Jamaica...Land I Love

I've been a little more nostalgic than ever before, not so much for the days when my life was simpler but the days that Jamaican politics were simpler, a time I'm not sure ever existed. The media has declared Kingston, Jamaica to be a war zone, as the government called a State of Emergency on Sunday evening. The State of Emergency was called in fear of what the rotten underbelly or crime that monopolizes most of the Jamaican city would do to protect Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, a man some say is the equivalent of a mafia don, wanted by the US for charges of arms and drug trafficking.

As a proud Jamaican my heart has bled more than ever before for the country of my birth. Ever since I was little I've been warned by my parents and almost everyone else about Jamaica's criminal reputation, it's one of the reasons my parents chose to immigrate to Canada when I was eleven. There's a saying common to Jamaicans around the world that more Jamaicans live outside of Jamaica than in Jamaica. Sometimes I wonder if my parents did the right thing in moving, I know they tried to do their best by me and give me all the opportunities they felt I deserved, but did my parents and all the other people that have left Jamaica rape Jamaica of its human capital. If the majority of those that have the power to make change leave how can people expect the nation to become any better?

As criminals run rampant in the capital city of Jamaica blasting their AK-47's in the streets, stealing police cars and lighting police stations on fire, I wonder how it got this bad, how it came to be that one of the most beautiful places I have ever known has become a war zone, overrun by criminals that defiantly tell the world that the government and criminal justice system don't rule Jamaica, but that they do.

This is a pivotal moment in Jamaican history, my belief is that the corruption of the government and the infestation of crime that has been allowed to corrode the fibers of Jamaican life need to be wiped out and that we need to start from scratch. The last time such defiance was shown in Jamaican history was the slave rebellion, a cause that was clearly more virtuous than this.

Some Jamaicans have raised issues of state sovereignty, upset that the US believes that they can force the Jamaican government to extradite a national, the problem isn't that the US has imposed themselves, but rather that the Jamaican government has failed to fix this problem with an all too powerful crime lord that people seem to believe is above the law.

I will always love Jamaica, and with that I leave you with our National Pledge, a beacon of Jamaican promise that I believe that in all this chaos every Jamaican has failed to truly uphold.

Before God and all mankind,

I pledge the love and loyalty of my heart,

The wisdom and courage of my mind,

The strength and vigour of my body,

In the service of my fellow citizens,

I promise to stand up for justice,

Brotherhood and peace, to work diligently and creatively,

To think generously and honestly,

So that Jamaica may under God,

Increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity,

And play her part in advancing the welfare of the human race.

That's all she wrote...For Now