Orville W. Taylor
SO WHAT if I am a scrooge? Christmas is the most stressful period of the year.
No wonder Mary went into labour so early and had her little black baby in an animal feeding trough.
Last year, I angered a number of devoted Christians, to whom God speaks directly, by suggesting that Jesus was not the azure eyes, Western European, but more likely, an Ethiopian-looking, nappy-haired, scruffy ruffian.
There is imposing evidence about the possible physical resemblance of Jesus to 'Jah Jah' Haile Selassie I, but I don't have space for the details this week.
Nonetheless, the people of Jesus' region did not become as light skinned as they are now until after the invasions of the western Europeans.
Interestingly, seven centuries before Jesus' birth, 10 of the original 12 tribes of Israel were exiled.
Today, the Lemba, a set of people in South Africa who look just like you and me with 'sweet pepper' nose and all, have been proven to have related DNA to the present-day 'whitened' Jews.
What this shows is that even with racial mixing with the Romans and Greeks, it would be hard to have the original Yesus Christos resembling Leonardo da Vinci's uncle.
In any event, if Homo sapiens emerged in Ethiopia, Adam himself must have been black although unlike most of us, he did not have a big navel. In fact, he did not have one at all.
ADAMS' REINSTATEMENT
Speaking of Adams, the unsurprising verdict in the Kraal murder trial was that Reneto Valentino 'Reinstatement' Adams and his colleagues were not guilty.
On Tuesday, I had to silence a friend who began to argue that because the prosecution failed to make a case, the 'lawmen' walked or rather, 'crawled' free. Well, from my little para-military training, I know that it is difficult to crawl unless one 'lies.'
Let's be honest here! None of the 'gunmen' and women had gunpowder residue on their hands, which they would, unless they were wearing 'handoms'.
The little girl, who said that she was dragged from the arms of the slain adult female, was convincing.
Furthermore, a key prosecution witness, who was supposed to be under constant police supervision, went missing, only to turn up later with an excuse by his attorney. His lawyer, Lloyd McFarlane, declared that his client would have been forced to give untrue testimony.
Opposition spokesman on Justice, Delroy Chuck, suggested that the verdict demonstrates that much is wrong with the justice system. Maybe yes, maybe no!
However, as many new attorneys come to learn, trials by jury are more about psychology and sociology and not about law.
It is a matter of who is more capable of appealing to the emotions of the jury.
Even so, I bet that Chuck, a veteran lawyer himself, has used jury psychology to acquit his clients in the past.
SKYROCKETING CRIME
In closing arguments, Adams' lawyers reported that since his removal from frontline duties, the crime rate has skyrocketed.
I am not sure if this is true, although the homicide rates have risen. However, even if it is so, that is not a legal argument.
It is no more relevant than it is to say that a woman found 'crotching' a package of cocaine by airport security should be exonerated because she has three fatherless children.
I don't believe that the jury is any different from the average Jamaicans, who, though convinced of his guilt, know that we are engaged in an all-out war against criminal elements.
Thus, to convict Adams would be a victory for them. In the circumstances, the persons killed, including those who many feel were not shooting at the police, given that more persons than guns were found, are 'collateral damage.'
In many ways, this case reminds me of George W. Bush's war on terror.
He defied international law and the United Nations' and went to war on a premise which, after three years is still unproven.
His operatives have tortured prisoners in Iraq, taken suspects to foreign countries for improper interrogation and now have bugged the phones of American citizens.
All of these acts are against international and United States law. Yet, who would dare to demoralise the poor battle-weary troops by telling them that they are fighting for nothing or the wrong reason?
Who would try to initiate action against a president when there are very real forces trying to destroy Americans?
The threat of Bin Hidin' and his cronies is as real to the Americans as is that posed by our criminal underground to us.
BUILD GOODWILL
I fully understand the verdict and perhaps in the position of the jurors and given the current state of morale in the police force and the 12 officers killed this year, I would have done the same.
Yet, Adams and his men must not gloat and he should say as little as possible and sleep on the same side of the bed as before the trial.
The fact is lives have been lost, a child has been traumatised and Bashington 'Chen Chen' Douglas, who Adams and colleagues 'pursued' was not caught. He was as elusive as the famed Iraqi weapons of 'mass distraction'.
Adams and his crew got a Christmas 'presence'. They should now use it to build goodwill with the public, whose cooperation is paramount.
The jury of public opinion is harder to convince. Merry Christmas!
Dr. Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
