THE EDITOR, Sir:
WHAT DOES it feel like to be 40 years old Jamaica? If she could speak, I wonder what she would say. But Jamaica can speak because Jamaica is you and me - every citizen of Jamaica at home and abroad. I am writing though in response to a critical letter written by Rev. Fr. Leon P. Golding on August 6, 2002. In it he exposed the philosophy and outlook that has been at the root of life in Jamaica for these many years. He wrote and I quote, "Part of our problem is how can we truly celebrate freedom and independence when the vestiges of enslavement and colonialism are still with us. When the persons, laws, policies and structures, the form of rule that enslaved us are still with us? How can you celebrate freedom when the Master is still in charge."
I would dare to say that this is not part of the problem, but this is the root of the problem. We have a great problem when a large percentage of Jamaicans - both the man on the street, men of the cloth and intellectuals - are still struggling with our history of slavery. It seems that we are still not healed.
Many of us still truly believe that, and I quote Rev. Golding again, "we (cannot) not expect those who were once our slave masters, or their descendants, the children of the privileged, to speak with the passion of those who were once enslaved, or sing the heart's songs of freedom or to dance to the music of the soul. They would not encourage anything that could be interpreted as an indictment against them." This, to me is a direct indictment against all the Governors-General, Prime Ministers and venerable leaders of the past who themselves where descendants of slaves.
The truth is that deep in the hearts of many descendants of African slaves their seem to be a real distrust and perception that the struggle for freedom from slavery is not over. There seems to be for many the real conviction that "the slavemaster is just around the corner trying to control their lives."
I am of another conviction. I agree that we must not forget slavery. We must not forget nor belittle emancipation. We must acknowledge them as acts of God and he tells us in the Scriptures, "If the Son sets you free you are free indeed."
So unless we settle the issues of the past, bury them and forgive others of the past we will never embrace the future. Jamaica is not happy at forty because there is an older generation with much unsettled issues. We are still not sure who is Jamaican. I mean really "Jamaican." Is it the black man, brown man or China man? Deep in our heart we have not clarified the vision for the future because we are still trying to settle whether this is Babylon or not. Should we be repatriated or not.
Much of the frustration, anger and bitterness evidenced by the careless and carefree lifestyle of many of our young people is simply because they have inherited the pain of the unsettled past. Our fathers' hurts have become our chain. Such an approach to life is never productive, like the children of Israel, we will only go around in circles for many years. I know it is hard. I know that they try to stop our progress, but we dare not measure our progress by the challenges.
We must desire a place of healing. As Jamaicans we have been taking charge of our future for years now. Our leaders have not been pawns. They must take responsibility for their decisions and their actions. However, we cannot make wise and clear-minded decisions if we are still angry, upset and not healed from our past.
I am, etc.,
REV. PETER BURNETT
burnettpb1@aol.com
