkey alone.

It’s the usual story of a dominant culture trying to adjust the world to their expectations. Like how one guest at a local hotel wanted to kick up a fuss because there was no special event on Christmas Eve, how backwards of us. Sweet girl, we does be cleaning de house Christmas Eve. We’ll meet you at Hilton for Lunch on Christmas day though. (Visitors, please make even the most basic attempts to know where you’re going. #JustSaying).

If you’re NOt Seeing a Monkey The Problem is you not me…

Let’s flip open a page of National Geographic, shall we? In Barbados, we like to claim The Green Monkey as our own, but a little research (not from national geographic lol) tells us they can be found in West Africa and the Cape Verde islands just off the coast of Africa. Thanks to the middle passage they made their way as stowaways on Slave Ships to the West Indies taking up residence in St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Martin and Barbados. So we have established the Green monkey is a real living creature like the lions in Lion King (there’s a reason why I keep referencing this, you’re probably picking up why but we’ll get to that), not a historical character but thanks to their presence and the phrase “naughty monkey” existing in Bajan parlance they are definitely a cultural character.

Depictions of the Green monkey have made their way into our art, music, home goods, children stories and toys, golf courses and some of the best tasting chocolate you’ll ever eat. You name it, they’re there. They can be very naughty creatures, plaguing local farmers and stealing fruits off your trees. The ones in St. Kitts & Nevis are known for stealing alcohol directly from tourists’ glasses on the beach. These creatures, with more personality than a drag queen on pride day, have received the highest honour; immortalised forever as an acrobatic, equally as mischievous dramatis persona!

“Naughty Monkey”, Where DiD the Character Come From

In the 90’s Crop Over was 150% BAJAN. The stage presentations; concept and execution could rival anything seen at an NFL playoff halftime show (within budgetary reason of course). The internet was still too young to be a source of inspiration and all ideas created were unique, fresh and excitingly homegrown. In this atmosphere, the Bajan Green Monkey as the newest folk character was born.

In folk character history the Bajan Green Monkey is indeed the youngest. Created in the year 1993 to be exact. It was made specifically for Red Plastic Bag’s Pic-o-De-Crop presentation for his song “Monkey Business”, as the lyrics go “It could be a monkey”.

Hubby as a Green Monkey loooong before we got married (or were even aware of each other lol). Photo Credit: Tradewinds conference 2017

The legacy of Robert Weekes, Grand Daddy of Crop Over Performances

Let’s take a step back, we can’t talk about the Green Monkey Character without introducing Robert Weekes; the father of Bajan entertainment and modern Crop Over presentations as we know it. A lot of the modern entertainment and execution of what we consider marketable Bajan culture can be laid squarely at the feet of a man who has been forgotten. Just to list a few of the things he’s done:

He made stilt walkers an actual act.
He was the style mind behind the ever beloved Alison Hinds and John King performance of “Hold you in a Song” for the Caribbean Song Contest as well as dressing many other calypsonians for the stage.
He open the “new” Kensington Oval back in the day when it received its first makeover.
He opened the deepwater harbour aka (de port).
He worked with dancers and created stage productions across the island upping the level of our entertainment to Cirque du Soliel before they were a thing.

In short, we can thank him for party monarch, soca royale… whatever it’s called now level of performances. It is truly a pity that only those in the “biz” can recall his name and contributions also can we shout out the 90s in Barbados? It was a time of cultural renaissance.

...But Back to Green Monkeys

It was the partnership of this man, Robert Weekes and Michael Taitt the father of the acrobatic shaggy ( the character only became acrobatic after Michael Taitt reimagined the African witch doctor) which created this whole new solely Bajan character! The Green Monkey was brought to life through physical acting, and acrobatic skill which was Lion King Level work way before Lion King brought the Serengeti to theatres. For reference, the animated film came out in 1994 and the Broadway musical production debut in 1997. Just a reminder Red Plastic Bag’s performance was in 1993.

So beloved (or pesky depending on if you own a mango tree near a gully) the Green Monkey character became a staple in local cultural displays with early iterations seeing performers covering their skin in blackened makeup to embody the black face (not changing that to dark face, the monkey’s face is black) of the monkeys. Like the steel pan in Trinidad, this folk character was born in the 20th century. The Character’s history was never entangled with slavery or plantation history. It is a post-emancipation invention speaking solely to the fun of our natural environment. In song, its creation used to highlight the double entendre of social commentary at its finest.

However we’ve reached an impasse, it’s no longer the 90s, the internet has entered the chat and we are inundated with global opinions through the pours. Where does the green monkey fit in this new world? Should that even be a question? Should we even have to consider that as a question in our own countries?

What the Green Monkey Isn’t... The story of Blackface & Zwarte Piet

Let’s start with the issue, the Green Monkey character usually performed by a black acrobat/actor in a monkey suit, using physical performance to embody the creature he represents, causes disquiet to some international visitors. These are usually European and North American mostly caucasian visitors. Sometimes, you may get the odd issue being raised by another ethnic group.

Why? Well, let’s use as a short case study a unique character from the Netherlands, Zwarte Piet. I like the example of Zwarte Piet because he is a beloved Netherlandish childhood character who is the epitome of playfulness and joy with just a touch of naughtiness. Sound similar to the Green Monkey right, but that’s where the similarity ends. Zwarte Piet is born out of racism and attempts at ethnic dominance. He is a product of the Netherlands very complicated past.

Zwarte Piet, a brief history. Zwarte Piet, in dutch directly translates to Black Pete. Black Pete is a blackface character who up until very recently, as in the 2000s, was a major staple of Dutch Christmas celebrations. Black Pete is the black slave/servant/assistant (depending on how PC the person describing him wants to be) of Sinterklaas, also known as Saint Nicholas or the dutch version of our western Santa Claus. Pete is dark-skinned, has woolly hair, wears gold hoop earrings, red lips and did I mention is always played by a white person fully dressed up in all these accoutrements down to the black makeup on their faces and afro wigs on their heads.

Historically Black Pete is supposed to be a Moor from Spain (the dark-skinned Muslims who inhabited the region before the Europeans) who as Sinterklass’ “assistant” was tasked with carrying St. Nic’s packages as well as the punishment portions of the jolly old dude’s duties. This was beating naughty dutch children with switches and taking away their presents. As can be expected this character inspired terror in many young European children and continued to perpetuate the sense of servitude and otherness towards anyone with dark skin from his introduction into their Christmas canon in the early 1800s. In present times there has been decided push back against the character, going as far as the UN to remove the blackface version of the Zwarte Piet from all Dutch Christmas celebrations.

Jumping across the pond and fast-forwarding to the late 18th and 19th centuries in North America we find minstrelsy where white actors dawned blackface makeup to depict black people, a practice seen as late as the 70s. From Europe to the USA blackface characters have been used to normalize negative stereotypes and portrayals of black people.

So there’s the rub. On the surface, our Green Monkey character seems to have some elements in common with characters like Black Pete and the antics of minstrelsy. However, there could be no greater difference between them than chalk and cheese.

Do we Need the stamp of the Mouse?

Have you seen Disney’s The Lion King? Honestly, we all have in some form or fashion. If not live on stage, either in pictures on google search or The Circle of Life opening performance on youtube. This is a group of predominantly black performers who don elaborate makeup, award-winning costumes and critically acclaimed masks to bring Africa’s wildlife to life on stage.

Doesn’t this sound vaguely like the description of what the green monkey is (minus all the awards, the full marketing department and the super massive budget of the Mouse House)? So what is it? Why would the same visitors who rave when they see Rafiki in The Lion King then cringe when confronted with the Bajan Green Monkey? Is it because Rafiki has the stamp of an internationally recognised brand that has somehow been able to determine what is palatable and PC, and has been able to proclaim it from every rooftop, amusement park and VCR as family-friendly across the globe?

in conclusion

The story of the Green Monkey is the bigger story of Caribbean West Indian representation and the fallout that is starting to take place as we make greater strides in sharing our personal stories. Maybe all this just points back to how we have promoted our culture… are we still here solely to entertain or do we now educate?

Do visitors come here to learn about us or just to see their own ideas of us reflected back at them? Nothing is inherently wrong with tourism, but where do you draw the line when catering to their “needs”? With the Bajan Green Monkey, we have never bothered to build the ethos and magic that surrounds this character just like we haven’t bothered with many other aspects of our life. We have left it open to misinterpretation, misrepresentation and comparison - like the Green monkey to blackface and minstrelsy. No one will ever make that comparison to a well known global franchise like Disney.

If Disney signed off tomorrow on the Green Monkey it would be the next big thing (even though they haven’t gotten away with their own racial misrepresentations but due to their size and global influence they are very good at sweeping it under the rug)! All this means is we need to become our own storytellers and not rely on international magic makers and global storytellers like Disney, Hollywood and International Tourism agencies to curate our list of what is culturally appropriate. It’s Wi Year! It’s Wi Time!

Thank you for taking this case study journey with me (these are the things I seriously think about lol)… Happy West Indian New Year!