O green isle of the Indies

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."― Leo Tolstoy.

This writing is inspired by a request of a friend of mine to find positive news from Jamaica about Jamaica, he lives in New York and all he seems to hear, whether through the media or otherwise is how violent we are, how corrupt we are, how illiterate, undisciplined and crass we are and how shortsighted we are.

So as usual I would like y'all to see one alternate view.

I grew up in Jamaica but migrated to the US when I was 15, I enjoyed living in my adopted home, I met many great people who influenced my world view, made lifelong friendships and had many valuable experiences that helped make me who I am today. The main reason for my emigration was like most other Jamaican youth who do, i.e. to pursue higher education and broaden my employment opportunities. At that time, I told my mother I wanted to study film to further persuade her that my need to migrate was a real necessity (but please. at that time I was only really interested in breakin'..I had no interest whatsoever in film making).

Anyway, I made the most of the American educational experience, one which provides a wealth of opportunities for anyone who wants to learn. I got a couple of degrees , various certificates and a wealth of knowledge as a consequence of exploring so many of my interests; martial arts, power of the mind, music, engineering, fitness, dance, comic book literature, yoga therapy, shiatsu, Taoism, Zen Buddhism, NLP, and whatever else I could cram into my little brain.

Then… after 7 years I decided to visit Jamaica...

WOW! It is soooo important to travel abroad because that is the only way to know how it feels to return home, home to your family, home, where there is this deep understanding of people and their language and their understanding of you, I now understood what it was that I'd been missing, I now understood what it was that I couldn't quite put my finger on while living in New York.

After my vacation I returned to NY, and for the first time in 7 years I felt consciously out of sorts, I now felt trapped or should I say restricted, in contrast to the relative freedom of the Jamaican lifestyle I just left, for the first time in 7 years I felt like, well… an alien. No more Led Zeppelin, Eric Dolphy or De La Soul, I started listening to Bob Marley every day, I started calling friends and family in JA more often and began investigating what it would realistically take to live there.

You see, I realized:
1) My home was NOT my home and
2) Jamaican girls (in Jamaica) are THE only option

Five years later, I packed up my shit and jumped on the first banana boat home.

I ..LOVE.. Jamaica.

It's been 16 years since I've returned home and it has not been all milk and honey. I have suffered financial problems, lost close friends violently, been mistreated by the police, and been a victim of robbery.

With all those negative experiences, I have never one day regretted my decision to come back home.


I LOVE this place with all my heart and will sink with the ship if I have to (although I know it will never go down)

Jamaican people are heirs to a lush tropical paradise with flowing waterfalls, white water beaches, and deep blue lagoons, we have fertile land which can grow almost anything, and magnificent mountain ranges which provide the most picturesque experience and produces the richest coffee and the best marijuana in the world (I hear).

We are home to some of the most beautiful species of birds, fish, insects and animals in the world.

The Jamaican people themselves are resilient, caring, strong and determined. They are also an industrious, creative and fun people. Jamaicans have an infectious attitude to life and our culture has been greatly influential to peoples all over the world from our street slang, to our music and dance styles, to the resourcefulness shown in our many creative enterprises.

Across the world you can find Jamaicans skilled and exceptional in every field imaginable from simple art and crafts to music, fine art, education, dance, athletics, medicine, literature, filmmaking, quantum physics, poetry, computer science, animation and robotics.

The strength of the Jamaican people however lies in how we come together as a community, daily, I see evidence of how this society behaves like a large family; cars stop to allow kids the cross the street, young people go out of their way to help the elderly with heavy bags, we join partner plans with total strangers, in the rural areas people will wave to motorists as they drive by, today on the bus, a young lady stumbled on entering the bus, I said "hush" and we ended up talking about her educational aspirations for the 15 minutes that she rode the bus, the same kind of thing happens whether you're on line at the supermarket, the bank or a utility company, you talk to people as if you've known them for years, no sweat.

It would be easy to over-romanticize the Jamaican experience without addressing its harshness-- the dinginess, the criminal element, the lack of leadership, the ways we are selfish, inconsiderate, and cruel to each other. These traits however usually manifest anywhere that the pursuit of material possessions dominates people's consciousness over any sense of good will.

However, when we badmouth our society or any society, person or experience for that matter, we are looking at the situation from a very limited narrow perspective, one usually based on emotion, prejudice or egotistical tendencies.

From a Taoist perspective.

If you seek to look at a situation, look at the entire case history, the total picture, the evolution, the causes and effect using observation, reasoning, reflection and contemplation then you will eventually understand the how and why.

Once there is deep understanding then there is no need to form strong opinions that cause emotional disturbance inside you or between people. Resist the ego.

The society has evolved from colonialism*, a system where the ruling class brutally victimized and oppressed the slave class, some people believe that this system no longer exists, but it can only be eradicated if we look inside ourselves and root out these attitudes. Jamaica's biggest problem is social discrimination which is directly related to colonialism, it is the basis for our lack of harmony and unity, it makes one set of people believe they are better than another because of their social class, education, skin colour and language skills. It is ignorance of the highest level.

*(In contrast, first world countries have developed thru imperialism)

Some of us have a deep resentment for other classes and we don't know where it comes from, we wonder why our educational system, favours only a few and we blame the government, but we don't see that the unseen framework for the society insists that a certain percentage of the society remain subservient.

We think individuals are where they are ONLY because of their attitude, maybe, but if so, the attitude comes from somewhere not easily purged.

The colonialist mentality is the root of the lack of self worth, the selfishness, insensitivity, cruelty and greed in our society and any other society that was exposed to it.

Most people ignore what they can't see and that's why so many people downplay our past as being so influential. If you want to test this hypothesis, just look at what your opportunities are, and current access to resources then take into consideration your family history and the amount of "help" your predecessors got. Whether skin complexion, access to successful family members, or gracious benefactors etc.

People today pay a lot of attention to being a critic and having THE opinion on how to change situations, but only a few take the time to work on their own personal development, only few know how to change and improve their own situation without expecting others to do it, only few have the required self control and self discipline to change.

To uplift our people, we need to look within ourselves at our own shortcomings; our country is simply a reflection of its people.

Ideas eventually become reality if persistent, so attitudes that reflect anger, aggression, intolerance, selfishness, hotheadedness, prejudice, thoughtlessness, divisiveness, unchecked materialism, and egotistical motives will show clearly in our society. If you want a better society you should cultivate better attitudes.

Yes... Michael Jackson was right, start with the man in the mirror.

Only through the pursuit of self awareness, right action, integrity, order, self love and inner harmony can we heal ourselves and our beautiful country.

If there is to be peace in the world,

There must be peace in the nations.

If there is to be peace in the nations,

There must be peace in the cities.

If there is to be peace in the cities,

There must be peace between neighbours.

If there is to be peace between neighbours,

There must be peace in the home.

If there is to be peace in the home,

There must be peace in the heart.

-Live with awareness

-Train Hard

-Have Fun
-Peace, love, health, prosperity and happiness

Breakboy Nrg

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Post Sandy Message from Breakboy Nrg

As the rainfall and intense winds subside, as the power and water supply return sporadically, as downed trees, foliage, light poles and power lines are cleaned up and put right, and as businesses reopen, the progressive return to normalcy is clear in sight.

With this return to the norms of our day to day life, it would be good to reflect on how fortunate we are, 1) to have survived with so little loss and 2) for the disaster itself.

I always find a need to remind everyone including myself that the purpose of the gift of life is to have the opportunity to become better, to evolve.

This disaster as with all others gives us an opportunity to come into another frame of mind.

When faced with an impending disaster, usually in Jamaica’s case, hurricanes.  we shift into high anxiety mode,  we head for the supermarket and/or hardware store, in an effort to implement our 10 point disaster preparedness plan, we closely monitor the updates on TV, radio or the internet and we wait…hoping for the best…

Naturally, for you my friends and by extension my fellow countrymen, I will always hope that the experience of any natural disaster will leave all unscathed in as many ways as possible, but unfortunately a lot of times this is not the reality, some die, some lose their homes, others are the victim of other types of calamities.

So yes, we SHOULD be grateful, if we can laugh at the end of it, and retell the story, and return to work and have a roof over your head and food to eat, and be able to kiss your children.

But is the disaster itself some kind of symbol, a metaphor for our relationships with each other and with nature, it can be something to think about.

Nature balances itself everyday, in order to exist as humans on this planet we take for granted the billions of processes that have to be perfectly right.

We go about our lives ignoring our impact on the environment, by not being aware we inevitably become destructive.

Our way of life today reflects chaos, selfishness, disorder in thoughts, words and deed and the environment mirrors this, how we destroy the environment for profit and our idle comforts, is exactly how we create disasters brought about by extremes (heat and cold) a byproduct of global warming.

Today we face ecological crises, social crises, political crises and human crises and they are all intertwined.

During these disasters, thru the darkness our humanity shines, when the modern conveniences are stripped away we are left to our own devices to entertain ourselves, to be more creative, to help our neighbor, to listen and be more responsive to nature,

Yes, thankfully you are all well after Sandy.

I caution you to also be thankful for Sandy’s message.

-Live with awareness

-Train Hard

-Have Fun

Breakboy Nrg

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J50: Independence and Freedom, Responsibility and Discipline

This must be one of the hardest blog to write because most people believe that a blog about Jamaica’s 50th anniversary should be positive and upbeat, outlining all of our glories, achievements and greatness before the world and all mankind, a blog where all objectivity should be saved for another day. This blog started way before Jamaica 50 celebrations started but some how I found it very hard to push the publish button. I have been adding to it, so it represents different ideas over time and if you are reading this, then button press.

I love my country, there is no other country I love more than Jamaica and I love my people, I am comfortable with my people, I understand them. There are times when they make me proud, happy to be a part of this unique club called Jamaica. One of the things that I love doing is to go to my special place in Port Antonio and sit on the hill under the tree and look out onto the Caribbean sea in front of me and the Blue Mountain to the side of me, to feel the cool breeze, wind and sun on my face,  I love to smell the fresh sea air and listen to the water as it meets the shore.I have tried this in many other countries but it never seem to have the same effect, the sun don't feel right, the Breeze is either too cold or too hot and the smell is off, it does nothing for me.

There are times when you feel for a nice long walk by your self in Jamaica, some peace and quiet but end up having a good long chat with some stranger you met along the way, that Jamaican unique personality just hold you. Yeh Man, mi love me yard that is why I cannot understand or have any patience for those Use-To-Me-Neva-See-Come-See Jamaicans who does nothing but cuss Jamaica out of hate not love.

Yeh Man, mi love me yard... but sometimes Jamaica piss me off because the more you love something or someone the easier it for them to disappoint you. Burning inside me is this deep desire for change that I know we are capable of and I cannot understand why we have not achieved our full potentials. Every morning I open the paper I expect to see the big headlines that Jamaica overcame, have achieved, have changed, is heading in the right direction but I still have hope and in the mean time I will still continue to love mi little rock.   

Yeh Man, mi love me Country...and will always love it, it is my country right or wrong... BUT loving something or someone means you should always be honest, open and want the best for them.

Independence and Freedom means absolutely nothing without a strong sense Responsibility and Discipline. If we are not a responsible people, if we are not a discipline people able to make the right decisions for both ourselves, our families and the future of our country then Independence and Freedom is a wasted achievement and we will never realize our full potentials as a people and a country. The right decision is not always the decision that gives us instant gratification, it might be a decision we have to take that will cause great hardship in the short run but better for us or the country in the long run.

World history books hundreds of years in the future will record that Jamaica was a country with great potential to achieve great things but because of their lack of Discipline and Responsibility their achievements as Nation Builders was just marginal and mediocre. Our indiscipline served us well during Slavery and colonization, then it was seen as our strength, our ability to fight oppression, to achieve Emancipation from Slavery, to achieve Workers’ Rights, Universal Adult Suffrage and finally independence but in order to build a Nation State future generation will be proud of, requires a great sense of Responsibility and Discipline.

It has gotten to the point where I am playing with the idea that Jamaicans are ungovernable in their natural habitat. We have a political class that is afraid to make the hard right decisions, to say and do the right things regardless of its popularity and votes. So long as that condition exist nothing will really change, we will forever be taking 1 step forward and 2 steps backwards. We are a people that pays lip service to doing the right things, us Jamaicans know exactly what is wrong with Jamaica and we know what we must do to fix it but fixing it means the removal of certain freedom we have gotten accustomed to. The freedom to be indiscipline and irresponsible is a liberating and addictive feeling, that is why yard nice every time, most other successful countries are not as free as Jamaica. For the most part we do what we want, when we want to and how we want to, even when what we are doing is wrong, counter-productive and will do more harm than good.

We have achieved much as a people but we have also let so much go, we have lost the plot and we need to get back to the basic principles and values that are required by Nation Builders. We have become a superficial people with way too much emphasis on material things and we do not have the discipline to control ourselves as these things must be acquired at all cost, even at the expense of our future. Our leaders have also lost the plot because it is they who created and nurtured this state of irresponsibility and indiscipline behavior as a way to achieve power and glory. They do not govern base on right and wrong but on what is popular regardless of Right and Wrong, thus converting Jamaica to a "Jock-it-up Cock-it-up" kind off society. They I believe can no longer see the Forrest from the Trees, they are blind to the damage they have done and are doing.

Independence and Freedom coupled with Responsibility and Discipline guarantees that we will always make the right decision, the best decision for the collective good of all the people and the future of Jamaica, decisions must benefits the many above the few.

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Heroes and Nation Builders of Jamaica

"He bared his chest and declared…If you are going to shoot, shoot me, but leave these defenceless, hungry people alone." ….Alexander Bustamante

I once saw a play in the early 80s at the little theater where the above was said by one of the actors and another actor shouted in response…..”A should a now!!” …to the laughter of the audience…

His implication was that today's police would have obliged Alexander Bustamante and open fire killing him and everyone dead. I however think that if it was now there would be no one to play the role of Bustamante because that is not how our current so called leaders roll, we would simply be on our own.

Market Woman early 1900

For me the best part of Jamaican history is the period from 1900 to 1962, I call this period the age of Nation Building Stage 2, the fight against hard life and suffering experienced at the hands of British Colonialism. A time when the working class, Educated Class, middle and upper middle class came together and took a stand, back then they had Back Bones made of steel, an intellectual mind coupled with a gritty personality, they were not afraid to risk liberty, life and limb while standing up for their Principles and defend their country and people.

This is not a period in Jamaica’s History to forget or dismiss since full knowledge of what happened and all the players involved is required to create a strong foundation for future Nation Builders, what they did, how they did it and why should be taught in every school across Jamaica, their names should flow of the tongues of old and young alike. These nation builders were strong, charismatic and educated, their ability to organize the masses and articulate their hopes, dreams and desires for the future even in the face of British Colonial might, is why they were so successful. These men and women could engage the British on so many levels, including an intellectual level and if that failed then they had the power to shut down the entire country with just one word, they could mobilize the population of Jamaica, having them take to the streets at a moment’s noticed, even when the colonial forces tried to stop them with a barrage of bullets. Yes they were scared and concern for themselves and their love ones but they considered what they were fighting for to be more important than life itself and their love ones were right beside them in the struggle.

Frank Hill, Ken Hill, Richard Hart, Arthur Henry

They were fighting for Liberty, Equality and Social-Justice, for the rights of man, the freedom of man and the Independence and birth of a Nation. They were not perfect, far from it but they were more of a man and woman than any man or woman claiming to be our leaders today. They were supposed to live for an eternity through us, we should have been an embodiment of their spirit and humanity but we failed them, we could not carry their achievements, their strength, their discipline and determination on our feeble, worthless, brittle poor excuse for a backbone.

Wherever they are now I am sure they must be saying to themselves what a waste of my time and life, what a complete waste of my efforts, to sacrifice so much only to see that my sacrifice was in vain. Look at them running around without any sense of collective purpose, consumed by their own self-importance, consumed by greed and selfishness, look at how they turn their backs on everything we fought so hard to achieve.

Then I can imagine Sam Sharpe and Paul Bogle turning to the others saying “might as well we kept our mouth shut, cut the masters cane and say yes sir may I have another when the whip cut across our backs, instead of having that rope around our broken necks, suspending our lifeless bodies and George William Gordon agreeing”. Because they had so much hope for us but look how we let them down.

I know when we think of the period from 1900 to 1962 only Manley and Bustamante comes to mind but there were so much more players involved and without these brave men and women, both Manley and Bustamante although being great men just would not have succeeded. It is a waste of time to compare our so called leaders today to these brave men and women, as it would be an insult to their memory. The fact is our current stock of educated and political class are nothing more than shallow over privilege selfish little pricks, consumed by their own self-importance and I have no respect for them, they are not men or women of substance and value, they are profiling little fluffs who exist in a fluff bubble and trying very hard to keep their bubble intact at the expense of their people and the future of their country. Their flawed concept of class is measured by money, too stupid to realize that all the stolen money in the world cannot buy an ounce of class, it does not matter how big your house is or how massive a car you drive, you are and will always be just a shallow prick living in a big house and a prick driving a big car, who enjoys the poverty around them simply because that is the only way for them to stand out and feel special, the look at me syndrome.

Colonial Britain Propaganda Newsreel : “Just a hundreds years ago Great Britain abolish Slavery, today the Jamaican Negro is a happy and law abiding citizen, loyal to his Government of which he is very proud. The reality for Jamaicans was very different from that portrait by newsreel at the time, unemployment was very high and wages very low.”

For the most part we as a people were engineered to collectively belittle ourselves, our achievements, our history and we belittle our past leaders because to understand these great men and women would belittle our lives and make us realize that in the scheme of things we are nothing. History will collectively define us as cowards, selfish, greedy, tribal and inhumane and history will not remember our names because it is not worth remembering. History will remember our post independence political class as corrupt, murdering, selfish little twats who purposely created hardship and suffering for their people, who armed Jamaicans and send them out to murder other Jamaicans and who stole from every Jamaican to satisfy their own greed.

Norman Washington Manley

I said before that some of our past leaders, even though they were visionaries and great men were not perfect, no one is, however long before we had political party violence in Jamaica, there was Trade Union violence which was like a drug gang turf war. The Unions set the stage for the political violence that was to come and what we experienced over the decades, the BITU gave birth to the JLP and from the NWU came the PNP but instead of Nation Building these Political Parties now practice Nation Destruction.

When we were fighting the British our mission was clear cut and well defined, it was US against THEM, after the British left, we did not know what to do, we searched high and low for someone else to fight but found only Jamaicans, so unable to find any other group to demonized, we quickly turned on ourselves. Jamaicans from all walk of life rallied around the Political Parties and shouted “old dutty Labourite”... and …”old dutty Socialist” at each other. We made up retarded party slogans…”Stand Firm!”…and…”Deliverance!” and shouted them at each other, we created Political Party Gang colours and signs and flashed them at each other,  some "Raised the Fist", others raised "The Victory Sign” and after we had fully demonized each other in every which way we could, filling our hearts with pure hate and contempt for our fellow man, we then proceeded to set upon our Jamaican brothers and sisters with great vengeance. We murdered Jamaican Men, Women and children with ease simply because they belong to the other party, all in the name of politics and our political overlords, ......such is our Legacy!

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• Independence and Freedom means absolutely nothing without a strong sense Responsibility and Discipline. 
• Equality, Social-Justice, Self-Reliance and Discipline are wonderful principles to live by and we should try to instil these principles back into our society.
• Political Tribalism will be the death of us, as we are way too small and too poor to survive this crab in a barrel mentality.
• Jamaica is a country with so much potentials, we could achieve so much as a people if we apply our selves but we do not think or operate as a collective.

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St. William Grant

Alexander Bustamante

Sir Florizel Glasspole

The Right to Vote

Workers Rights!!

Colonial Times

Life in Jamaica under British Rule as a Crown Colony can be defined as a place filled with poverty and inequality, many Jamaicans at the time was still working on the estates for below living wages.

Selling Sugar in the Market

Sugar Press

Winston Churchill in Spanish Town Jamaica, 1940s

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Ghetto Entertainment at It's Worst

I was sent the following link, on this site there are two videos showing a fight between two families in the Ghetto. The video to say the least is very disturbing on so many levels but basically I divide what was happening into two parts.

First there are the families involved in the fight, I do not know why they are fighting but they seem very upset and willing and ready to inflict grievous bodily harm on each other, as stick, stone and fist fly. Clearly they lack the basic concepts of problem/solution and have chosen to resort to violence. In all my years of living uptown I have never seen such a situation played out in public, people living uptown are not that intimate with each other’s life and seem to be educated enough to apply problem/solution skills to settle their differences and rarely resort to such violence, although I must admit that a undercurrent of aggression pervades in all levels of our society regardless of uptown or downtown, even the political class is not immune, some of them are worst.

Part 1 Only

Watching the two families fight is disturbing but what is more disturbing is the reaction of the public, the families are acting on their basic emotions and have some sort of excuse but the public was even more disgusting not only enjoying the moment but actively encouraging it, this is collective deprivation at its worst. At the start of the video a mother was trying to prevent her two daughters from fighting as she held on to them with a vice grip but the onlookers and the person filming the event was encouraging the mother to let them go, he wanted action so he could upload his video to YouTube. In the end the mother not only released her daughters allowing them to engage the other families but also joined the fight, as I said before stick, stone and fist fly as they unleashed the dogs of war.

Its A Family Affair- Part 1 and 2

This was ghetto entertainment at is very worst, the spectators was having a wonderful time as they watched, laughed and cheered the pain of others, the only person missing was the peanut vendor who normally turns up at every event in Jamaica, even weddings. During the fight almost every person watching the fight pulled out some form of modern high tech phone device with enough storage to film the event as they ran behind the actors to capture every action, ghetto people hungry but ghetto people somehow always have money to buy the latest expensive ghetto fashion and electronic devices.

What also shock me is that not only did everyone had a phone to record the event but no one seemed to called the police as the main purpose of the phone was to record the event and the police would certainly have gotten in the way and cut the merriment short. Another shocker was that no one tried to break up the fight, there was no voice of reason, no village elders to step in and calm nerves, no one even tried.

If I was totally embarrassed watching this over the internet then why weren't they? People were encouraging the fight, children ran behind the fighters cheering and laughing as they dodge stones. People took pictures of the public nudity on display but no one, no real men or women tried to prevent the mayhem that followed or moved the children along, there was a time when low income and low class was not one and the same but not so today.

• I am worried about the Jamaican society.
• I am worried that as a society we are not addressing this level of ignorance.
• I am worried that our political class is satisfied with the current state of events.
• I am worried that the educated class is also satisfied this level of ignorance.
• I am worried that the church is also satisfied this level of ignorance.

Yes it is a low income community but it does not have to be a low class community.

Fact: The Jamaican society is not the only society suffering from this level of depravity

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