Sean Major-Campbell | Silence is not an option

The hypocrisy of silence may be louder than we realise. We are quick to express concerns about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the invasion of Venezuela by America while being complicit with a lack of accountability in our own country. We abhor the death of innocent people but remain quiet when poor, powerless, voiceless Jamaicans are at risk of losing their lives at the hands of the State.

The commissioner of police is correct in warning would-be terrorists not to meet the police with violence! Police personnel are people too. They are our children, parents, grandparents, guardians, caregivers, and protectors of the law. An attack on the police is an attack on the State. However, it is okay to ask the protectors of the law to refrain from being breakers of the law.

Somewhere in the conversation, “bringing them to justice” may easily get conflated with “killing them if they are suspects”. Christ-consciousness calls for justice that recognises the evil powers at work within the system. Liberation theology invites the recipients of an oppressive system to reshape the mentality that protects power structures which silence and harm the weak. Interestingly, both the police and the citizens are at risk of being destroyed by such a system.

The police also come from the womb of the poor and powerless. They are at risk of being numb with a false sense of power, as they sometimes hurt their own fellow citizens. When the system cannot get away, the police personnel then end up paying the price. Meanwhile, the rest of us get to be spectators where very few get condemned for speaking out; while the many who feel immune to such volatile situations remain silent.

Let us beware of accepting a false sense of comfort and therefore acceptance of police fatal shootings as the cause for a reduction in criminal fatal shootings.

Some of the same silent folks are quite vociferous in calling for CARICOM leaders to speak out on the US-Venezuela crisis. Many believe that Russia should be challenged to withdraw from Ukraine. And, like good Christians, many of us are angry about the suffering caused upon oppressed people across the globe. Haiti is an exception, though. We fail to see how history and neocolonial forces continue to ensure division in the Greater Antilles. Division through language, politics, and geopolitical plays, rolls on.

To call for accountability and the use of body-worn cameras locally is to find yourself on the side of those who get labelled as “police haters”. To express concern about the increase in the number of police fatal shootings is to invite condemnation by hypocritical masses who fail to see that it is okay to support the police while advancing human rights policing. And there are those for whom such concerns are only understood through JLP or PNP lenses. Oh, that we would get that this is about our Jamaica!

Guess who you most resemble as you condemn human rights agents. Guess who you most resemble when you want to see human rights organisations silenced. And guess what is happening with human rights across the globe where authoritarianism and unbridled state power reign supreme.

The world is shocked as many ‘Christian Nationalists’ in the United States (and their sycophants in the Caribbean and around the world) do biblical references about love while doing the very opposite in the way they treat the foreigner, the immigrant, the other. Jesus, speaking in Matthew 23 over 2000 years ago, still rings true. “ Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but, on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

WARMINGTON’S CONFUSION Last week, we also saw discussion on the unfortunate comments from Minister Everald Warmington, who legitimately raised personal concerns about the use of funds in support of churches in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. Those concerns could have been raised without the assumption that many of these poor churches are awash with money. The primary concern was one thing. The exaggeration and overreach did not help what may have been engaged as a reasonable argument.

We need to encourage a national culture in our politics and religion in general, where it is okay to have respectful and helpful discourse. It should be okay, for example, to support the good work and gains by our police while calling for accountability and body-worn cameras. It should likewise be okay to have different religious perspectives.

SOME QUESTIONS FOR 2026

While the new world order looms, what will become of the agenda for a Jamaican republic? What does sovereignty mean going forward? If the stronger continues to ignore the weaker, will there be committed voices in support of reparatory justice? And where will Jamaica’s final appellate jurisdiction be domiciled? Will there be only one hegemon in the Western Hemisphere?

The Christmas story should travel with us throughout the year. The message of salvation reminds us that justice sees the mighty fallen and the humble exalted. Each of us may make a change in the world just by allowing peace and justice to begin with us as individuals and within our small groups and nations. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.

Fr Sean Major-Campbell is an Anglican priest and advocate for human rights and dignity. Please send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and seanmajorcampbell@yahoo.com