08/14/2022
As of tonight Friday August 5th, 2022, and 60 years since Independence, “around 900,000 Jamaicans, a third of the population, live in squatter communities, or informal settlements.”
As of tonight 2/3 of Jamaica are unable to afford healthy meals.
As of tonight approximately 46,000 Jamaicans have been murdered since Independence. As of tonight our nation suffers the global ignominy of being a human killing field.
As of tonight approximately 40 % of all Jamaican students are unable to afford basic technology to attend online school.
As of tonight only 20% of Manchester residents have access to portable water. As of tonight this statistics reflect the harsh realities of many Jamaican communities across the length and breadth of our nation.
As of tonight a significant percent of Jamaicans live in communities where there are no useable roads.
As of tonight many schools and hospitals across Jamaica are severely dilapidated and under-resourced.
As of tonight Jamaica’s corruption index makes our nation one of the most corrupt nations in the world.
As of tonight many Jamaicans are unable to afford lifesaving medical care and indeed medicine.
As of tonight do we as a nation and as a people care for the elderly? For the mentally ill? For the homeless? As of tonight are we compassionate and empathetic?
As of tonight our nation is divided into two Jamaicas where we are either rich and privileged or poor and ostracized. As of tonight our Jamaican middle class struggles to exist. As of tonight our Jamaican middle class is an endangered species. As of tonight the existential threats that undermine our democracy and affront our shared human dignity remain unresolved. As of tonight Jamaica remains inextricably trapped in the vicious time capsule of colonialism.
Yes, there is doom and gloom because people are suffering and excruciatingly. Are we to pretend all is well in Jamaica? Or must we summon the courage to confront our harsh realities? Our collective shame? No great nation ascended to greatness by hiding from its past nor by ignoring the present. Who do we suppose would suffer the most should we ignore our collective truths as a nation? The rich and powerful or the “poor?”
Happy 60th Independence from the “poisoned” river banks of the polluted Rio Cobre. Happy Independence from the political garrisons of our nation’s capital home to the more than 300 gangs that terrorize our nation. Happy Independence from each Jamaican home where a little Jamaican boy or girl goes to bed hungry. Happy independence from the voiceless and the alienated and the ostracized and the marginalized and the forgotten Jamaicans.
Happy Independence from the mothers and fathers of missing children whom have not been found and many indeed murdered. Happy Independence from all of us who hope to see peace and prosperity and equal rights and justice become the reality for all Jamaicans.
What is the 60th to the Jamaican who has been marginalized and alienated and ostracized?
May God bless Jamaica land we love. May this generation of Jamaicans leave a legacy that posterity can be proud of. May we be spared history’s condemnation. May we become good stewards of our nation.
May we as a nation and as a people keep hope alive - after all, hope springs eternal. May we eradicate the evils of man-made poverty. May we develop human potentials and build a better and more “just” nation for all Jamaicans. May our aspirations for prosperity be predicated on a shared pursuit of peace. May we revere the sacredness of human life and protect the sanctity of human dignity.
May we develop a new national ethos and creed by which to exist and to which to subscribe. May our patriotism be rekindled. May our leaders be men and women of conviction and indeed principles.
While there are many accomplishments for Jamaica to be proud of, we must not ignore the place of inflection where we are as a nation. To ignore where we are as a nation would be tantamount to hypocrisy and some would argue a betrayal.
