By Curtis Campbell—
Amid the current Emancipendence celebrations, some music industry practitioners are of the view that Jamaicans are still not truly independent or emancipated.
THE STAR took the liberty of interviewing some of reggae and dancehall’s protagonists, and they believe independence and emancipation are just words yet to be brought into action.
Despite celebrating 55 years of independence this year, veteran music manager and singer Tommy Cowan is of the view that Jamaicans are not civilized.
“People who are emancipated are not murdering each other. If you are emancipated, you have to be civilized, and our mind is still in a form of slavery. However, we can’t dismiss that we have made some amount of progress over the years. What we need is a clear vision for the people that they can have a clear understanding. Vision creates discipline, and self-discipline is the highest form of living, and where we lack discipline, the people will perish,” he said.
Merely servants
Meanwhile, reggae artist I-Wayne, who is known as a man who always speaks his mind, said Jamaicans are merely servants.
“The servitude still a gwaan, and it is obvious. I feel like all of this is just mouth talk, just like when some society people seh they want to see a better nation, then when you check it out, they are at the front of the nastiness. The people are straying further away because they love the nastiness and the filth,” he said.
As for his role in evoking change, the reggae artist noted that music provides a level of re-socialization to the masses. However, he said many Jamaicans are already comfortable in ignorance.
“Sometimes, it is overbearing doing conscious music, but I always try to do good. There is only so much I can do as one person because not even Marcus Garvey couldn’t do it alone. What makes it worse is that we are trying to reach big people, and still they don’t listen. But even so doing, I don’t compete with the badness and the nastiness. I just teach those who are willing to learn,” he told THE STAR.
Veteran dancehall artist and author Macka Diamond also shared a similar view. She thinks Jamaicans are lacking in self-belief.
“We asked to be independent, but we are not making use of it. We have the resources, but we are not using them. Instead, we rely on foreign for everything because we are still foreign minded. We need to pay attention to what we have and believe in ourselves and our people. The Government should make sure we eat what we grow instead of shipping in the bag of computer altered foods because our food is more healthy,” she said.
Macka Diamond believes Jamaicans should follow in the footsteps of other countries like Uganda, which has been using its natural and human resources to facilitate development.
“When I was there, I saw that everything they wore, as well as the fixtures in their houses were all made there. We have the same resources, yet we are not using ours,” she said.
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