Jamaica Home Sweet Home, the bad attitude capital

This is my personal response to the blog (www.schleicher.blogspot.com/2007/04/bad-man-culture.html) I also referred to it (albeit briefly) in my first blog entry.

Schleicher is perfectly right in at least two ways. (1) The Bad Man Culture needs to go. The sooner the better. (2) Jamaica was better a few decades ago, as he speculates.

Actually, there is an "Yu Owe Mi Someting" culture too, which also needs to be eradicated!

Let's start with the obvious. There are many youth on the street who beg me (and others) for money. If I do not give as requested, some get angry and express themselves with expletives, implying that I am not living up to my duty! Apparently, the privileged must give back, or else!This mentality indicates that they have not yet embraced Bob Marley's recommendation to "free ourselves of mental slavery."

Since I am of mixed heritage (often called 'browning'), I am assumed by many to be relatively rich. In some communities, I am also assumed by some to have foreign connections. Let me tell you about the most bizarre of my experiences that presents anecdotal evidence of my claim. As such, when I visited a Trench Town church with a friend of mine, G, about a dozen years ago, little children ran up to me begging me to "tek dem back with me to foreign." I told these very young children that I am Jamaican but they did not believe me, at least at first.

Some students at university who are required to do community service as a prerequisite for graduation (such as UTech, where I work) actually argue that this is a form of slavery; this position is trivializing that form of oppression. These students are not willing to consider that community service is helping the very country that is paying little over half of their university fees through taxes.

Many Jamaicans believe that the government or their elected official(s) owe them a lot - jobs or handouts or justice. However, their definition of justice is sometimes perverted - it’s not always on target. However, I must admit, Jamaica is filled with many injustices and unfair situations; change is long overdue. Just yesterday on the news, the Attorney General spoke about this very issue. Finally, Jamaica is planning to secure as well as automate some courts of law.

Does the government owe anyone jobs or handouts? I think not. We need opportunities for high quality education. Both the attitudes to school and the quality of formal education needs much improvment, in my opinion.

Having lived in the States (in the greater Philadelphia area) for just over eight (8) years, I see clearly that both countries have pros and cons. As Schleicher says, "the Jamaica I know is very different from Jamaica as Jamaicans know it." A Jamaican man that was mentioned in his blog was a bit off the mark in his assessment of the comparative violence and racism in both lands: Jamaica is more definately more violent than America; the statistics don't lie. However, Jamaicans are less racist than Americans in the main. (I will rephase the claims of the aforementioned man; he think that Jamaicans know no prejudices related to ethnic background.) I differ!

Jamaica is definitely racist, though most of us here are unwilling to admit it. Many Jamaicans assume that I am biased because my complexion is lighter than the average populace (called "browning"). How are we biased and racist? Many upper class citizens look down on the less privileged. In Kingston, downtown people feel cheated or angry or wary of upper town folk; moreover, they think they need "dons" to protect them since the police (apparently) wont or don’t. They feel that light skin is better than darker skin. Young people are bleaching their skin. If this is not racism of sorts, what is? Then there is reverse racial bias; some national are biased in their assumption that all middle class persons are contemptous of dark-skinned Jamaicans.

In short, many parts of Jamaica is not a paradise. Yet, I only want to live in Jamaica. But when I see the ads on American TV "Come to Jamaica", I wish I could visit that fairly tale land portrayed. For example, Port Antonio is perhaps the "best" parish for vacationing, amazingly beautiful. And Jamaica is a friendly people, who can almost charm anyone from anywhere. Jamaicans are definitely creative and able to "tun han’ mek fashion". Finally, Jamaicans are hardworking, especially when they migrate….

Of course, despite the obvious problems in "home-sweet-home", there are still many wonderful Jamaicans quietly making a difference. In my estimation, the major problem is that there are more nationals harming their communities (not just through crime and violence) than those helping the country. For example, "the recent spate of road fatalities which have claimed more than a dozen lives since Saturday, has brought to the fore the level of lawlessness which dominates our country in general, and the roadways, in particular." http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070504/cleisure/cleisure3.html

What are the solutions? In my mind, the most important changes need to happen in our parenting, our spiritual lives, the quality of education and our perceptions of the opportunities for business small and large right here in Jamaica. We also need a radical shift in our civic life, including an exponential increase in volunteerism, social graces and basic respect for each other.

Share your thoughts, if you will.