THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
T R A V E L N O T E S
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THE BLACK PRESENCE IN THAILAND
| DEDICATED TO DONAL H. GODFREY |
TRAVELS IN THAILAND
My international travels in 1999 began and ended in Bangkok, Thailand. For this I am principally indebted to Donal H. Godfrey, to whom this brief essay is dedicated. Indeed, if not for Mr. Godfrey it is unlikely that I would have traveled to Southeast Asia at all last year.
The first trip to Thailand occurred in early March. It was a brief trip initiated by Godfrey's request that I come to Bangkok and lecture to the small Black community there. I gladly accepted his invitation. I really didn't know what to expect, but of course I was delighted to go, and after a thirteen hour flight from Los Angeles to Seoul, South Korea and a six hour connecting flight from there, I arrived in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, on March 1, 1999.
Bangkok, founded in 1782 by Rama I, is located in south-central Thailand. It is an extremely crowded, heavily urbanized, and densely congested city of about eight million people. Arriving as I did late at night, it seemed, in the dark, like any major city in America, Europe or Asia. My overall impression was that, on the surface, at least, people seemed very relaxed and friendly, and I didn't detect any overt racial prejudice.
My stay in Thailand was short but pleasant. I saw a lot of the city and all of the major sites, including the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. I also had quite a bit of fun. The food was good and, except for a little bit of excess celebrating upon my safe arrival, I never fell ill. My lecture was smooth, people said they liked it, and all parties concerned seemed reasonably content. The only real down side of the trip was what I perceived to be the raw sexual exploitation of Thai women, and I would be remiss if I did not report that all of the terrible things that I had heard about the infamous Thai "sex shops" are sad but true.
THE BLACK PRESENCE IN THAILAND
I came to Thailand fully aware that it is a country with an extremely ancient but little known Black population. Here I am referring to the forest dwelling people called Sekai, sometimes identified by the pejorative term--Negritos. These Black folks live in southern Thailand in the region straddling the border with northern Malaysia. I also realized early on that because of their location (a considerable distance from Bangkok), lack of advance preparation and limited time, the chances of my visiting them were not good..
Not getting to see the ancient Black people of Thailand was pretty much anticipated, and I didn't feel defeated. Perhaps in the future I will get to see them. After all, I plan to return to Thailand again and again. In addition to the Sekai, however, the Black presence in Thailand is apparent in the numerous images of the Buddha. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that only a very ignorant person or a bigot could look at these beautiful sculptures and not see Black people. The highlight, therefore, of my first trip to Thailand was the National Museum, where are housed some of the finest and most African looking Buddhist images in the world, particularly those going back to the cultural phase known as the Mon or Dvaravati cultural period when an independent kingdom flourished in southern Thailand from the sixth to the eleventh century. The Mon people, apparently highly Africoid, practiced Theravada Buddhism, and it seems that the present Thais adopted Buddhism from them. Indeed, more than ninety-five percent of the Thais today are Theravada Buddhists.
In regards to the physical appearance of many Southeast Asian images of the Buddha, as far back as 1883 African-American scholar George Washington Williams pointed out that:
"In the temples of Siam [Thailand] we find the idols fashioned like unto Negroes.... Traces of this black race are still to be found along the Himalaya range from the Indus to Indo-China, and the Malay Peninsula, and in mixed form through the southern states to Ceylon."
Even before Williams, in regard to the Buddha, Godfrey Higgins, in 1833, argued that "In the most ancient temples scattered throughout Asia, where his worship is yet continued, he is found black as jet, with the flat face, thick lips and curly hair of the Negro."
RETURN TO THAILAND
My second trip to Thailand in 1999, this time accompanied by a friend, occurred in late November. The trip was highlighted by a slide-presentation entitled African Contributions to the World, this time in the intimate setting of the Godfrey residence, and a side trip to the city of Ayutthaya. On this occasion the presentation was a rather lively one. I was much more relaxed than I had been at the March presentation, and the discussion lasted well into the early morning hours. It is encouraging to know that, all over the world, small groups of African people are discussing our history in a new light and with a new emphasis.
AYUTTHAYA
Ayutthaya is an island city on the Chao Phraya River and was the royal Thai capital from 1350 to 1767. It is the most important historical park within easy striking distance (about eighty-five kilometers north) of Bangkok. Prior to 1350, it was an Khmer outpost. Although sacked, looted and razed by Burmese invaders in the eighteenth century, the surviving ruins of Ayutthaya stand as profound witnesses to what was once a magnificent city.
Compared to the frenetic pace of Bangkok Ayutthaya is a quiet and soothing getaway. I have to say, though, that Black tourists are a rare sight in Ayutthaya. In fact, I didn't see a single one. Indeed, the Black community is extremely minute all over Thailand. This was obvious wherever I went. Fortunately, however, thanks in large measure to the Godfrey family (Donald Godfrey, his son Chris and mother Iona), Mr. Derrick Jeffrey (a Guyanese author currently residing in Patun Kani, Thailand), and the overall geniality of the Thai people, my travels were productive and rewarding, and Thailand is now firmly established in my travel plans to Asia.