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Arturo Martinez—Interview with Drs. Spillman, Rogers, and Rousselle and Students Maricel Martinez, Gavin Lewis, Nordine Sekour, and Akira Atkins. (Interview was videotaped by Melvin and somewhat audiotaped). June 26, 2003
Melvin: Is there like an order or just?
Rousselle: No, random.
Rogers: Oh, because of the microphone
Melvin: I’m trying to pick up the mic.
Rogers: If we put it in the middle
Rousselle: Um, basically each one of us has a different focus, right? Um, and then, uh, did she talk to you about what we’re going to be doing with this information?
Arturo: She told me about teaching or something, or just um, making the New Orleans community aware of the cultural diversity here in New Orleans—that people are just so ignorant and lack of information and education about it.
Rousselle: Right, and then eventually we’d like to do a website, maybe write an article.
Arturo: Oh yeah, she did tell me that.
Rousselle: So are we ready to go? So who would like to go first?
Gavin: You mentioned something about querra (?)?
Melvin: Wait, wait, wait.
Rousselle: I’m going to move it completely off.
Rogers: Good idea. Let me tell you, Arturo, this is not for TV, this is just for us.
Arturo: Okay, you know I really don’t mind it, like I’m used to being on camera, like, I’m used to all this. That’s why I’m asking that because I worked for a year under editing. I was a photojournalist for the New Orleans Public School Board and all that stuff, so I’ve really kind of done a lot of stuff on TV and like I know when you’re going to do an interview, you kind of have to have a set of questions and you know you have to be ready to do stuff like that plus I’ve been at the radio here, la Fabulosa, and like.
Rogers: Oh you have?
Arturo: Not pretty much.
Rousselle: Here’s some Coke for you since you’ll be talking a lot and you might get thirsty.
Arturo: Coke, water, (laughs).
Spillman: The door, close the door. Well maybe you’ll want to start out with introducing yourself? We will just rotate. Have you started? When you roll, introduce yourself.
Melvin: Standby. Roll the tape. 5.
Arturo: Hey, mi nombre es Arturo Martinez, soy garífuna. Vivo en la ciudad Nueva Orleans. Tengo dos años y medio de estar aquí en Nueva Orleans. Un año y medio, he vivido un año y medio en Houston, Texas y todo eso.
Spillman: ¿Nos puede hablar un poco de qué hace Ud. en Nueva Orleans?
Arturo: Primeramente, lo que hago en la ciudad Nueva Orleans es getting involved with the HIV prevention for the Latino and Garífuna community and African American community because I think that’s, HIV and AIDS is something that has affected that garinagus in general, and it’s been really hard. It has really had a toll and impact on the Garífuna community. So that’s mostly what I do, I get involved with them, with the HIV Prevention.
Spillman: What’s the difference in Garinagu and Garífuna?
Arturo: Well, Garinagu is the general word. It’s the plurallized word—it’s describing a whole bunch of people. Garífuna is just one person—I’m Garífuna. Now if I was to describe the whole word Garífuna—if I was to say it in Garífuna, in the language itself, it would be Garinagu—it describes the plural self of Garífuna.
Spillman: Uh um, uh um. Tell us a little bit about your background.Arturo: My background, uh, it’s really kind of not really conflicting, but going back Garífunas trace their background to their mothers. It’s a very matriarchal society, and you don’t trace your background to your dad and everything, so I’ll start from my mother. Oh well, my parents, one of my parents, both of my parents were, my grandparents were born in Trujillo the same day and everything, my grandmother. It was a whole big difference because one was born in like the rich part of Trujillo, Cristales, and the other one was born in Río Negro and everything, it’s like a whole big difference. And then from that special experience, you know, they decided to move to Tela and everything, and then my mom to Puerto Cortez, then they met and they got married and blah blah blah, and they decided to live in Tela and settle down in Tela so I wasn’t raised in the Garífuna towns called aldeas. I was raised in the city itself, so therefore a big difference was that I do not know how to speak as fluent Garífuna, and I don’t understand as much words as my parents understand because they were raised in the aldeas while I wasn’t—I was raised in the city, still with the same Garífuna customs and traditions and things to uphold but with different lifestyle, a whole different thing, different background, uh, I had a better education than most Garífunas had in Honduras, uh, I had the privilege to just be, to have dual citizenship you know, something that a lot of people in Honduras just want to come to the U.S., and I had that privilege, and maybe when I was small I didn’t realize that, but now that I take it into consideration and am more mature about it, I start thinking, well, you know, I was a really really really lucky guy, you know, and I take a lot of pride in that and take a lot of pride in what my parents did with me, you know, in raising me. I wish I would have learned more Garífuna and everything, would learn how to speak it and write it like they could do it. And even though I can speak some words and I could understand some words, but I’m not as well-versed as they are.
Rousselle: Do you consider yourself more Garífuna or African American?
Arturo: Garífuna is a combination of African, South American, and everything, so to consider myself Garífuna I still consider myself in general African, uh, and American because that’s a mixture of Arawaks and Carib Indians and Africans and everything, so it wouldn’t really matter, you know. Garífuna, Garífuna status is just a whole mixture of stuff, you know. Garífuna is African American, uh, Garífuna is Africans and everything. Garífuna is Americans themselves, so I think, I think, the word Garífunas is in general, so it could either be African American, Garífuna, you know, or just American, whichever one, you know, really, I fluctuate and everything.
Rousselle: How do you feel about the term “Afro-Hispanic”?
Arturo: Afro-Hispanic, how do I feel about the term? Um, I think it’s a little bit conflicting, just like saying Hispanic and Latino because you know, a rose by any other name is a rose, a Latino by any other name, or a Garífuna by any other name is not that and everything, so, Afro-Hispanic-came from Africa, I’m from Africa or some kind of stuff like that, or my ancestors is from Africa or something like that. But, you know, it doesn’t really matter, you know, as long as it describes something, as long as it’s not something that’s going to stereotype me or just bring me into a column or into a label itself, you know, it doesn’t really matter. I know what I am, you know, I know what I stand for, and it doesn’t really affect me.
Rogers: How are you different from other Hondureños?
Arturo: How am I different from other Hondureños? Um, the fact that my parents, you know I really have to, I emphasize my parents because I know they gave me a better education. I went to Holy Spirit Episcopal School, the expensive school they had in Tela. Most other kids, most other Hondureños, did NOT go to that school. They went to public school. When I decided to just get out of the Holy Spirit, I went to a Catholic school, another expensive style, so I really was different in the education, the way I think. I’m more liberal; I still have some conservatism and everything because of my Catholic beliefs, but I’m more liberal than more Hondureños, more open to more stuff. You know, I’m open to a whole bunch of stuff that when I was in Honduras, I wouldn’t really think about it, so I think I consider myself different to Hondureños in the sense that, my frame of mind, how I think, you know, uh, who I relate to, you know, my social economic status that I have and everything, and then the educational background that I have.
Rogers: And not just you, but, say, how are Garífunas different from other Hondureños?
Arturo: How are Garífunas different from other Hondureños, other than Hondureños are native-born Hondureños and that they didn’t have to really struggle that much as Garífunas had to struggle to get to Honduras and everything. Because like, um, knowing the Garífuna history like I know. You know, we started peacefully, you know, okay, there’s a whole bunch of references like the people that they, the slaves that they had on the Spanish shipwreck, that I think happened in 163, 16-something, 1634, I think, I’m not really sure when the shipwreck happened. And then, you know, we sailed to St. Vincent, and that’s a whole big different thing, you know. We lived in St. Vincent, that’s, you know, where the Garífuna culture was really born. You know, it created itself, and then the British came, and you know, French, we’re living in peace with the French and everything you know. We adopted the French culture, well not really the French culture, but the French language and everything because the language, the Garífuna language has suffered a lot. So then the British came, you know, and there’s like created a whole French conflict, and okay, we lose the war. They send us to this island named or whatever the name of it is. And then from there a year after they ship us to Roatán where we just migrated, well everybody migrated to Trujillo, and then, you know, spread it there. So that’s a big difference from there. First of all, we were not slaves as they thought we were. You know, the Garífuna culture was created itself out of slaves, but the Garífunas themselves were not slaves, and when they got to Honduras they were not slaves. They, they made the city of Trujillo great and defended it, you know. So I think we’re really different in the sense of mind that we live in the coast, we have different traditions, we have different culture, uh, we have different cooking and everything. We cook a lot with coconut and everything, like, and we do a whole bunch of stuff different than Hondureños do and everything, and most of all, we have a different language. You know, we speak Garífuna. Well, you know, and then, it’s easier for a Garífuna to know and to learn another language because of the Garífuna language itself than for an Hondureño to learn English. They always ask me that, well you know, even though I went to an English/French bilingual school, but my parents, it was like, they always asked, “well, how did you learn English if you didn’t go to school?” Well, you know, English is closely related to the Garífuna language and everything, so you already have the little tongue-twisting thing in the Garífuna language, so it’s really easier for a Garífuna to learn any other language than for a Hondureño, would be, to learn another language. So that’s a big major difference.
Nordine: So, how was your childhood, uh, not living in the Garífuna town?
Arturo: Believe it or not, it was, I had a wonderful childhood. And, until I was exposed to like the Garífunas themselves I really didn’t miss nothing because I have a cousin, I have a cousin who used to take me there. She was a teacher, she’s a nun now. She used to teach us the Garífuna towns and everything, and I used to go with her every day, so I really didn’t miss nothing. The only thing different was, you know I wasn’t able to relate to other Garífunas as good or speak the language as good, you know, as they did, or write it because I wasn’t living with them. But I was well known, ah, I was really well known. My family is well known where I used to live and still know in New Orleans. A lot of people in New Orleans know, Martínez, Castro, and everything, that I’m related to, and so it really did not make a whole big difference and everything. My parents and my family exposed me to everything I needed to be exposed to: traditions, customs, rules to follow, and everything, rites, ceremony rites. I was exposed to the dugú, dogu, and everything, um, like that so I didn’t miss it, you know. And, now that I’m grown, so I say (laughter), uh, when I go back to Honduras, and everything, I always go to the aldeas and everything, you know. It’s no big difference, you know, other than sometimes I have to go “What is she saying, you know? Is she saying this, what I think she’s saying” and stuff like that because I’m not sure, but I know I understand, so it wasn’t no big difference. It’s cool.
Rousselle: Do you, uh, practice the dugú?
Arturo: Believe it or not I do. Uh, I do, not to say I practice the dugú because it’s not a religion to be practiced. It’s a rite and it’s a ceremony you do whenever the belief, it’s requested, or whenever you have any spiritual problems, or whenever just something comes up in your family, you’re like, “Okay, why is this happening?” So you know, the belief is that a spirit or a family member is requesting a dugú and everything, and most of the time it’s done every year to appease the spirits and everything. And I do practice it, you know. If there was to be one in Hondruas right now, all of our family would have to go because that when, you know, we get united, you know that’s a reuniting thing.
Maricel: So you’ve been to one before?
Arturo: I’ve been to one when I was small. I’ve been to one. I still remember it and everything. I had so much fun because I believed I couldn’t go to sleep all day. All day I slept. I was ready just to go out at night and just watch people play cards, drink gifiti and a whole bunch of stuff. I enjoyed it, and I couldn’t leave because you are not supposed to leave the place because the spirit might come and get you or whatever (laughter). It was just really fun. You know, I had a lot of kids my, you know, my grandmother, my family were explaining why we were doing this and everything. And I said, “Well doesn’t that come in conflict with the Catholic religion?” “No, you know, Catholics allow you to do that, you know. And that’s something I appreciate about being Catholic, you know. They make, they let us intermingle our religions and our ceremonies with Catholicism. The equivalent to a dugú here is a Mass to the Spirit. , you know, to the dead one, uh, every year. And that’s our dugú here. Like if I couldn’t go, you know, just offer a Mass to that particular person that, you know, is bothering me, or just, you know, that is asking for it.
Spillman: Or the Feast of All Saints.
Arturo: Or the Feast of All Saints, yes.
Spillman: When I first started hearing about the dugú, it reminded me of the Feast of All Saints.
Gavin: When did you come to the United States?
Arturo: When did I come to the United States? Umm I was always here…well I came when I was 2 and everything cause I had to get my citizenship and like they were bothering my dad; “Well, you know if he is going to get his citizenship he has to come to the U.S.”, and everything and they told me the next time I came to the U.S. was when I was 6 to New Orleans which I DID NOT LIKE THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS when I was six and everything I swear and I vowed myself I was not gonna be living here and blah blah blah but actually it did not change (move) (laughing) and then you know it was like 1998. I decided to just move, make a little move from Honduras because my friends were like, um, …” O.K., you are a citizen of the U.S.and you’re a citizen of Honduras. You are like losing a whole bunch of privileges in just staying here. You just go for vacation.” Yeah I like Honduras you know and I also like Houston too well some were like “I think you should go and everything--go study with them; go experience a new thing. “well I’m gonna come! I decided to make a decision and my parents approved of it. I went to 1998-1999 did my middle school in Houston ,Texas and Sugar Land, Texas and that’s when I really came and started living here and after that my mom moved and everything from Honduras to here to New Orleans. And they are like, “ ya’ lil’ sister needs help. Me and ya’ dad, I don’t want to be lonely. Your dad works on the boat and everything so you’re gonna have to come and move here. “ Oh My God I have to go to that city! I have to go to New Orleans! I talked and talked and I broke it down. :Look, I don’t like the education in New Orleans and everything and I don’t like this and blah blah but I did not have a choice (I was not (of) age and everything) . They told me, You are coming here regardless (of whether) you like it or you don’t !” And I ended up here.I’m not gonna say that I love the city it self. No, because I will be lying. I’m adjusting to the city; I’m coping with it (laughing). I’m adapting to a whole lot of stuff that New Orleans has to offer. I believe it is a wonderful city; I like the mixture of French and Spanish and everything and English and I love that-- I love the history
Rousselle: What do you like least about New Orleans?
Arturo: What do I like least about New Orleans? You’re copying, maybe?
Arturo: How people talk, for God’s sake….maybe because of the education that I got about talking proper English and being well born and not using the word conversation and instead of using converse. A common--and is just the way people talk. And just like how lack of knowledge they have on a whole bunch of stuff; how close minded they can be, just as they can be open minded. They can be so closed-minded to some stuff. And for God’s sake, you know, if you see you self walking and they just look at you. If you walk with somebody who is not your color, well, you see black people intermingle with Latinos and Latinos walking with somebody who is Caucasian; and you know it is just a whole big multicultural thing. Maybe because the city is bigger and even though you could be--I’m not gonna say ghetto--but you know, I’m gonna say common. They still have that education, you know, like maybe New Orleans is just such a colorful city (laughing). A perfect example: my friend Mike is just so many (stuff) but I’m liking it.
Spillman: So what kind of relationship you have with other Garífunas in the community of New Orleans
Arturo: What kind of relationship with the Garífuna community? When I came here I decided to back away from the Garífuna community and everything and part of it was advice from my cousin and part of what I knew from the Garífuna community. If you are successful in the Garífuna community, believe it or not, there will be somebody who will try to put you down and they will do any kind of stuff or any kind of stuff. I include the work of witchcraft
Maricel: Voodoo?
Arturo: Voodoo, spiritual stuff, spiritual work --believe it or not. (About) everything the Garífuna are very superstitious and they believe in that and ummm, I kind of back away from it. And then again due to the fact that I’m gay, I decided to um, I did not want to bring any kind of shame. I don’t want them to talk about my parents and stuff like that so I kind of back away. And then I have a lot of friends –well, my parents have a lot of friends and they are like, “Were is Arturito? Why doesn’t he come to the fair like…? ,And I always make up an excuse not to go and dance Punta. And (once) I met Maria Arzú… Well, I decided to… you know, Dr. Spillman …I’m letting the privileged people win. I decided, well, no! I’m not gonna do that. (so) I decided to get involved. Plus, you know the HIV AIDS epidemic has hit close to my family and I used to work in Honduras in la Causa de Centro de Salud en Tela, for that and it really affected me a lot. And I don’t want to see a lot of Garífunas dying; I don’t want to see people dying just because of AIDS and HIV. Well, right know I have a really close relationship. I was telling you before, I was not that close. But know I’m starting to do more and go to more activities that they have been doing. They know me in the community and everything and they know that I did the radio show. They know a whole bunch of stuff about me. They think I’m really successful for my age and for what I have done because not a lot of the Garífunas get to accomplish (what I have), to work for the government like I do. I feel really proud to say that I’m really close to the Garífuna community right know because I know they believe, they confide in me, they have that trust in me and I say I’m not gonna defarar los. I’m not going to bring them down and I’m gonna do my best to keep the Garífuna honor up and to keep all the trust that they have put in me regardless of my sexuality because most of the people told me and my mom told me, “We do not tell you; we do not judge on who you date and who you are with. We only worry about how successful you are and how social you are,” and I’m a very social person.
Rousselle: So is that one of the reasons why you do not like New Orleans? Do you consider New Orleans to be homophobic?
Arturo: In apart I do consider new Orleans to be homophobic, but then what other city isn’t? You know, and stuff like that. Sometimes you just have to cope with it, and I’m coping with it and everything. I hear a lot of people that are homophobic in Houston too, but you know, it was like they were respectable( Laughing) I can say they were respectable homophobic and everything (laughing). They will not tell me nothing that will offend me. They will say their gay bashing comments and everything but it will not be as harsh and bad as New Orleans. New Orleans takes it to the extreme, believe it our not. I have been to New York. I have been to a whole bunch of places and cities and they don’t take it to that extreme as I see here in New Orleans.
Rousselle: Do you consider the Garífuna city to be homophobic? Our do you have problems with…..?
Arturo: Um in part no and in part yes. The word for homo (homo) homosexual in Garífuna is medusa (Laughing) and I really don’t like it; believe it or not, I really don’t like it…it sounds so ugly and so bad but (laughing) sorry! I just don’t like that word but I don’t think Garífunas are homophobic themselves. Why do I say that? I date a lot of Garífunas and everything and then like I say when I was in Houston I did not have to disclose my status. I did not have to disclose who I was and everything; they accepted me. We did not talk about it. It was a taboo and everything, but it was there and they never told me anything. And I work a lot with the community and I talk to a whole bunch of people and everything that are of different religions and not Catholic and everything and they never approach me in that way. And you know, I didn’t consider them to be as extremely homophobic. They may have their little comments and everything, but they will not bring it upon the other person. They will not bring it upon another garínagu like they say it.
Gavin: You’re in school now?
Arturo: I’m in school at Abramson School. I haven’t graduated yet, but I plan to go into psychology and international relations and everything because I do think that a lot of the women and a lot of the ladies over there in Honduras do need a lot of help and everything. I consider myself that sometimes you do not need a man to be happy and I think they need to realize that; but then again that goes all (the way) back in the culture that will be like trying to change a whole bunch of communities, a whole bunch of beliefs and everything (laughing). I do think I believe in helping and I believe that, you know, if I can change one person, if I can get their life better as a psychologist and talk to them and listen to their problems and help them solve their problems on there on their own I will be making a big difference.
Rousselle: You said something really interesting. You said you would like to go back to Honduras and help the women there because you feel like they rely too much on men. Can you speak to that a little bit?
Arturo: Well I’m not gonna say that they rely too much on men, because most of the time the Garífuna ladies are the household. They run the household; they take care of the children, they do the cassava bread, and when (the men) come from fishing, they clean the fish. It is basically run by them, but then again, when it comes to a big decision it’s the man that takes it and everything. It is not diplomacy, it’s a singular part. This is what I go and this is what I say and that’s what I really want to do to help them. You can be self sufficient and everything. Like I say, if you are cooking coconut bread, you know, you can do that for a living. You’re gonna do hair? You have to apply yourself to that. You think you have to have that man there to help you, to make you feel safe and feel secure. Well, you can actually succeed yourself. Maybe it’s gonna be a little hard, you know, you’re gonna have trouble. I'm not saying it’s gonna be easy but I'm telling you , you’re gonna make it.
Spillman: Do you see the same thing happening um here in the Garífuna culture here in New Orleans?
Arturo: Believe it or not, not much. One, when you come to the United States, women and girls, whatever, boys, whatever and everything, and you know, male and female, you change a lot. Women become more independent and everything, and the reason is because the traditional household no longer fits the needs. When you are in your native country, whenever you’re in Honduras, Belize, or wherever, maybe Guatemala, there is only one person working and that is the man. The women may do the little chores and everything, but it’s not considered work. When you come to the United States, you need to have two people working in order to have a decent living, just to be middle class and not be below middle class, and just to sustain a family. You know you have to have two (members of the) household working, not unless you have a really great job, but being Garífuna or latino it is really hard to get a great job and everything so it changes a lot. You know, one of the things I still observe in the family and in a lot of family households, the women always tell everything to their men and everything, to the guy to the husband from whatever went on and even though I said I wouldn’t do it, to my boyfriend. I tell him everything (laughing) and maybe it’s just encoded in me. I'm just so used to it. It is just the tradition; I don’t want to do this. I want to be a little more independent. I do not want to tell him everything but I still do it. But when you come here it changes a lot; the women become more independent. they start speaking their minds more. They become more powerful and maybe that’s a money thing. (Laughing) They are making dollars and not lempiras (our pesos).
Nordine: So how do people look at them when they go back to Honduras vacation or anything, you know?
Arturo: Well, they look at them—well, if you live in the United States you must be rich and balling. But what is the problem with that? The people that live here that pay for the misperception--we will not tell them that they have to work; … “You have to do this; you have to go to work every day and everything.” And when we go over there, we go with jewelry and yeah, we bring, we try to bring the whole United States to Honduras or to whatever place and give it to the whole town. (laughing). Well, you know, they think about it like, “Oh, Lord, I have to go to the United States! Look how they are living!” Little does that person know that, O.K. I did not pay the bill; my credit card is on the max and everything. Or they look at you like you’re successful. They look at you as a rich person and everything. “Oh yeah, he balling, yeah…” and then we send name brand stuff to a relative. And then, you know, “Oh yeah, see what he got me!” Oh yeah, it is just a whole misperception. You know, people don’t really know what really goes on here. They really don’t know, and that’s hard, because I know the Garífuna likes to shop for gold and all kinds of shades and everything. Then if they really, specially the men, if they really have a nice job on the ship, they will give it to anybody. “I only have this gold chain; oh I need to go to the U.S.; I need to go to the U.S. I need to get me some gold chains.” It is a whole bunch of stuff; you know, they will look at you as a most respectable person. You have seem to have climbed up the social ladder and everything. Everybody wants to be kind of your friend; you know, everybody wants to be close to you and everything. And when you leave, …” oh, me puedes traer esto? can you take this letter to this particular person and everything? Little do they know that you have to buy the stamp (laughing), and maybe is not just a 37 stamp; it is a whole big package yu will have to mail (laughing)! It is like a big package that will have to be mailed, so they look at you as a powerful person, even though you may not be as powerful and as successful as others there in Honduras. You may be rich over there in Honduras because the dollar multiplies over there, A dollar here is just a dollar; a dollar over there is just 17 lempira, so they look at you as a more powerful person. You know, you climbed the ladder. You are more educated; you know they know more about me than I know!
Gavin: What are some things you notice about schooling in Honduras (that are different from) the United States?
Arturo: Well I was really hoping you would really get into that. So, they’re always telling me, “Arturo, why are you so smart?” I'm not just smart. I apply myself. You all give me photocopies and stuff. You know, over there I had to copy from the boring copy book (laughing.). Here they just copy stuff and you know I barely had to write here. No, just copy from the book and everything. Over there the teacher was writing at the board. She was dictating. All you had to do was learn how to write the education down. Here is better. It’s better because we have A.C and not just the 4 winds! (laughing) It’s better because we have a class and we may have lights and it’s not just the daytime, the sunlight and everything, so when it comes to studying and doing work it’s harder over there. You have to struggle more. You have to do a whole bunch of stuff. You have to copy and I think that’s in every life. In American countries the only difference is in the U.S. They are always asking, “How come a lot of Latinos do good (sic) in school?” That’s before two parents started working and they started working on the whole fitting-in cliché. They always did good (sic) and everything and it is just because of this that I was such… “You all don’t go to nothing here. It is just easy here; I find everything easy here you know just copy a few questions from the book not even copy the question-- just copy the answer. Oh, for God’s sake! I'm in glory! It’s like I'm happy here and everything. (Here we) use a calculator where you had to use your brain over there. To sneak a calculator between your legs--do something like that and it is better because of the room and the A.C and stuff like that. It is an opportunity you get free lunch. No, over there you don’t get free lunch and I see people throwing lunch and don’t appreciate lunch and just throwing food--uh I don’t like throwing food away. We don’t like throwing—Garínagu--we don’t like throwing food away. Believe it or not, because we always think of them other countries. We always go back—well, one of these persons in Honduras--this relative, this person I know—maybe starving and I'm throwing this food away and everything. So going back to the education--it is easier here and is harder there. The accommodations are better here in the U.S and in our country, our the native country, it is a whole big thing, you know
Rogers: We can tell that you are not the regular guy in a very specific sense. Do you think other young people your age, our young people in general--do they have the same enthusiasm, knowledge and desire to perpetuate the culture or is just only you? How do you describe other young people who like you are Garífuna?
Arturo:: Well we are talking about New Orleans. I will describe it as (well, as much as I am a little bit) more because they talk about it--you know they talk the language and they dance Punta. I barely barely dance Punta. I don’t like for somebody to move my hips and everything like that (laughing) and they will do it, and everything. I’m pretty shy when I go to festivities you know--let’s go dance and (END OF INTERVIEW)