SOUTH FLORIDA – Now that Jamaicans are over celebrating the anniversary of independence it is time to face reality once again. Only about a month ago, a Jamaican was sentenced to prison after being found guilty of lottery scam offences. A recent development in Jamaica is the torching of cars when criminals are unable to steal them. This includes police cars, which are publicly owned vehicles as well, when police make raids. Women, including the very young are trafficked, usually for the purpose of the supposed enjoyment of men who could be their grandfathers. And that is only the egregious crimes that affect people living outside of as well as those in the island nation.
The people of this supposed independent country have to also question an independence inside of which international lending agencies dictate how much you can pay your civil servants, in part because your people have a foreign chest with only a local pocket. What of independence when Jamaicans embrace their popular musicians only after a foreign country or producer pronounce them as having arrived?
What this is all about is that independence is not about festival songs or grand events. It is about on-going sacrifice and understand that all the tallawah Jamaica is said to be, it is still an island nation, as in small.
Photo Credit: Leroy “Dreamy” Riley
Voice your opinion on the “Open Line” with Winston Barnes daily on WAVS 1170AM or listen on-line www.wavs1170am.com
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