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From Rags To Wretches
Published: Monday | August 12, 2013 0 Comments
By Garth A. Rattray
Drawings depicting periods covering slavery and Emancipation commonly showed slaves wearing rags (tattered clothing). They were physically and mentally enslaved for many centuries. Betrayed by their own kind, broken by the slavers and indoctrinated by the colonialists for generations, our ancestors came to accept the belief that they were less (in every way) than the despicable people who enslaved them.
They were forced to depend on their enslavers to feed them, house them, clothe them, mate them and even raise the children that they produced as mere commodities.
The women were workers and incubators for slave babies. The men were also workers and sperm donors used to increase the chattel belonging to their enslavers. Men were not allowed to form family units, so there was absolutely no 'family life'. A woman's worth was often measured by the children she produced and her status sometimes depended on where that child ended up under the aegis of the enslavers.
We now live in the 21st century. Mankind has travelled through space, probed the universe, conquered the ocean depths, solved innumerable natural mysteries, advanced science and medicine in leaps and bounds, done marvels with information and communication technology and made the world a much smaller place than it used to be.
And yet, many men, women and children in our depressed communities have only gone from rags to wretches (profoundly unhappy and unfortunate individuals).
During our critical and pivotal years after attaining self-governance, instead of empowering and uplifting our people, the political agenda was to keep the masses so dependent on politics for everything, that they were forced to support one political party or the other in its quest for power and control.
Many of us know that veteran journalist Ian Boyne, in his Gleaner article ('Get tough on murder music', Sunday, July 14, 2013) was spot on when he blamed those politicians who created garrison communities and used criminality to "gain and retain power" for our current sorry status. Even today, their licentious legacy remains and has metastasised throughout all of society, causing pain, suffering and dysfunction.
Not only have we not been able to muster the moral and political will to correct this long-standing disgrace and ongoing injustice, many seem to like the status quo. I also agree wholeheartedly with the new principal of the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, Professor Archibald McDonald, when he bemoaned (in a Gleaner piece published Monday July, 22, 2013) that the institution has not played as important a role as it should in the development of the region and of our country.
Modern-day slavery
Between those immoral politicians who armed and organised terrorist squads, kept their constituents totally dependent on them and their cronies for day-to-day survival in order to keep their voting base secure; between the ruthless dons that filled the partial vacuum left by the politicians who were unable to keep their promises; and between a society that is mired by inertia, apathy and unwisely views inner-city dwellers as 'them' in very abstract terms, generations of our people have moved from one form of slavery to another.
Mental and socio-economic slavery still exist in many depressed communities. No longer pale-skinned with a pointed nose, thin lips and straight hair, the new enslavers look just like 98 per cent of us and run society from behind desks with our seal of approval.
Still dependent, lacking family lives, lacking proper education, lacking adequate social amenities, disenfranchised, disempowered, reproducing for status, power and financial support - 175 years after Emancipation and 51 years after Independence, not much has changed for them.
Until we abolish all forms of slavery, Jamaica will never be safe and we will never prosper.
Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to [email protected] and [email protected].
Published: Monday | August 12, 2013 0 Comments
By Garth A. Rattray
Drawings depicting periods covering slavery and Emancipation commonly showed slaves wearing rags (tattered clothing). They were physically and mentally enslaved for many centuries. Betrayed by their own kind, broken by the slavers and indoctrinated by the colonialists for generations, our ancestors came to accept the belief that they were less (in every way) than the despicable people who enslaved them.
They were forced to depend on their enslavers to feed them, house them, clothe them, mate them and even raise the children that they produced as mere commodities.
The women were workers and incubators for slave babies. The men were also workers and sperm donors used to increase the chattel belonging to their enslavers. Men were not allowed to form family units, so there was absolutely no 'family life'. A woman's worth was often measured by the children she produced and her status sometimes depended on where that child ended up under the aegis of the enslavers.
We now live in the 21st century. Mankind has travelled through space, probed the universe, conquered the ocean depths, solved innumerable natural mysteries, advanced science and medicine in leaps and bounds, done marvels with information and communication technology and made the world a much smaller place than it used to be.
And yet, many men, women and children in our depressed communities have only gone from rags to wretches (profoundly unhappy and unfortunate individuals).
During our critical and pivotal years after attaining self-governance, instead of empowering and uplifting our people, the political agenda was to keep the masses so dependent on politics for everything, that they were forced to support one political party or the other in its quest for power and control.
Many of us know that veteran journalist Ian Boyne, in his Gleaner article ('Get tough on murder music', Sunday, July 14, 2013) was spot on when he blamed those politicians who created garrison communities and used criminality to "gain and retain power" for our current sorry status. Even today, their licentious legacy remains and has metastasised throughout all of society, causing pain, suffering and dysfunction.
Not only have we not been able to muster the moral and political will to correct this long-standing disgrace and ongoing injustice, many seem to like the status quo. I also agree wholeheartedly with the new principal of the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, Professor Archibald McDonald, when he bemoaned (in a Gleaner piece published Monday July, 22, 2013) that the institution has not played as important a role as it should in the development of the region and of our country.
Modern-day slavery
Between those immoral politicians who armed and organised terrorist squads, kept their constituents totally dependent on them and their cronies for day-to-day survival in order to keep their voting base secure; between the ruthless dons that filled the partial vacuum left by the politicians who were unable to keep their promises; and between a society that is mired by inertia, apathy and unwisely views inner-city dwellers as 'them' in very abstract terms, generations of our people have moved from one form of slavery to another.
Mental and socio-economic slavery still exist in many depressed communities. No longer pale-skinned with a pointed nose, thin lips and straight hair, the new enslavers look just like 98 per cent of us and run society from behind desks with our seal of approval.
Still dependent, lacking family lives, lacking proper education, lacking adequate social amenities, disenfranchised, disempowered, reproducing for status, power and financial support - 175 years after Emancipation and 51 years after Independence, not much has changed for them.
Until we abolish all forms of slavery, Jamaica will never be safe and we will never prosper.
Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to [email protected] and [email protected].