Understanding pain others feel

Adinkra symbol of understanding and agreement

The rock in the water does not know the pain of the rock in the sun. (Haiti)

Dear Zayda,

Haiti suffered a terrible earthquake seven months ago. Those of us who do not live in Haiti could watch news reports that filled our newspapers and televisions at the time. Some of us felt sad for Haitians, and others blamed them for putting up buildings so poorly that even a palace came crashing down. However, none but the Haitians knew the pain of losing everything. None of us knew the pain of not having food, or of losing loved ones and not even finding their bodies. None of us know what it is like even today to live on the street or sleep at every night in a friend’s car.

For many, the Haitian tragedy ended when the news reporters left Haiti and started to talk about other news, like the oil spill in the US. But for the Haitians, rocks in the sun, the pain continues.

A city like New Orleans suffered Katrina five years ago, and now had the sadness of oil spilling in the sea and killing fish and birds. I visited New Orleans a week after your mom and dad got married, and I fell in love with the city. The seafood was fantastic; I enjoyed the crab, shrimp, and couldn’t; get enough of fried catfish nuggets. New Orleans is in fresh pain today, but many of us can move on to the next big news item.

Moving on and forgetting is bad enough. What is worse is when those of us who are rocks in water add to the pain of rocks in the sun. For example, last week, a Jamaican businessman said that Jamaica needs more prisons to lock away people who break the law. I have no doubt that many of the rocks in the water agreed with him. However, the rocks in the sun would have different stories.

Now, people like this businessman (in the comfort of the water) and poor people (in the discomfort of the sun) are just as likely to break the law. Those in the water have a good chance of not being caught. The police are unlikely to search their houses or cart their young sons off to jail, beat them, and keep them locked up for weeks or months. Those in the water can afford lawyers to defend them if any heat reaches them and they are accused of doing something wrong.

Those who are like rocks in the sun have a good chance of being taken to jail even if they have done nothing except be found in the sun. Often, by the time the police release them from lockups, the scars from the beatings have healed. Anyway, this young man does not want to do anything to make the police angry at him. Therefore he gives up his right to getting money to make up for losing his freedom without having done anything wrong. If he had a job, the chances are he will lose it because he did not turn up for work all those weeks he was locked up. Or his boss (from the cool of the water) might decide the police would not have locked up this young man if did nothing wrong. In any event, the young man will not have the money to get a lawyer to take his case to court.

Now, if this businessman had an idea what was happening to people who are like rocks in the sun, he might want to be as sure as he can be that those (from water or in sun) who are locked up deserve to be punished. It seems, however, that it is easier to talk without seeking to know.

I hope, my grandniece, that you will be one of those who are rich and those who are poor are still human beings. I hope you can see that rocks in the water and rocks in the sun are still rocks, just with different stories to tell. I hope you will be able to tell your story and to listen to the stories of others, and try to understand.

Blessings,

Your shangazi

Coming together to run far

When you run alone, you run fast. When you run together, you run far. (Zambia)

Jamaicans have run fast when they seem to run alone. Usain Bolt, fastest man in the world, proves how fast we can be. True enough, Tyson Gay ran faster than Bolt yesterday, but I have no doubt that Bolt will be back charging into the tape faster than any other in his race.

We Jamaicans run well in almost every race we enter. In athletics, we have won more medals than countries much bigger than we are. In music, we have Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, and a long, long list of others who are famous in every corner of the globe. Some have made their mark as doctors, soldiers, and politicians. For example, we have Ben Carson (neurosurgeon), Colin Powell (former American chief of staff and Secretary of State), and Yvette Clarke (American congresswoman), and Diane Abbott (aiming to lead the British Labour Party). So we know we can run faster than anyone else, when we choose.

In our communities, we have seen that we can run far when we run together. For example, when Jamaicans first settled in England, they met racism. Whites didn’t want to rent or sell them places where they could live and raise their families. It was hard for Blacks to find an apartment in a safe area with its own bathroom and kitchen, let alone its own front door and space for children to play.

So here is how many of those Jamaicans decided to run together in order to run far. They piled up in the slum apartments and saved their money together. This is a system in Jamaica known as “pardner”. People form a group in which each person contributes a set amount of money. One person is the banker, and this person makes sure all the money comes in and one person each month gets a “draw” – the total sum handed in by all the others in the “pardner”.

The first person who had enough from the “draw” would buy a house, and the others would move into rooms in that house until they had a “draw” that allowed them to buy their own house. The “pardner” would run until everyone had shelter that gave them a feeling of dignity. Before they had their homes, no banks would lend them money. However, with their own homes, they had a better chance of getting loans from banks.

“Pardner” schemes have worked for years, and many Jamaicans still rely on “pardner” to help them do what they cannot do alone. However, these schemes are really for individual benefit. As a result, individuals have run fast, but Jamaica as a whole seems left behind.

I hope, my grandniece, that together we can find ways of running far as a country, even while helping individuals to continue to run fast. And let us remember that those who run fast, like Usain Bolt, never really run alone. They have a team that helps them to run (and win) race after race.

Blessings,

Your shangazi

Finding independence when fingers stop quarreling

If the fingers of one hand quarrel, they can't pick up the food. (East Africa)

Dear Zayda,

The British let go of Jamaica 48 years ago. Mostly we think of 1962 as the year when we got independence, but we still seem to be working out what independence means. So far, we seem unable to “pick up the food” because the fingers of the hand keep quarrelling.

Jamaica copied Britain’s habit of having two main political parties. The ideal is that people can vote for the party they choose, but after that the two parties work with each other for the good of the whole country. What actually happens is that the parties fight with each other and the country keeps losing.

When Jamaica became independent, one Jamaican dollar could buy more than one US dollar. Today, one Jamaican dollar can buy about as much as one US cent. We became independent when we left a federation of Caribbean islands. At that time, we were doing so well that we felt joining up with other islands would slow us down. Today, some of those other islands own pieces of Jamaica. I chose my bank because at the time Jamaicans owned it; today Trinidadians own my bank. Barbadians own at least one major insurance company that used to be fully Jamaican-owned.

Countries like Trinidad and Barbados have their differences, but they seem to unite when the fingers need to “pick up the food.”

Jamaicans seem to find all kinds of reasons to quarrel with each other. The two political parties, one with green shirts and the other with orange shirts, seem most united about splitting up the country between them. If green is in power, then green will eat. The same thing goes for orange. No politician seems to think we could have a system where all can eat: green, orange, or people who don’t care about either.

Both parties hardly ever work together for long, unless in a matter where politicians as a whole win and the people as a whole lose.

The people will unite for a little while. However, that is often about what they don’t want, rather than what they want. For example, in May the people were all angry with the Prime Minister for telling a lie and trying to cover up for a wrongdoer. So the Prime Minister had to apologise and try to correct his behaviour. That was like the fingers rejecting the food they do not want, but not being able to agree on what food they want. The people will come together at election time to vote out the party they do not want, but fail to demand what they want of the other party.

Some groups of people will also unite around other negatives. For example, far too many wish death on gay persons and persons who speak to the police (“informers”). Many are united in wishing extreme punishment (such as death) on those who break the law, or are even suspected of breaking the law.

But Jamaicans can unite around positives as well. We were one nation when our football team played in the 1998 World Cup. We are one nation when our athletes (especially Usain Bolt) do well. We are one nation in our love for the food of our ancestors. Many times Jamaicans return overseas with suitcases packed with roasted breadfruit and fried fish. Christmas is not the same without sorrel and dark fruit cake laced with rum. Easter is not Easter without spicy bun and cheese.

Let us hope, my grandniece, that Jamaica can find ways to bring the fingers together to pick up food by the time we celebrate our half century of the end of British rule. Perhaps we may then be truly able to claim independence.

Blessings,

Your shangazi

Paying attention to other people's wisdom

Other people's wisdom often prevents a chief from being called a fool. (Yoruba)

Dear Zayda,

You are never too little or too young or too anything to have wisdom. Indeed, our African ancestors believe that infants come with special messages for elders. So even if I don’t understand your language of babbles, I know you are passing on to me information I need to be wiser.

People who see themselves as chiefs often think they are supposed to know everything. Children try to teach adults all the time, mostly because children speak their thoughts from their hearts. Many of us adults speak other people’s thoughts – what we read in books or newspapers, or what we see someone say on television. Or what people in power (like parents, teachers, doctors, or presidents) tell us we should think. One of the problems adults have is in not following their instincts. So often they will argue themselves out of their inner wisdom. They want to do as the “experts” tell them.

Years ago, I worked in a light and power company. Canadian experts came to re-build a power plant, and man who swept the floors told them of a part they needed to replace if the plant was going to work again. Well, this man had no university degree. In fact, he could barely read and write. So why should these experts listen to him?

The company spent a lot of money on the power plant, and the experts did a great job. Except that the plant would not work when they tried to switch it on. Yes, the man who swept the floors was right. He not only followed his instincts, but he was bright enough to see what had worked over the years. And he was confident enough to express his opinion.

This man’s wisdom could have saved money and helped the experts to seem wise.

We need to listen to each other, Zayda. When I was a teacher, my students protected me from looking foolish. I tried to clear space on my timetable to give my students time to teach me. I learned about the music they liked, the movies they watched, and the sports they enjoyed. I also found out about things in their lives that bothered them. As a result, my students were more inclined to listen to me.

Sometimes I would slip up and forget to listen, and I would be grateful if my students put me back on track. For example, once I was fussing with a teenaged male student because he had missed school for several days. Thankfully, he let me know he had a story he wanted me to hear before I punished him. He told me he had been absent because the police locked him up without giving him a chance to make a telephone call to his parents. So he was lost in jail for those days I didn’t see him at school. He taught me that I always needed to listen, even if wrong behaviour seems “obvious”.

Wisdom that does not rely on books will often come to the point with words that may not be well chosen or even in Standard English. To some, being direct may seem like bad manners. It may therefore be easy to ignore other people’s wisdom especially if we see ourselves as chiefs.

But being humble enough to listen to other people’s wisdom gives us the chance to be wise chiefs rather than foolish chiefs.

So, my grandniece, please speak your wisdom.

Blessings,

Your shangazi

Ubuntu and caring communities

I am because we are; we are because I am (Ashanti, Zulu)


Dear Zayda,

Today’s proverb is at the centre of the Ubuntu way of life that Nelson Mandela promoted for South Africa.

When I was growing up, we practised “ubuntu” without knowing the word existed. My grandparents lived in farming communities with more food than cash. So people shared labour and food just as they shared joys and sorrows.

For example, no one needed to hire labour when time came to dig the fields. A farmer would announce his work day and people would come to help. The only “payment” was a big meal that usually featured dumplings (called “Johnny cakes” if fried, or “cartwheels” if boiled) and dishes like ackee and saltfish or mackerel rundung. The day was like a party, with mugs of coffee and chocolate, often made from beans grown right there on the land. There might also be glasses of lemonade, and usually the men would insist on rum to wet their palates.

This practice went by different names, such as “morning sport” and “day fi [for] day. Farmers helped out each other so everyone could benefit even if no one could pay for the work in cash.

Births, weddings and funerals were special events that everyone shared in.

Babies belonged to everyone. People would pamper and discipline neighbour’s children as if they were their own. On the one hand, children could have treats from any home they happened to visit. On the other hand, anyone could punish any naughty child, and parents would often punish that child a second time for bringing about the first punishment. Sometimes we wished the grown ups would look another way (except when they were offering us plantain tarts, gizzada, or sweet potato pudding!) Only when we were in our teens or older did some of us realize that Aunt X or Uncle Y and their children were not related to us by blood.

No one needed to be invited to a wedding. People would contribute food – from a goat to yams – as well as food. In addition, there was a game played at weddings, where people would bid to unveil the wedding cake or keep it hidden. Naturally those who bid for it to be unveiled would “win” but not before the bride and groom had money to set up their new home.

Funerals were (and still are) huge social occasions, once the sad part was out of the way. For about a week after the death, the community would visit the home every night to keep the family company. Nightly eating and drinking would come to a climax in a wake that was held on the ninth night after the person died. On that night, people would dance and sing to send off the dead person. There would be lots of food, especially fried sprat and hardough bread, and white rum had to be present. People would spend all night chatting with each other, telling stories, sharing riddles, and playing games like dominoes. The community would contribute food and drink, apart from moral support, to celebrate the dead person’s life.

Today, Zayda, some of the practices survive. For example, a wake was held when our relative Trevor Rhone died last year.



Jamaica has changed a lot since I was a child. However, just as Ubuntu helped South Africa to come together after a war between races, so I think Jamaica can benefit today from re-visiting the spirit of Ubuntu. What do you think, Zayda?

Blessings,

Your shangazi

Loyalty to Ubuntu principle

One can't make a pact with the slave and make a pact with the master and not betray one of them. (Yoruba)

Dear Zayda,

The blood of slaves and slave masters runs in our veins. If they wanted to continue living, our female ancestors could not say “no” to their owners. Children of mixed blood often had an easier life than Black children - lighter work, better food, and a chance to read and write. Lucky ones got their freedom. The question then, as now, is who will have our loyalty, slave or master.

Some ease their minds by making a pact with the master. They speak the master’s language (sometimes with the master’s accent) and consider slave-derived language as “bad”. They wear the master’s clothing, intended for cold climates, even in tropical heat. As best they can, they try to make their hair and skin colour resemble the master’s. What they can’t do for themselves, they may try to do for their children and grandchildren by choosing spouses who are white or near-white. Some may go so far as to refuse to acknowledge relatives who look or act “too Black”.

Those who make a pact with the slave could be considered as “too Black”. They will wear their hair long, but in dreadlocks or natural braids, not straight hair weaves. They are proud of having smooth chocolate skin and generous lips. They take every chance they can get to celebrate with the drumming and dancing and stories of their African ancestors. Persons such as Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X inspire them.

But we live in a world together - Blacks and whites, children of slaves and slave masters. We need to make pacts with each other and with ourselves. Even if one side or the other thinks we betray them, we must never betray ourselves. That means, Zayda, that we allow principle to guide us.

Nelson Mandela is an example of someone who tried to make pacts with slave and master while respecting the rights of all. He tried to follow the principle of Ubuntu. He explained it in this way as:

“A traveler through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu but it will have various aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not enrich themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?”



One of my heroes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, is also someone who tries to find principled ways of making pacts. This is how he explains Ubuntu:

“One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity.

“We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”



To me, the essence of Ubuntu is love. So we have to love ourselves enough to find peace between the masters and slaves who may at times seem to be at war within us and around us.

We have to love others to see beyond the slave or the master to the humanity that we all share.

It’s not easy, but we can do it. We have to do it for our survival.

Blessings,

Your shangazi

No peace without freedom

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. -Malcolm X

Dear Zayda

Today, we have a public holiday in Jamaica. On August 1, 1838, slaves got their freedom – on paper, anyway. Many still await the peace that should come with freedom.

In May of this year, Jamaica had a State of Emergency (SOE) that took away our paper freedom for a while. Many seemed so relieved to find themselves slaves again, that they begged for the SOE to continue. People seemed to want the SOE to be spread everywhere in Jamaica, and to continue for months (if not forever).

Now we deserve to have peace in Jamaica or anywhere else in the world where we find ourselves. However, most of the last fifty years, Jamaica’s murder rate has kept climbing. Last year the murder rate was the highest here and I think the highest in the world as well. So we have a problem. A big problem. People feel afraid in their homes, at their jobs, on the streets, in their cars – just about everywhere. So you can understand why a lot of people welcomed the breathing space that the SOE brought.

Under the SOE the police could lock up people or demand that they stay inside their homes. If people thought the police were treating them unfairly, they could not go to a court to get justice. Even without an SOE, the police can stop people from leaving their homes. The police say they don’t want people getting in their way when they search for guns and wrongdoers. In some other countries, police realize they need the people’s help to be more pointed in their searches. Not surprisingly, Jamaican police seem to find few guns and wrongdoers even when people give up their rights for these searches.

Those who are enslaved often have no voice. They may be afraid to speak out for fear of what might happen to them, or they try to smile and seem happy to keep on good terms with the slave master. Many keep silent (and insist on silence from others) while they plot revenge. However, some stories do manage to get out.

For example, William works as a gardener. His job is important to him as he supports includes his mother, his children, and a wife who has lupus. Last Saturday, the police locked down his community, and they would not allow anyone to leave for any reason. So William and others lost income they would have earned that day. Apart from putting food on the table, many also had school fees to pay by the end of this month,

Two weeks ago, when the police last locked down William’s community, he risked his life by defying police orders. He jumped fences and gullies to leave his area and reach work. One of his employers needed to call the police to make sure William could return to his family without being arrested. Anyone who did not have an identification card (like the “free paper” in slavery) could be locked up.

Another young man, Jason, was about to be interviewed for a job when the police held him. He spent days in a filthy cell where there was barely space to sit on the floor and none to lie down to sleep. He lost the job because he didn’t turn up for the interview, and because the business place didn’t want to hire anyone whom the police locked up.

As in slavery, thousands of young men lost their freedom before, during, and since the SOE without proof that they did anything wrong. The police took them by the truckloads, fingerprinted and photographed them (similar to the way slaves were branded with hot irons). During the SOE, the police held 4,200 persons, and charged about 20. We do not have any way of knowing how many of those charged will be found guilty of any offence.

Young men like William and Jason are not at peace because they are still to know what freedom means. They feel afraid of the police. In addition, they have no way to protect their homes – no grills, heavy doors, or private security services. Gangs can break down their doors or catch them on unlit streets. So they are afraid of gangs as well.

The slave masters, for all their wealth and protection, feared slave uprisings. Similarly, those who act like modern slave masters fear the anger that shows itself in Jamaica as crime. The better off and the worse off are indeed united as well as divided by the fears that have both sides in chains.

So after 172 years, we still need to emancipate ourselves. This time, as Marcus Garvey said and Bob Marley repeated, we need to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery.

Be free, my grandniece. Be free.

Blessings,

Your shangazi