The Jamaican Diaspora And The Brain Drain



By George W Graham

An examination of the effect American immigration policies have on Third World countries. My brother, Bill, who lives in London, Ontario, remarked recently that whenever an athlete from Britain or Canada wins anything, he or she turns out to be Jamaican born or the child of Jamaicans. He was exaggerating, of course. But there's a lot of truth in his observation. Jamaicans have emigrated in droves and many achieve remarkable success in their adopted countries.

General Colin Powell is perhaps the most famous example. I'm sure you know his parents were from Jamaica, although he was born in the United States. But the most publicized successes are in sports. In track and field, for example, Jamaicans have excelled as long as I can remember. "Little Jamaica Beats the World" the headline proclaimed when a Jamaican relay team won the men's 4-by-400-meter event at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. And "little Jamaica's" athletes have been beating the world ever since - even if they often wear some other country's colors.

The island has produced too many cricket stars for me to count. And if you're a boxing fan, you know Jamaica has given many champions to that sport. Former world heavyweight champion Lenox Lewis had Jamaican parents. But did you know that Patrick Ewing, acclaimed as one of America's 50 best basketball players of all time, was born in Kingston? Even in baseball, which is rarely played in Jamaica, we can claim at least one star - Devon White, who was selected for three All Star teams. I could go on and on.

Hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans now live in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The largest expatriate communities are in London, Miami-Dade, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. This "Jamaican Diaspora" - as it has come to be called - has enriched the destination countries. And it has impoverished Jamaica. You can see the effects reflected in our recent performances at cricket. And even in track, it's the Jamaican women who are left to carry the torch. But while sports may grab the headlines, the talent drain's impact may be more hurtful in other fields. Just think of the nurses the island has given to the world - for free. Jamaican taxpayers helped train them, yet many of them have taken their skills to other countries. In almost every walk of life, you will find the same kind of talent drain.

There's little that Jamaica can do to stop the drain. Jamaicans leave home because the grass is greener elsewhere. Even so, the island needs to do what little it can. Support for youth sports could be increased, for example. And attractive tax breaks could be provided for professions deemed vital to the island's prosperity.

Other nations are not as generous as Jamaica. When the Boston Red Sox wanted to sign Japanese pitcher, Daisuke Matsuzaka, they had to pay about $50 million just to talk to him. The total cost of acquiring the baseball player topped $90 million. Now, Major League teams are recruiting talent in China. And it is
costing them plenty. Perhaps some form of compensation could be worked out for exploitation of Jamaican talent. How about asking the United States, Canada and Britain to pay us what it cost Jamaican taxpayers to train a nurse who goes to live in those countries?

Having said that, my complaint is not so much against Jamaica as against the developed nations.
These countries assume they are entitled to the riches of the world without argument. When the Statue of Liberty was erected, the proclamation inscribed on it called for other countries to send America their "poor, their huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Now, a more accurate inscription would be: "Send us your computer engineers, your rocket scientists, your doctors and nurses..."

A furious debate rages in the United States over the influx of undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Employers in several industries benefit from these people who are willing to work for substandard wages, and their representatives in government are eager to keep the flow of cheap labor coming. But many
Americans resent the Mexican "invasion" and protest that American jobs are threatened.

In all of the thousands (millions?) of words produced in this debate, no one has challenged America's right to accept only the cream of the world's crop. Official U.S. policy bars prospective immigrants who lack skills that the country wants. The same is true in Canada, where immigration officials use a scorecard to weed out less qualified applicants. This attitude seems to prevail throughout the developed world.

But is this fair? What right does a rich country have to plunder the talent of a poor country while refusing to offer opportunity to that country's needy? The answer should be obvious. It is not fair. Indeed, it is downright immoral.

A New Jamaica

Written by Hansen Von Shneir

Now comes a new era for Jamaica, under the stewardship of the Peoples’ National Party.  Transformation in Jamaica is about leadership, but can we expect anything new under the sun if we continue choosing leadership from the same old stock of career politicians?

Only the next generation can contribute towards this renaissance we so badly desire.   It’s time to commit to educating our young people in critical thinking and ethical service, values that will be crucial for the nation-building that lies ahead.

Jamaican Diaspora, will we continue to sit isolated and insulated in our little think-tanks and talk-shops, engaged in endless, idle chatter, trying to piece together the jigsaw images of the Jamaica of yesterday, relishing the past but having no real hope for the future of our homeland?  Where will we go when we feel the need to return home?

Nevertheless, We who are not yet willing to give up on Jamaica must find the courage to mobilize around our elected leaders, and in support of any approach that may empower our people; including greater synergy and partnerships with the Jamaica Diaspora.  In her role at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Minister Marlene Malahoo-Forte showed great prospects in re-engaging the Diaspora community.  We are hopeful that her replacement will be someone with similar qualities and inherent characteristics.  Ms. Lisa Hanna would be an excellent choice.

 I look forward to continuing our dialogue in 2012. And remember, your participation is still needed required with 2012 - Jamaica Matters  Compilation Project.  Stay up-to-date on: JAMLINK.COM

SCHOOLS AND ‘THE RIOTS’ - Parents and Students Beware!

                               

                                





At a meeting in Manchester on Wednesday 31 August 2011 and the following day at a meeting in Lewisham, I warned parents and students that when schools reopen their children would most likely be targeted either by teachers or by the resident police in those schools to find out where they were and what they were doing during the recent civil unrest, or/and who they knew that took to the streets and became involved. Parents needed to be prepared for that and guide their children as to how to respond, as I was sure that many schools would see it as their business to ‘help police shop rioters’ as a newspaper headline put it.

And all of this at a time when, with the active encouragement of the Government, courts were ‘naming and shaming’ juveniles for taking part in the disturbances on the streets or for receiving looted goods.

On Saturday, one of the young people who attended the Lewisham meeting sent me an email saying that his brother was given the following homework which was set for his entire year group:

Write an eye witness account, describing what you saw during the riots:

-the setting

-the people you saw

-what happened

Definition of eye witness: a person who actually sees some act, occurrence, or thing and can give a firsthand account of it.

While that might look like an attempt to test school students’ writing skills and their powers of recall, it is clearly inviting children to incriminate themselves and others. In order to be able to give a firsthand account, one must have been present and observing (taking pictures on your mobile phone, for example) or present and participating. In either case, the police would be interested in you. The school for its part would no doubt form a view about the fact that you were present on the streets at all.

So, what might present itself as a straightforward curriculum exercise could result in school students being excluded from school or being referred to the police as having information that could support a prosecution, theirs or those they name or are cajoled into naming in their ‘eye witness’ accounts.

Ever since 6 August 2011 when the disturbances started in Tottenham, the police have been stopping and searching school students indiscriminately and more often than not in an intimidating, humiliating and provocative manner. Now, the schools are using their equivalent of ‘Stop & Search’.

Guidance to Parents:

Be watchful!

Talk to your child about what s/he is being asked in school concerning ‘the riots’.

Tell your children that since they are not ‘rioters’ they should not be running off their mouths about what happened on the streets. Their teachers would have seen on television or read in the newspapers the same things that they saw.

If your child brings home homework of the sort described above, telephone or write to the school as follows:

My child has been asked to describe what s/he saw during ‘the riots’.

I take it that s/he could approach this as a creative writing exercise?

I have been having discussions with her/him about the ‘Arab Spring’ and the civil unrest in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and Libya. Libya is especially interesting at the moment.

I want to make sure that my child will not be penalised for describing and commenting upon what s/he has been witnessing the citizens of those countries doing on their streets.

If the school insists that they want your child to write about ‘the recent riots in Britain’, tell them that your child is not a ‘rioter’ and cannot therefore give an account of what s/he saw during ‘the riots’.



Professor Gus John

Interim Chair: Parents and Students Empowerment

London England

Marcus Garvey 2011

Written by Geoffrey Philip

“Nationhood is the only means by which modern civilization can completely protect itself. Independence of nationality, independence of government, is the means of protecting not only the individual, but the group. Nationhood is the highest ideal of all peoples”  

The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, Or, Africa for Africans. Compiled by Amy Jacques Garvey. Dover: Majority Press, 1986.

 These words of Marcus Mosiah Garvey are still true, and it is no wonder that Garvey is Jamaica’s first national hero. Marcus Mosiah Garvey was a man of determination, and he believed in the principle of success. As Garvey said in a speech in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1937, “At my age I have learnt no better lesson than that which I am going to impart to you to make man what he ought to be—a success in life. There are two classes on men in the world, those who succeed and those who do not succeed” (Marcus Garvey: Life and Lessons, xxv). So, on this day of  the celebration of our nationhood, what does Garvey’s life mean to Jamaica in the face of beheadings,political corruption, and a seeming loss of faith that we may be heading toward being defined as a“failed state”?

 No doubt, many Jamaicans will be going to church tomorrow and they will listen to various speeches about this and that, platitudes that balm a cancer. Commentators will have answers to every question under our beautiful sun. But the real questions that we should be asking ourselves are ones that I pose to the characters in my fictions: Who are you? What do you want? How will you get what you want?

 I never begin a first draft until these questions are answered, Then, I make a rough outline of the plot with an inciting incident, lock-in, first culmination, main culmination, and what I think will be the third act twist, where the hero makes a discovery–which surprises the audience and the hero–or something/someone reminds the hero of who she really is. Whether she has the courage to act on what she knows, means that that I will be writing (in the broadest sense of the terms) a tragedy (she fails to achieve her goal) or a comedy (she achieves her goal). Once I know these elements, I begin writing. I never begin writing before I know how the story will end.

 As far as the short [her]story of Jamaica goes, we’ve been through the inciting incidents of resistance, lock-in of Independence, first culmination in the exodus of the 70s, and main culmination in the recognition of the Diaspora. I don’t know what the third act twist will be. If our story will be a tragedy.

 But we do have the wisdom from our heroes and a wealth of courage in our people But how will we answer the question: Who are you?

 When the “right time comes,”–which is always now– I hope as Brother Bob says, “when the preaching and talking is done, ” we will “live up/ Cause the Father’s time has come” (“Survival’).

 Surprise me, Jamaica

Garvey, Amy Jacques. The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, Or, Africa for Africans.  Dover: Majority Press, 1986.

Obama’s Advisors Should Respect Marcus Garvey



Written By George Graham

I never knew Marcus Garvey. He died when I was 6 years old. But my mother heard him speak when he visited Guy’s Hill back in her childhood. And, if my information is correct, my granduncle, the Rev. William Graham, advised and encouraged him.

To my mother, Garvey seemed rather strange. In those days black men did not command the kind of respect they did in later years – after Jamaica achieved independence from England. Today, black leaders occupy the highest positions of power and privilege in Jamaica, which is only to be expected as the country’s population is overwhelmingly black.

Back in the Twenties and Thirties, Garvey’s ideas were considered – to say the least – unusual. If my memory is accurate, he was among the first, for example, to claim that Jesus was not a white man. He urged the black Diaspora to return to Africa and called on black people everywhere to join forces and reclaim their dignity. “Our union must know no clime, boundary, or nationality… let us hold together under all climes and in every country,” he said.

To Americans like FBI czar J. Edgar Hoover, his ideas were seditious. Hoover is suspected of framing Garvey and having him put in jail. The Jamaican-born agitator was convicted of mail fraud in 1923 and was deported after spending two years and nine months in an Atlanta prison.

Now, nine decades later, Jamaicans want Garvey pardoned. The American conviction is a blemish on the legacy of a native son who is revered in the island today. He was the first person to be proclaimed a National Hero when Jamaica became independent. And to Rastafarians, Garvey is a prophet.

The Jamaica Observer reports:

Florida-based Jamaican-born attorney Donovan Parker has been writing to president Obama every week since January requesting a posthumous pardon for Garvey, who many believe was set up by the J Edgar Hoover-led Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), fearful of his widening popularity among downtrodden US blacks.

In a shocking response – shocking to Jamaicans like me, anyway – the Obama Administration has refused. The Observer reports:

In a tersely worded reply to Parker’s request, White House Pardon Attorney, Ronald Rodgers said such a move would be a waste of time and resources since Garvey had been dead for ages.

“It is the general policy of the Department of Justice that requests for posthumous pardons for federal offences not be processed for adjudication. The policy is grounded in the belief that the time of the officials involved in the clemency process is better spent on pardon and commutation requests of living persons.

“Many posthumous pardon requests would likely be based on a claim of manifest injustice, and given that decades have passed since the event and the historical record would have to be scoured to objectively and comprehensively investigate such applications, it is the Department’s position that the limited resources which are available to process requests for Presidential clemency — now being submitted in record numbers — are best dedicated to requests submitted by persons who can truly benefit from a grant of the request,” Rodgers replied on behalf of Obama, who is the first black president in the history of the United States.

This might seem like quite a reasonable argument. But it is an unfortunate one.

Respect is important in the Jamaican culture. And, to me, this shows disrespect not only for Garvey’s memory but also for the sovereign nation of Jamaica.

I see this as one more example of the Obama Administration’s deplorable tone deafness. Hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans now live in the United States – one small city, Miramar, has about 50,000 residents from the island. And many of us have become citizens. President Obama has enjoyed enthusiastic support from the Jamaican Diaspora. We expect him to be more sensitive to our feelings.

I certainly do not think the president is personally to blame, but I wonder at his administration’s political insensitivity. The elements in American society who elected Obama have been poorly treated. Black unemployment, for example, is more than twice the national average. The anti-war movement and other progressives are ignored and derided. Organized labor is so disenchanted that the AFL-CIO has threatened to withhold financial support in next year’s elections.

To me, this is a poor re-election strategy for the nation’s first black president.

Black Woman! Love Thy Hair & Skin!

             Miss Angola  Leila Lopes has won  Miss Universe 2011


Carol Carter aka Ripuree wrote this.



Black African daughters of Jamaica or wherever


Mothers of all skin shades and textures of hair.

Carrier of prototype human material

Yet promoting only lighter shades with straight hair?



Yes; there was a time when we could do no better

When our bodies, mind or space we could not control

When we were raped anywhere, anytime before loved ones

Thus we and our men, are still challenged to connect.



It wasn’t possible to experience that degree of self negation for centuries

And not end up wanting to portray any image, but our own

Thus, too few Negro men admire Negro women’s beauty

While we encourage our sons to continue such ways.



Still, it matters not what we did yesterday, yesteryear or the last moment

All that matters is who we decide to become from now on.

We couldn’t do better, when we didn’t know better

Or when we were mentally blindfolded, with our limbs cut off.



So daughter of Africa and mothers of mankind

What causes will we make to correct our plight?

What future do we want for successive generations of our children

In the world of tomorrow and beyond?



Sisters, we’re sensuous and we’re gorgeous

We’re the mothers of the human race.

But we’re retarding our own growth, plus that of all others

Mindlessly making causes; not considering future effects.



Critically examine our views of God and Allah

Can they unite and inoculate our minds from self hate?

And can we stop being so Heavenly focused for a moment

To honor other Negroes, with whom we share earth space?



Should we still shout black love, unity and power

When our most Negroid features, we so strongly detest?

Should we expect anyone else to accept us color-blindly

When we cannot accept ourselves “as is”?



Do the blackest children have a chance in Jamaica

When the Bible and Western culture tell us that black is sinful and bad?

Can we refuse such self-defeating nonsense

And choose uplifting self descriptions instead?



Today we know that verbal and physical traumas

Can negatively impact us for life.

While self-love produces healthy self image,

So why accept degrading meanings of ourselves?



Why do our children still ingest fear-filled Bible notions?

Which are: violent, unjust, irrational and ungodly

As much as, or more than censored T.V. show.

How are such things wise for compromised minds?



Sisters, many of us sow negativity further

Encouraging fathers to not support children they had when we met.

But what lessons are we teaching by such actions?

And would we want our daughters, to meet same fate?



Can we not think more lofty than lower animals

Who ensure that only the best are reproduced.

By looking for others already with good character

Not their weakness to manipulate?



Can we cultivate and elevate a new default mindset,

That considers what is ultimately best for the whole

Not just a Chosen Few

As when only a few prosper, they must fear everyone else.



Sisters, men have ruled the world in Wars and economic businesses,

but we’re the molders of the character of those Men.

So when our wealthier men mostly choose Caucasian

It’s our words and ways, they replicate.



Yes; we do have the power to uplift or demote

And we’re truly stagnating our collective progress

By refusing to acknowledge that we hate our own color;

Thus the reason others disrespect us, where we’re most.



Our men we must respect and cherish

Because without them, we’re only half.

Plus, they’re products of our uterus,

And were nourished to grow from our breasts.



We first taught them to be men

But whatever we’ve been teaching has been flawed

So now it’s our maternal right and responsibility

To teach anew, from our authentic images and selves.



Selfishness, greed and stupidity, were the life- conditions prevailing

When some Negro Africans profited from the Slave Trade.

And those vibes have now expanded exponentially

Since worldwide, we seem most against ourselves.



Many of us (self included) have acted dishonourably.

But we needn’t remain marinating in guilt and shame.

All that matter is who we’re committed to becoming

With every thought we think, and action we take.



Negro women of the world

No matter what any Teacher, Bible or Society tell us

Let’s know; that before us there were no others

And after us, none shall remain.



As first humans we have great responsibilities

Overtime, and by dilution Negroes produced all others

While no other two, can produce Negroes overtime

Prototypical Negro state must therefore be protected, respected, and not despised.



Black is not less important than white, nor equal to sin as the Bible imply.

And darkness is not obliterated by light

Therefore; rethink all the nonsense we’ve been taught

By the Bible, and all else that inform our minds.



Negro daughters of Africa, and mothers of all human

It’s our duty, in Jamaica and worldwide

To honour our selves in ways that make it impossible

To be scorned and denied, where we’re the most.

Can the UK looting be justified?

Written by Myrna Loy

Can the looting be justified? This of course depends on whose perspective you are looking at. The teenagers will say it is justified because they are getting back at the police for killing Mark Duggan, a mixed-race 29 year old who was shot in the back of his head while in a taxi going home. They will say that they are getting back at PM David Cameron for making their parents lose their jobs, putting their family below the poverty line; they will say that because their parents can’t buy them the things they deem necessary, they have a right to take them if the opportunity presents itself. They say there are no jobs; no opportunities, it is time to take something back. “We pay taxes, said one female looter, so we are entitled!”. For those suffering the impact of the recession, it became payback time! Opportunism and greed fanned the flames in Tottenham and around 26 different cities in the UK

From what I have read and heard, the family carried a banner which said “Justice for Duggan” and marched to Tottenham Police Station to get answers. What started off as a peaceful demonstration to ascertain why the police shot Mark Duggan, turned into another Broadwater Farm riot after a female member of the Duggan family was bludgeoned by a police officer outside the station when imploring for an explanation. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back: the demonstration spiraled out of control, fuelled by an angry, frustrated members of the Tottenham community.

The first Broadwater Farm riot occurred on 6 October 1985, when Cynthia Jarrett, a black woman died from stroke after a police raid in her home; exacerbated by another black woman being shot during a police search a week earlier. What followed culminated in the death of Police Constable Blacklock. It is ironic that yet another death in Tottenham has resulted in mass rioting, not only in the area where it happened but in other cities around the country.

According to sources, 1.4m are living below the poverty line; 1.3m are living with substance abuse parents. 1 in 5 young Britons are out of work - 1 in 2 black people are unemployed but we are told by politicians that a lack of values was the cause of the riots, and that social networks, like Facebook, twitter and the Blackberry BBN, enabled the way the riots were organized. They seem to forget that values come from enjoying a stable upbringing; earning a living; feeling respected and proud – but with 1 out of 2 black people denied the right to have their basic needs satisfied, it is no wonder that the riots involving them, are the outcome. It is surprising that the sensibility of what seemed like senseless, uncontrolled rioting ceased as quickly as it started when they realized their irresponsibility resulted in the death of three innocent traders who were trying to protect their property.

Now the government is now seeking to give parents back the right to discipline their children (after the horse has bolted!); and they are planning to give teachers that right too. Too little too late!

3,000 perpetrators have been arrested, meaning there will be even more unemployable black people. Employers will not employ someone with a prison record – so the unemployment statistics go up, and the downward spiral and vicious cycle continues.

*********

Different perspectives

The perspective of those who lost their homes, lost their cars, and other property: why did they suffer the impact of Mark Duggan’s death? Many left homeless – they feel should not have lost everything to fire. They could understand if the rioters had burned down police stations, but they didn’t, they burned down innocent people’s homes and left people jumping from buildings for their lives.

From the perspective of the deceased’s family: Mark Duggan was a family man, a father of four, living with is fiancé of 12 years, with plans to move out of Tottenham and get married. “He always avoided confrontation and would not have fired at police”

From the perspective of the police watchdog: “There is no evidence Mark Duggan opened fire at police before being shot dead by a firearms officer, the Independent Police Complaints Commission has said. The police watchdog said ballistic tests showed "no evidence that the handgun found at the scene was fired".

BBC News understands firearms officers discharged their weapons in the belief there was a threat to human life. Their guidelines allow them to open fire in such circumstances”

The David Starkey, politician said that white people were acting black, and that Jamaican patois and black culture fuelled the riots, while Prime Minister David Cameron said that it is not a race issue but a crime issue and that we live amongst a broken and sick society.

Compare my generation to the new generation when we were respectful to our elders; we couldn’t back chat; we opened up doors, gave up our seats; didn’t speak unless we were spoken to – and did do any harm? No! These days you will find that while there are always exceptions to the rule, the majority of young people in the UK are arrogant, disrespectful to their parents and/or authority.

According to Angela Bajaican – “we must look for solutions to the crisis. … the backlash from the riots is: 'Bring in Robo-cop', 'Stolen bottled water - first offence - six months in prison'; 'white is the new black', 'Gas all the coons' - there is no question which community is in the firing line, despite the facts that illustrate many races were involved, the blame is on the black people as being the instigators, so the challenge for the Black community therefore has never been greater.