Orville Taylor

Which politician or corporate leader do you want your son or daughter to be like? I know thatthere is the tendency to speak negatively of the entertainers and performers (I have to make a distinction between the two, because not all performers are entertaining). However, it is an unfair burden to place on the shoulders of mostly young men, many of whom have had incomplete parenting and are oftentimes drop-outs of the educational system.

After all, why should you trust the upbringing and academic guidance of your children to people who 'are spoke bad English,' behave badly in public, have shady financial dealings, say one thing on stage and do another, associate with characters of ill repute, are under suspicion of carnal abuse and find themselves on the wrong side of the law with gun-related charges? The answer is obvious. The problem is, I was referring to the civil and civic leaders, not the DJs.

When is the last time you watched clips of a parliamentary sitting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and felt pleased with the conduct of our elected Members of Parlia-ment? In the past year alone, we have had all of the above mentioned in regard to our political leaders. What do you expect of little rivulets when the head of the stream is muddy?

The past year has been characterised by scandals and counter scandals with enough smut to smear out the green and orange. By the way, did you know that if you mix green and orange you end up with a muddy brown? I would have preferred to call it 'chocolate brown' as a positive analogy of our skin, but the leadership has made 'chawklit' taste like a nasty word.

Two hundred years after the end of the slave trade, and we have apparently 'lost the race'. In a country with proportionally more blacks than England has whites, and Israel has Jews, the debate regarding slavery and reparations is lagging. It is unbelievable that British Prime Minister Tony Blair raised the matter to his own House of Commons last year, while we played 'crab-in-the-barrel politics'. In the United Kingdom, this is one of the biggest issues this year, and loads of money have been earmarked for the commemoration of the slave trade's abolition this year.

Waste of freedom

Here, the biggest news is whether a cartoon was unflattering or whether there should be a censure motion against a parliamentarian who has sat on both sides of the fence. What a waste of our freedom. No wonder the opponents of emancipation and the supporters of apartheid argued that we were not capable of running countries.

Veteran Opposition Member of Parliament, Mike Henry, finally had his overdue motion regarding slavery tabled last week. It languished in our house of governance since September, as we squabbled over Trafigura, Scandals White House, prime ministerial doodles and press access to Parliament. Now, if we can see past Cricket World Cup, elections and political one-upmanship, we might just come to an understanding of why we need to celebrate the end of one of the most heinous tragedies perpetrated by one group of humans over another.

Impact of slavery

Henry is as right as rain and his spirited motion is a 'sobering' one. In rummaging up support, his determination made certain that no effort to bar him would prevent it from going forward. Indeed, slavery is a 'crime against humanity' and it is arguable that it might even be genocide. His analysis of the impact of slavery on the descendants of Africans here in the diaspora as well as on the continent is correct. Many of the social pathologies of African descendants are indirectly linked to the process. Henry's argument for compensation via cash, debt relief or otherwise, is a solid one and his citing of the examples of the Maori in New Zealand and the Jews, who got an entire country and copious amount of 'Yankee Dallaz,' makes much sense.

On this piece of Jamrock, there is much division regarding the impact of slavery. Just a few months ago the St. Elizabeth Parish Council rejected the idea of the need to commemorate the end of the trade it eventually recanted, it shows how "unconscious" we are. Furthermore, my colleague, 'Podo', who has guided many young talents to glory, is unconvinced about the present-day impact of slavery.

Nevertheless, believe it or not, it is our slave experience that makes us susceptible to electing, following and tolerating the behaviour of certain types of leaders. It is also slavery and the colonial experience that dulls our minds into a sleepy nonchalance that it is over.

So asleep we are that it took the Jamaican Parliament 13 years to pay any attention to this matte adopted Jamaican, Lord Anthony Gifford raised it to the Pan African Congress in 1993. Even more embarrassing it must be that Gifford took it before the House of Lords in 1996, 11 years ago.

While it is appreciated that a white Jamaica lover has our interest at heart, it is sad that it helps to give credence to the historical myth that slavery was abolished due to the benevolence of Quakers and sympathisers like William Wilberforce in the late 1700s. It panders to the fable of Abraham Lincoln simply having a sense of conscience in the 1860s. Yet, there are tons of evidence that we did much to liberate ourselves. However, our present apathy and apparent sense of comfort that 'all is well' now dishonour our forefathers who died to set us free.

This stupor is part of slavery's legacy because it makes us accept the status quo as given.

Dr. Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona.