DAVIE – It is the forty eight celebration of Jamaica’s independence anniversary and there are a lot of things to celebrate, despite the turmoil the country has seen recently. Much of that will augur well for the country because so much of what Jamaicans have hidden, from officialdom to the man and woman in the street is now open and common, irrefutable truth.
It is most appropriate, at the same time for the launch of former Prime Minister Edward Seaga’s book to take place in South Florida. As he has said, the book is less an autobiography than it is a piercing historic document about his home country since 1930.
So much of the book debunks a number of supposed facts of the country’s history. This book in my opinion is as important as the Phillip Sherlock Enid Bennett book, “The History Of The Jamaican People” only more so because it brings the story up to 1980.
Regardless of one’s political persuasion or lack thereof, the value of this book can hardly be denied. If one claims to love Jamaica, if one claims to want better for the country, if one wants an understanding of what has brought Jamaica to its current place, both good and bad, one simply has no choice but to read this book.
Any civilization needs its own mythology, its cultural manifestations, but it also needs a telling of its history from the perspective of people who not only observed that history, but also helped to make that history.
Winston Barnes
Host – “Open Mic” WAVS 1170AM
Photo Credit: Leroy “Dreamy” Riley
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