57 responses to “Bruce Golding's Jamaica Labour Party(JLP) By A Nose From Portia Simpson-Miller's People's National Party(PNP) 31-29”

1. 

   YUM YUM I like it!

   September 7, 2007 at 1:21 pm

   
   

   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.

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2. 

   Bimbro

   September 8, 2007 at 2:03 am

   
   

   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.

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   (In fact if they mimic your accent I bet that locals bellow back at you in phoney Jamaican and not Bajan!)

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   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!

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   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.

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   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.

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   Jamaicans do NOT have a problem with YOU.

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   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!!!!

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   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!

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   Could it not be that Jamaicans in the UK have become trapped into a life of crime (through geography, low expectations and prejudice etc)?

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   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!

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3. 

   YUM YUM I like it!

   September 8, 2007 at 11:01 pm

   
   

   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

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4. 

   Bimbro

   September 9, 2007 at 3:14 am

   
   

   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!

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5. 

   Ajamaicanguyhere

   September 26, 2007 at 11:41 pm

   
   

   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

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6. 

   Rhinoplasty

   January 24, 2008 at 9:59 am

   
   

   I would suggest it better to skip getting under knife so that we can have a safe nose job done.

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7. 

   elz

   March 1, 2008 at 10:02 pm

   
   

   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…..

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