{"id":157758,"date":"2026-08-09T15:57:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T22:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=157758"},"modified":"2026-08-09T15:57:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T22:57:29","slug":"funeral-of-sir-garfield-sobers-showed-the-cultural-erasure-of-black-africa-at-a-black-mans-funeral-in-barbados-a-sad-spectacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/08\/09\/funeral-of-sir-garfield-sobers-showed-the-cultural-erasure-of-black-africa-at-a-black-mans-funeral-in-barbados-a-sad-spectacle\/","title":{"rendered":"Funeral of Sir Garfield Sobers showed the cultural erasure of Black Africa at a Black Man’s funeral in Barbados. A sad spectacle."},"content":{"rendered":"

Senaka Weeraratna<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The funeral of Sir Garfield Sobers deserved also a Black African cultural send off. Blacks ( Garfield Sobers was not white) should move away from Eurocentric, colonial-era military and Western religious traditions. Incorporating explicit African drumming, rituals, or folklore would better honor the ancestral roots of the Afro-Barbadians and celebrate a figure who symbolized Black liberation and excellence on the global stage. It was sad to see the cultural erasure of the Black man at the funeral of a Black Man who brought glory and honour to the entire black community worldwide by his stupendous achievements on the playing field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlighted reply<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@SapphireAsterProductions<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

8 hours ago<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have made a valid point. We Afro-Barbadians and Caribbean people and the Diaspora more broadly still have a ways to go. Greater interaction with Africa may help to reduce the heavy European influence on our state funeral ceremonies. As it currently stands, state funerals in Barbados reflect a strong European influence, largely as a result of our colonial past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@SapphireAsterProductions<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

8 hours ago<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for your response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senaka Weeraratna The funeral of Sir Garfield Sobers deserved also a Black African cultural send off. Blacks ( Garfield Sobers was not white) should move away from Eurocentric, colonial-era military and Western religious traditions. Incorporating explicit African drumming, rituals, or folklore would better honor the ancestral roots of the Afro-Barbadians and celebrate a figure who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senaka-weeraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157759,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157758\/revisions\/157759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}