Tonight, the early result of the General Election in Jamaica has given the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) 31 seats to the People’s National Party 29 seats. Portia Simpson-Miller in a late evening speech, when the projected result became known has sent her intention to challenge the result. The issue of recounts and candidates which hold dual citizenships will come into focus. If Portia carries out her threat to challenge the result, we may see the PNP continue as a lame duck government for some time to come.
Here is what Portia said in what was anticipated to be her concession speech last night:
“The election is too close to call,” said Simpson Miller, seeking her first election mandate after replacing retiring Prime Minister P.J. Patterson last year. “As of now we are conceding no victory to the Jamaica Labour Party.”
Source: Reuters
BU say, shame on you Portia, demit office with grace and let the courts decide the outcome if it has to!
What is clearwill be that the JLP will have a very difficult time instituting governance to carry its mandate accepting that the JLP will have to appoint a Speaker of the House. It will be up to Portia Simpson-Miller to step aside for the sake of the healing of the country and allow Jamaica to move forward at a challenging time in the history of Jamaica.
Jamaica is a country not a stranger to violence and we can only hope and pray the good sense prevails. Who will be next, Trinidad or Barbados?
Related Stories
The Political Landscape Of Jamaica Could Change After Hurricane Dean
Barbados is NOT Jamaica, so don’t try to associate we Bajans with them.
We Bajans don’t have that practice of election violence nor do we kill each other for a hobby as Jamaicans do.
Apart from the few animals at BFP, Bajans are civilised people, thank you.
BFPE.
It certainly appears to me that they are suffering the same fate as we are here in Barbados and that is the people are crying out to the new gov’t to turn around the trend with the past gov’t of selling out to the overseas investors and to start thinking about helping the local investors.
there are so many links between what brought this gov’t down and what will bring the BLP down.
Wishing in Vain,
Keep hallucinating.
You truly are wishing in vain.
BFPE.
Bruce Golding speaking now.
Very sensible words indeed.
http://www.go-jamaica.com/power/index.html
BFPE.
I would not expect you to have heard or even to have repeated the above but if you choose to believe it or not it was said and it is a very real situation that we both face.
Wishing in Vain,
That was a truly great speech by Bruce Golding.
It has brought me to tears.
It will go down in the history of great political moments the Caribbean, joining speeches such as the memorable “mirror image” one by Errol Barrow.
Such an humble man yet a very capable leader. Jamaica is in safe hands with him.
Congratulations to Bruce Golding!!!
BFPE.
Oh… and in the spirit of this great Caribbean moment, let me extend this olive branch to my fellow Bajan brothers and sister in the BFP…
FOUR LOVE IN WUNNA BACKSIDE!!!
BFPE.
Hopefully Owing will have the decency to concede once the results are known, unlike the PM there.
The people wanted a change of gov’t and they went out and voted for that change to take place, it will not happen by staying at home and wishing it to happen.
The Barbadian people need to get out and make their vote count and get us back on track to honesty and to get ministers that understand that they are there to serve the people and not the other way around.
And that they are not there to raped the country of every cent they can do.
VOTE FOR THE PERSON
NOT FOR THE PARTY
WE NEED A STRONG OPPOSITION
This is what Jamacia will have with 29-31, we need similar in Barbados
Here is a good link from somebody who has a good feel of political goings-on in Jamaica who has offered a perspective on how Portia was teased ot of office.
You forgot to put the link, David!
where is the link?
sorry, here it is:
http://www.theipinionsjournal.com/
I knew she was going to be beaten. Jamaica is not Barbados, there women have to know their place.
“Just how many potential dictators do we have in the Caribbean?” – you ask…
The potential went out of ours a long time ago he is a full fledged dictator running a mickey mouse cabinet and overseeeing the largest corruption scam this country has ever had cast upom it.
Great job Bruce.
Men rule.
I trust and hope that when our time comes that the margin will be much wider than what they have there, hopefully with Mottley, Owing, Lynch, Marshall, Wood, Payne, Prescod Walcott all being displaced and replaced.
what’s up with this talk about women knowing there place and people killing each other for a hobby. when you are going to make public statements like that then get your facts straight. have u ever even spoken with someone from Jamaica or spent any time here? Until you do and until you attempt to reason at an intelligent level, then you can speak about Jamaica and other countries.
oops, their place..forgive the spelling
jamaican & proud
Everyone except you know that murder is the national pastime in jamaica
Anonymous,
The national pastime of Jamaica is not just murder… it is murder of Jamaicans.
Nuff Respect,
Young Bajan.
Guess Jamaica has a problem to -:
This is a biggie very big, it ties in everything I have been saying for so long about the procurement processes used by Nicholls, Bannister and company these fellows are using know crokks in all of these BOLT contracts and others, this work should be halted now, no doubt in my mind about this course of action and Owing should be asked to resign now.
Check this one out:
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2007/1094.html
Guess who is a diector of 3S
This is a biggie the Person Danos in this action is the same person from 3 S and he is charged with corruption for work undertaken in Jamaica in what they described as the Jamaica kickback scheme.
No wonder our road building cost have jumped from $ 60 million to $ 180 million I say stop the work now.
This is a biggie very big, it ties in everything I have been saying for so long about the procurement processes used by Nicholls, Bannister and company these fellows are using known crooks in all of these BOLT contracts and others, this work should be halted now, no doubt in my mind about this course of action and Owing should be asked to resign now.
Check this one out:
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2007/1094.html
Guess who is a diector of 3S
This is a biggie the Person Danos in this action is the same person from 3 S and he is charged with corruption for work undertaken in Jamaica in what they described as the Jamaica kickback scheme.
No wonder our road building cost have jumped from $ 60 million to $ 180 million I say stop the work now.
Not about to comment on the above you fraud, to painful to read and accept is it?
Anonymous,
Get lost.
The highway looks BEAUTIFUL!!!
It could go from $180 million to $500 million and we really wouldn’t care.
Go and whine somewhere else.
FOUR LOVE IN WUNNA BACKSIDE!!!
BFPE.
I expected as must from you you stupid one.
No what about the link to Arthur and the stealing?
As we would all expect the clown for the party has by passed the post above only because he has no sensible comment to explain his masters actions, are you not dissappointed that he has fooled you lot of believers and made complete idiots of you meanwhile you are preaching the word of the BLP and he is depositing his cheques.
Hearty congratualations BFPE and one or two others on recognising the evilness of our Jamaican ‘friends’. I have been saying the same thing for a long time with much condemnation on here and elsewhere but at last I’m pleased to see that other Barbadians agree with me.
BFPE, you’re a brave man to make the statement which you did. When I have made similar remarks the vitriol which I attracted, you’d think that I’d said that god was the devil.
******************************
BFPE // Sep 4th 2007 at 8:06 pm
Anonymous,
The national pastime of Jamaica is not just murder… it is murder of Jamaicans.
Nuff Respect,
Young Bajan.
*********************************
And ‘Young Bajan’, please don’t make the mistake of thinking that it’s only Jamaicans who they murder seemingly for fun. Sadly, it’s non-Jamaians too. To believe otherwise could be to put your own life in serious peril.
In the UK they’ve reduced the reputation of west indians to being less than excrement and then you get so many Bajans rushing to defend them. Condemn them for what they are. It’s our only hope of getting change!
P.S. AND IT’S NOT JUST MURDER BUT CRIME OF EVERY DESCRIPTION!
FOUR LOVE IN WUNNA BACKSIDE!!!
Seaside Sam
Here we go again………………..sigh
Bimbro // Sep 5th 2007 at 3:09 am
Hearty congratulations BFPE and one or two others on recognising the evilness of our Jamaican ‘friends’. I have been saying the same thing for a long time with much condemnation on here and elsewhere but at last I’m pleased to see that other Barbadians agree with me.
BFPE, you’re a brave man to make the statement which you did. When I have made similar remarks the vitriol which I attracted, you’d think that I’d said that god was the devil.
******************************
BFPE // Sep 4th 2007 at 8:06 pm
Anonymous,
The national pastime of Jamaica is not just murder… it is murder of Jamaicans.
Nuff Respect,
Young Bajan.
*********************************
And ‘Young Bajan’, please don’t make the mistake of thinking that it’s only Jamaicans who they murder seemingly for fun. Sadly, it’s non-Jamaicans too. To believe otherwise could be to put your own life in serious peril.
In the UK they’ve reduced the reputation of west indians to being less than excrement and then you get so many Bajans rushing to defend them. Condemn them for what they are. It’s our only hope of getting change!
P.S. AND IT’S NOT JUST MURDER BUT CRIME OF EVERY DESCRIPTION!
———————————————————— ha ha ha Bimbro you are taking your message of Jamaica and Jamaicans where you can. While i don’t necessarily disagree with your view of Jamaica, as i think the statistics don’t lie, I don’t see the need to bash them as often as you do, yet I wonder why you attract so much venomous responses when others more prominent than yourself makes similar statements and is given a pass. Maybe it’s the repetitiveness of your Anti-Jamaican comments or something else, but with Snoop you can never tell with her consistent war of words with a male person. Maybe you should exude more feminine qualities when interfacing with her.? 😀 😀
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW8HO0JUU4Q]
While i don’t necessarily disagree with your view of Jamaica, as i think the statistics don’t lie, I don’t see the need to bash them as often as you do…………
***************************
Anon, again, you’re getting your facts ‘ass-about-face’! Perhaps, you should take more time to read the posts properly, before commenting!
I think you’ll find that it was BFPE who made the specific response about Jamaica itself – not that I disagree with him! My comments have been principally, on the situation in the UK which I am most certainly qualified to comment upon!
That was the second material mistake which you’ve made in these commentaries. The first was that I said I hate Rihanna which I’ve disproved to you in my previous post but you have n’t had the courage to acknowledge!
*********************************
why you attract so much venomous responses when others more prominent than yourself………
*************************************
Because most Barbadians, like yourself, appear to be deluded, where that subject is concerned!
As for ‘Snoop’. Please don’t bore me. What the devil do I care about her!
Wake-up man!
So Bimbro maybe i have missed your proposal of dealing with the Jamaican problem as you see it. Please tell us again what is your approach or one that us non-Jamaicans can adopt or enact etc to force a change or to cause their alleged destructive culture from effecting us in anyway real or perceived.
Portia concede finally!
Just another normal day in the life of Anon’s Jamaican friends – and he and his propose we should ignore this!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/6979668.stm
If they’d been white they’d have suggested ‘a racist attack’, or perhaps the Bajees would prefer that we assumed the perpetrators are Bajan. I think that would pacify your angelic conscienes more – but what do you think are really, the chances!
The victim is african so that’s really going to endear us to the african community too, is n’t it? They don’t care about the differences between us. They only care to label us all as criminals and hooligans and to persuade the rest of the community that that is so – and you would prefer that we ignore this and pretend it is n’t happening. Anyway, what should you care – you live in Bim!
Is it any wonder that I have absolutely, no regard for people like Anon and the other dreamers like him. These repeated kinds of incidents really work wonders for our reputation over here don’t you think.
Adrian, I would n’t have any suggestion to make to you re: the above if you think that the situation might only be perceived. I would only be interested in speaking to anybody who acknowledged the seriousness of the situation. Maybe you think we should do nothing?
I’m too, ashamed of the Barbadians for words.
You Bajans have a lot of nerve. At least we here in Jamaica con go to any of our hotels and get served. I visited Babardos a few years ago and none of you waiters would serve me because they were too busy jumping to help the white tourist. Thankfully, I had someone white in my family so I knew to send them to the table first so that we could get something to eat. God Bless Jamaica.
BFPE,
“FOUR LOVE IN WUNNA BACKSIDE!!!”?
Run quick and copyright that; I see an entire clothing line, mugs, place mats, caps et al…
P.S. That’s the second or third African which they’ve murdered here in the past month or so, not to mention west indians and other nationalities or the better known case of Damilola Taylor, etc! Perhaps when I state that everyone hates us you’ll begin to understand why now. Ah, but what do you care as long as you can go on loving your Jamaican buddies!
de gap // Sep 5th 2007 at 12:50 pm
BFPE,
“FOUR LOVE IN WUNNA BACKSIDE!!!”?
Run quick and copyright that; I see an entire clothing line, mugs, place mats, caps et al…
************************************
Such a serius subject and this cretin seeks to trivialise it. Barbadians!
“A mountain of irrelevant irrelevancy”
Bimbro,
It’s not that serious; it really isn’t. As for the “cretin”, look in the mirror sunshine. The topic is on the JLP’s return to power after 18 years in the political wilderness, and you inundate us with your mountain of irrelevancy. While I doubt very strongly that the teenagers involved in the instant case were born in JA and in fact saw nothing suggesting any connection to JA, you seem to speak with an authority that suggest a close intimacy with these cretins. Bim gets its fair share of deportees for the U.S., Canada, and the UK every year, so I wisely choose not vilify the Jamaicans. And yes, I possess superior reading comprehension.
Wow…I didn’t realise that Jamaicans were being bashed so hard in Barbados…..
Jamaicangirl2007~not sure if a couple comments can be taken as a feeling most shared by Barbadians
Cherry….that was a little harsh. Yes I have been to Barbados several times but never experienced what you did. However, I have heard about that in Barbados….
Bimbro
Do you like ANYONE?
Why all the hate?
I recommend therapy, though it is expensive. Maybe you could play squash with a ‘yardy’ painted on the ball – that ought to get rid of some aggression.
Seriously, these blogs are just winding you up man!
You seem to be prejudiced against some groups of people and gather that it is THEIR fault that everyone dislikes you.
It’s because you’re a miserable argumentative b*ggar.
Doesn’t take Sigmund Freud to work that one out!
Find the love 🙂
David // Sep 5th 2007 at 6:49 pm
Jamaicangirl2007~not sure if a couple comments can be taken as a feeling most shared by Barbadians.
*********************************
Jamaican girl, David is right. Most of them are still asleep or too busy trying to impress the Jamaicans. We’ll just continue to suffer here in the UK as a result of your poeple’s actions. It does n’t matter. You’ve no need to worry.
Bimbro
Do you like ANYONE?
***************************
Yum Yum, stop the nonsense. You’ve got to grow-up, sometime.
Have I complained to you or anybody else about people disliking me? I could n’t give a ‘f’ about that – it’s just that it would be so nice to see Barbadians open their eyes and acknowledge reality, for a change. The rest I could n’t care less about!
Yum Yum, your last comment reminds me of a song I know, it’s called ‘Keep On Running’, by the Spenser Davis Group. You clowns seem so incapable of looking at a problem in the face and think the way to solve it is to keep on running away from it. That’s ‘The Barbadian Solution’! Keep on running, keep looking away and hope that it’ll disappear by itself!
Time to grow-up, pal!
At least Adrian has the guts and intelligence to begin to confront the issue. Unfortunately, he does n’t appear to acknowledge that there’s a serious issue here so until he does, and the rest of you, I’ve nothing much more to say to you!
As for Yum Yum’s suggestion of playing squash with a Yardie – what an idiot!
Mia knows what she’s talking bout!
And wunna still let dem in the CSME???? – Lord!
OWEN,NICHOLLS,BANNISTER AND WILKINSON ALONG WITH FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES WHO SINGLE HANDEDLY MASH UP BARBADOS SHOULD BE HELD TO ACCOUNT ON SIGHT,TRUE STORY OR BETTER YET PULL A MORRIS BISHOP BOUT HERE,I REALLY ADMIRE JAMAICANS FOR THEIR NO-NONSENSE POLICIES CAUSE JAMAICAN GUNMEN WOULD HAVE THESE FOUR UNDER THE SCOPE SINCE LAST YEAR.
Freewilly easy, you know what we are talking about!
David
Maybe what Bimbro is writing is not so farfetched. Peter said on Down to Brasstacks yesterday that a few years ago he got on a bus and was confronted with what heartland Jamaica had to offer. He was scared at that time but agreed that under PJ strides had been made. I am not attacking Jamaicans but I would be putting my head in the sand if I ignored that much violence exist in Jamaica.
I had n’t intended to return to this sordid subject but my young-woman, neighbour wimpering again this morning, no doubt as a result of another battering or haranguing at the hands of her boyfriend reminded me of an episode a few years ago.
My neighbour then was a pretty brown girl who had this Jamaican boyfriend who, whenver he felt like it would give her one hell of a beating, even starting outside, sometimes. The thing which most surprised me was that none of her other neighbours, mostly Jamaicans themselves, ever used to intervene. I was always the one to call the police to her aid! Eventually, she would see me and say, “it was you who called the police, was n’t it?” which I’d confirm and she’d thank me. Typically, she would then say to me something like, “he’s ever such a nice guy really, it just that when he’s had too much to drink….” I used to feel like giving her a lick in her claat which Jamaicans and their sympathisers here, will understand that expression but I used to desist!
I think she even fancied me. But with the boyfriend/ex-boyfriend she had, I did n’t want to get involved with such an animal, so I desisted! Anyway, I had a girlfrien aready! 🙂
So, when duh in murdering an raping an drug-peddling they’re beating-up their own women. An I have to live aroung dem! Lord have faif!!!!
Bimbro
On a personal level I sympathise with your situation. Plainly you’re life quality is being compromised by these people of Jamaican origin. Can you not move to a different neighbourhood, as this is situation seems to be eating you up?
I can also understand how mad you feel, when others associate you with these people who share your skin colour. It is my own experience that most British people’s only experience of West Indians is of Jamaicans. (In fact if they mimic your accent I bet that locals bellow back at you in phoney Jamaican and not Bajan!)
Imagine what it must be like to be South Asian looking, every one would think you are a terrorist! It is a similar thing. Folks make judgements according to their experiences and if (like you with Jamaicans) all, or most of these encounters are negative, then its only human that suspicion and dislike ensues.
We all have prejudices, it is part of what makes us the who we are. It is primal – an essential learning tool that alerts us to possible dangers. For instance, a little ginger haired kid kicked sand in my eyes when I was 5 yr old, and since then I’ve always been cautious of fair-skinned people with flame-coloured locks!
The secret with these prejudices is that we don’t let them affect our behaviour. We MUST use our intellect to overide them.
YOU have a prejudice against Jamaicans, which is understandable, but this is your problem. Jamaicans do NOT have a problem with YOU. So it is up to you to decide what action to take.
If we agree that there is a problem in the UK with Jamaicans (both recent immigrants and those of Jamaican lineage), who are involved with violent crime, gangs, drugs etc, then what can we do about it?
Are Jamaicans naturaly violent people or have they become this way? It may, for instance be argued that Jamaican decendants heralded from a different part of Africa – maybe a warlike tribe, such as the Masai – and are such innately more prone to violence. It could also be argued that such a proclivity for violence is environmental, and stems from exposure, through the generations to a culture of agressive gangs, street shootings etc.
Could it not be that Jamaicans in the UK have become trapped into a life of crime (through geography, low expectations and prejudice etc)?
I don’t have the answers, do you have any?
BUT, it is not really up to YOU to sort this societal problem. You may be best to leave it to the authorities, but if you want to help then at least try to understand the situation rather than simply pointing a finger and getting angry. The only person that is hurting is YOU!
Good luck my friend.
Thanks for the reply, Yum Yum. I have considerable respect for you for that and certainly, far more than for anybody else here except for Adrian who at least tried to take the issue seriously.
Yum, I can only assume that you don’t live in the UK but somewhere, perhaps like Bim, where you don’t need to worry about colour-prejudice or racism or certainly, where it’s much less than over here anyway because your answer betrays how unknowledgable you are about racism. My dear fellow once your people have obtained that kind of reputation of being lazy, good-for-nothing, muggers and murders etc. it has repercussions for every single aspect of your life from e.g. simply catching a bus and the driver refusing to speak to you when taking your fare, to entering a shop and the shop-keeper and his assistants watching you every second of the time that you’re in there and taking your money and not saying a word to you or hardly a word while chatting away quite happily to the other white and asian people in the shop, to when applying for a job the moment the person studying your application realising that you’re west indian throwing it in the bin, or if by some miracle you should succeed in getting a job (probably only because of some piece of positive-descrimination legislation) they make every effort to make you get fed-up and leave, at the earliest possible opportunity. I can see that if you think that these matters affect only me that you’ve really no concept at all of the implications of what I’ve been saying and I almost envy you that ‘ignorance is blissful’ state of existence. However, unfortunately, this is mine and ‘no, there would n’t be any point in moving away because a people’s reputation is a nationwide stigma’. I can only hope that for your sake it does n’t become an international one but with people travelling around the world even more extensively, than ever – what do you think of the chances of its becoming so? I leave it to you to compute my friend, perhaps only then will Barbadians take the problem seriously, but unfortunately, by then it’ll almost certainly be too late. I leave it to you to contemplate the ramifications!
My dear fellow, if it were only my problem then perhaps, it would be the easiest thing to resolve and say, well only I am affected so it’s not a problem. I’m afraid that it is n’t that easy and like an unchecked virus either you or yours will suffer its consequences one day.
**********************************
(In fact if they mimic your accent I bet that locals bellow back at you in phoney Jamaican and not Bajan!)
************************************
I’ve spoken with an english accent for many years now Yum and so do many of the criminals to whom I referred because, like me, they grew up here, so as you intimated, the problem is innate. I caan worry myself bout dum too, much longer. The lord gun soon call me home now and all my problems will be over – I think – but what about those left behind!
**********************************
YOU have a prejudice against Jamaicans, which is understandable, but this is your problem. Jamaicans do NOT have a problem with YOU. So it is up to you to decide what action to take.
********************************
Certainly, I have a prejudice against Jamaicans. You seem to think that they don’t have a prejudice against us! This only shows how innocent you are, Yum. Please stop thinking that this is just my problem or you will miss the whole ‘raison d’etre’ of the discussion. My dear fellow, if this were only my problem I would n’t even bother to comment. I’d just say it were my problem and try to find a personal solution. Unfortunately, nothing’s more precious than one’s people’s reputation, as you may well find out for yourself, eventually.
**********************************
Jamaicans do NOT have a problem with YOU.
********************************
That’s one of the most amusing and innocent things which you’ve said so far, Yum. If you knew the prejudice and descrimination which I, and no doubt othe small-islanders, have suffered at their hands!!!!
**********************************
You think the problem’s only in the UK, Yum? Well, I have n’t lived elsewhere but I’m prepared to bet that ‘it’s not only in the UK’!
You ask, ‘what can we do about it’? My dear fellow, there’s nothing much which you and I can do about it, at the moment, unless unknown to me you’re a prominent member of your country’s government but, look at it this way, when they mug or kill a close member of your family then you’ll have more cogent thoughts about what the solution should be. Until then, keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best, I guess.
Do you really care what the reason for their insane proclivity to violence and crime is Yum, or are you more interested in just dealing with it? I know which I’m more interested in. I could n’t care less about the reasons, only the consequences and dealing with them – the people and the problems!
*******************************
Could it not be that Jamaicans in the UK have become trapped into a life of crime (through geography, low expectations and prejudice etc)?
**********************************
You’re sweet, in your innocence Yum. They’ve ALWAYS been like that, my friend. I’ve lived here a long time and grown-up among them. I won’t go into detail now but I assure you, they’ve always been like that. A relative even told me that years ago, the Americans or Canadians, can’t remember which now, used to invite west indians over to work on the farms over there and the Bajan guys used to complain of the same thing – the insane, lawlessness and violence of the Jamaicans.
Do I have any answers? Sadly, my answer would n’t be implemented, but it would be to send them all back to Jamaica. They’re only fit to live among themselves. If were’re not careful, there’ll be another much more serious answer which will affect us all, the Jamaicans and the innocent, non-Jamaican west indians too!
Yum, of course I have to leave it to the authorities to attend to. The problem is that they’re too weak to deal with the problem, effectively, and therefore we all have to suffer in the meantime. What does it matter if I’M suffering? Surely, I’M not important.
Could say much more but obviously, have to end this somewhere. Thanks for the time and thought which you’ve given to the subject, Yum. I’ve more respect for you than any of the rest because you have, at least, tried to take the problem seriously and given it some deliberation.
Thank you and bye. It must be nice to live in a country where you’re not hated by all-and -sundry, new and old. I have n’t known what that’s like for a very long time – thanks to those people!
Brimbo
Really saddened to hear your experiences of racism. It is horrific that in 2007 such attitudes should still exist.
From my own perspective – I have lived in UK also – I have never come across ANYTHING like this. I will qualify this by saying that I spent my time in non-urban locations in communities which were predominantly white.
I would encourage you to write a ‘post’ for BU, which may serve to warn young Bajans who seek to better themselves in UK and also draw attention of others to this abominable situation. It may also make you feel less helpless if these stories are out in the open.
Idea:
“WARNING: No pot of gold at the end of this British rainbow”
A cautionary tale of a Bajan growing up in multi-ethnic England.
Might start:
” Prejudiced? Me? You bet I’m prejudiced, but I am entitled to be. I have earned every bitter sigh and sinewy grimace!
Growing up in England……….
……………..That is why I dislike Jamaicans, and I think you’ll understand when I say that I want my tombstone to read: “HE WAS NOT JAMAICAN!”
Just an idea, as I think yours is a story which needs telling.
YYILI
Thanks for the understanding and sympathy, Yum. I may well write my story one day. It’s especially fascinating because Britain, if any country, has a full panopoly of anti-descrimination legislation. You would n’t believe it! But it’ s taught me a very important lesson, one which people not in my situation or Barbadians living abroad could hardly believe and that it that anti-descrimination legislation solves nothing. It does n’t change people’s genuine attitude towards you, just makes them careful not to do or say the wrong thing while in public but otherwise, bottles-up their hate, drives it underground and they just find other ways of showing their hatred and displeasure with you. One of the most important things which living in UK has taught me is the importance of A PEOPLE’S REPUTATION!
The Asians will do almost anything to keep their crime ‘in-house’ and not let the rest of the world know about it, thus you would virtually think that asians did n’t commit any crime at all – because they recognise the importance of their community having a good reputation in the eyes of the rest of the community. Only rarely, do you get to hear of a crime committed in the Indian community and then they’re appalled that ‘somebody let it out’! Like the man who raped his family’s woman friend also giving her herpes and tried to hush it up but the woman was determined that the world should know, or we’d probably never know to this day.
Once your people have a good reputation that is virtually, all you need and that is what we don’t have in this country. Our reputation is minus zero thanks to the Jamaicans and all the anti-racism legislation makes very, little difference. Yum, if I tell you we were treated better when I first arrived in this country 40 years ago. So, they’d be signs saying ‘No blacks, No Irish and No dogs’ vis. places for rent, but who the hell cared. Thankfully, they were enough black people with homes here already that we could always find somewhere to live. Now, they can’t advertise, ‘No blacks etc.’ but do you think they don’t find other ways of not renting to blacks if they don’t want to? Of course they do!
As a parting-shot I’ll tell you another thing about life in racist Britain; do you think Africans (as opposed to West Indians) have a problem with racism here? Answer, ‘No, they do not’ – certainly nowhere near comparable with that of the West Indians, and why is that. BECAUSE THEY HAVE AN EXCELLENT REPUTATION, HERE!
Africans come here and in no time at all, they’ve been given a council flat or house, a job, and before you know it they’re driving a big, posh car and looking-down on the West Indians. In fact they’d be despising us anyway, as they always have regarded themselves as more intelligent than we are. The Africans hate us just as much as the other communities, if not more, especially when taking into account the murders which I refer to above, thanks to our Jamaican ‘friends’! There’s little more offence that you can give an African in this country than to mistake him for a west indian and they’re just as hateful towards us when we go into their few, little shops, it’s just that they’re dying for the little money which we might spend with them.
Will soon conclude – recall, years ago, giving a lift to an African woman who eventually, seemed to revel in telling me ‘how badly the afro-americans were treated in the US, compared with the way in which Africans were treated. I can still remember the complacent, smile on her face as she told me this. So it just goes to show the importance of reputation which, as I stated, we have the lowest of the low, in the UK, thanks to the Jamaicans.
Will I write a book? I’m not sure Yum. You see, I’ve said these things before in other Bim forums only to be greeted with disbelief and resentment because Barbadians have been married to Jamaicans, had a boyfriend or girlfriend who is Jamaican, or had a Jamaican who did them a favour once in their life etc. – as if those things have n’t happened to me too. I’ve done them favours too, on occasion, and I doubt that they’re many guys here or there, who have had more Jamaican girlfriends than me – so what am I to do, ignore the truth just because of a girlfriend or a favour? No, my friend, that’s not the solution to this problem plus I think many Barbadians simply can’t face the reality and so pretend it’s not happening. Bury their head in the sand, as long as they can get by!
I’m tired of the Barbadians’ attitude and may just leave them to it and hope that ‘it does n’t catch-up with them one day’! I wish that more of you could come and live and work in Britain, even if only temporarily then you may see what’s going on here. And all while you were entertaining Blair in Bim!
I think that most w.indian brits ‘prefer not to see’! I think it’s their mechanism for coping.
I recall years ago, meeting a west indian lady on a platform of a london underground station and just genuinely, asking her if she’d had a nice day at work – the poor woman nearly collapsed as if with the horror of the recollection of what she’d just been through that day. It was the rush-hour and I assumed she was on her way back home at the end of the day.
I’ve found Bajans to be the most unbelieving or uncaring people imaginable, Yum – yourself excepted of course and, in view of a recent account I’ve received of how selfish, money-grabbing and materialistic they’ve now become in Bim, I guess that I’m not surprised, so I may never write that book.
Anyhow, thanks for the time, Yum and all the best in Bim!
You know, it’s surprising to see so many bashing my country for LITERALLY no reason? Noone can say that their country is actually perfect. If they were to make a comment like that, they would be lying. It’s surprising with our “uncivilisation” and massive crime rate, and rampant drug peddling, tourists still visit our island on an incredibly regular basis, more than they would actually visit yours I should say. More than 95% of the world recognises Jamaicans more than Bajans and not only because of our deviance, crime, or our massive murder rate. Its because what Jamaicans have to offer them: Our people (whether you believe it or not, foreigners find us friendly, laid-back, extremrly energetic, etc..), our culture (which is most definitely rich in Bob Marley’s music reggae, Dance Hall tunes from bounti killer, beenie man, and even Shaggy, Sean Paul – So many more of our celebrities are known abroad than yours) all of the revolts that sparkled the ENGLISH speaking Caribbean to start their own before the abolishment of African slavery, our foods, our rich history in music, our mountains, our streams, our coffee, the beauty of an extremely rugged “picturistic” sort of country, the vibrance of our people which outshines the caribbean except for Trinis of course, we are likely more on the same par and/or level with them in terms of ENERGY in the caribbean, which you seem to lack. You people are even called little England up to this very day after 40 years of independence from your “mother country.”
The only thing thats likeable about your country is your flying fish, and lets be real here, for crying out loud, every country has fish.
Face it Bimbro, as uncivilised and as poverty-stricken some of us supposedly are, you are still just another jealous Caribbean person who happens not to be a Jamaican
I would suggest it better to skip getting under knife so that we can have a safe nose job done.
As a person of Jamaican descent, I can unequivocally and categorically deny any personal contribution to the destruction in the respect that non-Jamaicans have of Jamaicans. I don’t recall ever behaving in an illegal manner. And no, I am not unique, I just, with many other people, ask God to direct my life.
Funny, I remember being raised by my family to avoid the associations of various young black thugs in my age-group. The leaders of these gangs happened to be a half-Bajan, half-Nigerian boy, who pretended to be Jamaican when he was arrested, and a Guyanese boy. They were legally represented by my Jamaican uncle. What do they have in similar with bad thugs from anywhere?? No positive role-model, or no discipline, or maybe a subversive sociologocal response, such as sub-culture.
I have had some nasty experiences at the hand of people from most nationalities. I won’t stereotype everyone from them places. I will ask God to save His people. I have encountered some fantastic people from everywhere, and the good overshadows the evil. Nothing but the grace of God can deliver people from their mental or literal ghettos, because unsympathetic societies and governments led by the devil, want to see fellow black people continue to kill eachother either literally, or through inciting hatred, or hurting one another so deeply, that the only defense is to hate them back.
Well on judgement day, I can’t bring my enemies with me. Its just me and God. So I pray….may God’s will be done; may God help me see beyond my own anger and hurt so that I have no hatred in my heart; may I see every human as God sees them; may God help me to see people as His creation; may I accept that if people wish to destroy themselves, then so be it, cos it doesn’t say Holy Spirit on my birth certificate. Thank God that every nation has good in it somewhere…..