The Editor,
The recent expedition to St. Thomas by the Freedom Come Movement struck a patriotic chord deep on the inside of me. Although its central theme may have been spiritual, I was taken back to my History lessons about Paul Bogle and others who marched for miles to rally the cause of the slaves. When unfairness is being meted out, the righteous has no option but to rise up and advocate for change.
Block those Belief Systems
Here in Jamaica in 2023, I would say we are being stirred to remember why our fore parents never sat and let things work themselves out. We are being stirred to confront the status quo and block the oppressive belief systems that are being foisted upon us. Indeed, we are being stirred from within to fight for our nation that we will not go the way of other Caribbean islands, or nations farther afield. Their push is to have us denounce our strong belief in God, and embrace new ideas that render our mores and boundaries as archaic trappings; which must now be thrown off in order to get with the modern times.
We Smell Dead Rats
Clearly our fight is not physical, but neither is it the mental gritted-teeth resolve that merely let the opponent wonder what we are thinking. Absolutely not! Instead it is that hunting posture we don, when we smell a dead rat and it has to be located and discarded.
For our posterity, to have a future Jamaica worth living in, we have to fight. As David asked when he saw the ridiculing by the uncircumcised Philistine, “Is there not a cause?” Yes, there are many justified causes.
So we take our stand and are counted as being ready for the fight. Preferring to step towards ‘yonder gallows’ than turning our backs and letting these atrocities and human degradation take over. God forbid!
I am,
Georgia Campbell