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Negro aroused?
Lloyd B Smith
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
The paranoia now besetting some supporters of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party with respect to the spectre of a Portia Simpson Miller-led People's National Party obtaining a fifth term in government has led to a fierce air war being perpetrated by some rabid "Rottweilers" whose bark may well turn out to be more than their bite.
Apparently, these "poison mouth" specialists have not learnt from the mistakes of the Dr Peter Phillips Solid As A Rock campaign team whose often below-the-belt barbs against Sister P assisted her in gaining a great deal of sympathy both inside and outside her party.
My advice to the Bruce Golding-led JLP is that they should rope in these "moutamassies" who are doing more harm than good in their quest to put the PNP out to pasture.
Not that the JLP should muzzle its supporters, but these narrow-minded partisans should be encouraged to focus on issues rather than personalities. Clearly, in terms of likeability, Portia Simpson Miller is way ahead of Bruce Golding so if the JLP hopes to counter this infectious charisma then it must stick with the issues - especially those relating to "bread and butter".
Although my reference to the JLP as being perceived by many Jamaicans as a "brown-man party" has got me into trouble with certain labourites, I will still maintain that colour and class are still two very pivotal issues plaguing the political landscape.
Regardless of what my detractors posit, there is enough evidence out there to indicate that many black Jamaicans want a leader who looks and talks like them.
The increasing popularity of the dancehall culture has helped to reinforce this attitude which enabled PJ Patterson to keep the labourites at bay, notwithstanding the many negatives out there.
The fact is that most Jamaicans are tired of the "cass-cass" and the confrontational-type politics which has only engendered unnecessary divisiveness and hatred.
Golding, so far, outside of his controversial "bangarang" speech (which unfortunately was grossly misinterpreted and used unfairly against him), has come across as a consultative, conciliatory-type leader whose managerialist style will appeal to the educated and upwardly mobile, but may find little currency among the lower class who are more likely to be enamoured with a leader who relies on emotional intelligence.
In all of this, it must be understood and faced up to that Portia Simpson Miller's victory has given the average black Jamaican a new sense of hope because they can now fully identify with a leader who has come from the bosom of the masses.
Those strategists in the JLP who ignore this stark reality do so to their own peril. Not that charisma cannot be beaten at the polls, but any meaningful and effective foray into Sister P's camp has to be done with some amount of melanin mixed with a message that can penetrate not just the minds but hearts of Jamaicans.
In this context, the JLP has a fearsome and fearless champion in the person of Councillor Desmond McKenzie, mayor of Kingston, who is relatively young, and is gifted and black.
Indeed, I am bold to suggest that should the JLP lose the next general election, Mayor McKenzie's stock will rise tremendously and he may well become a future leader of that party, and would be a formidable opponent up against Sister P. Brother Desmond already has a track record of performance and with his hands-on, rootsy and in-your-face approach to governance, he may well turn out to be the best foil for Sister P, and, in any event, the JLP's great black hope even as Pearnel Charles prepares to ride off into the sunset.
Whether we like it or not, the Jamaican political landscape is undergoing, albeit somewhat quietly, a revolutionary shift which was started with the ascendancy of the Fresh Prince (PJ) to Jamaica House. For me, it is a veritable case of "Negro Aroused" and it is an idea whose time has come. Call me racist if you will, but the writing is on the wall.
This, of course, does not mean that there is no room in the inn for people of other colours and races in Jamaica. Some of Sister P's and Brother Desmond's supporters are brown, white and yellow, in the same way that some of their worst enemies are black.
But it must be understood that in a country where the majority of its citizens are of African descent, more soon than later, the pendulum must swing in their favour. It is beginning to happen now, and what is refreshing is that black leaders like Portia Simpson Miller and Desmond McKenzie are showing that blacks can manage and can be winners too.
Neither Simpson Miller nor McKenzie is spouting racial hatred. Nor am I. All that is being put forward is that after slavery, colonisation and being controlled by the ruling class, a new day is dawning in Jamaica for those of us of African descent.
The negro is aroused. Let us hope that neither Sister P nor Brother Desmond will become "roast breadfruit backras" in the Great House but will seek to liberate their people from mental slavery and persistent poverty. The time has come to chase those crazy baldheads out of town. One Love, One Heart, One Aim, One Destiny. So Jah say!
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Negro aroused?
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