The Voice Of The Jamaican Ghetto: Incarcerated but not Silenced

by Adidja Palmer

“Roll out the herb before me start yawning”

“Whey di Black woman future me asking, whey the system a do fi she”

“Turn round buss a kiss pon mi darling, tell her say honey mi a touch ina di street”

“Mi vision say better days coming. A that mi a pree”

Three children in a house MINUS the breadwinner EQUALS more suffering.

Thank You Jah, me wake up this morning.

Mommy me love YOU! Mi swear from mi heart that Theresa Wilson Palmer is my queen.

“carry me fi one month,” no – she carried us for nine months

which is three hundred and sixty thousand, eight hundred and eighty minutes – yes,

"Fight fi what’s mine and “believe in your dreams".

“Some gyal go a dance and dem pickney ah suffer.” I really don’t like to offend "dance-goers"

“Hustle the Money, Me a Hustle the Money”

unscrupulous

“Mi nuh have no time for jail time, that a waste time”

“30 Million fi a house up a Stony So mi nah stop hustle roun a Father Romie”

“Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki, Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” or any one of Donald Trump’s

Africa has 10% of the world’s

oil, nearly 50% of the world’s gold reserves and is becoming the sixth largest holder of the world’s natural gas reserves. There is also copper, uranium, diamond, cobalt and several other precious metals. How many Jamaicans preeing Africa? Well Kartel is.

My people, we have to elevate ourselves from the mental slavery that Marcus Garvey preached about and work towards owning things; practicing self reliance which leads to self determination.

This is the chapter I know a lot of you bought this book to read. In fact, I am willing to bet that many of you skipped the first few chapters and turned to this page. Why? At the risk of stating the obvious, you all want to see what the man who has gotten more attention for lightening his skin than any other person in the world (other than the incomparable Michael Jackson) has to say about black people. Well, if you are a Kartel fan, you

would have heard many songs over the years where I refer to Black causes and Black issues. Let me be clear on this, I do not present myself as a “conscious Reggae singer” or “a Rastafarian solider” but I am conscious of what is happening with my race and from time to time I do put my thoughts in an idiom called Dancehall Music. Though I am not quintessentially a “conscious artiste”, I am not writing this Chapter to defend my blackness or perceived lack thereof. I mean no disrespect to those who want to debate my personal choices ad nauseam, but I think the world, and particularly my country, has bigger issues than Adidja Palmer’s skin tone. If I am wrong, I will apologize but it is my belief that poverty, hunger, our literacy rate, violence, national debt, the spread of HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, IMF agreements, shortage of teachers, shortage of nurses, shortage of firemen, people not being able to find clean water to drink or a decent toilet to use, guilty pedophiles walking away scotch free, are more important to my country than my skin tone. However, none of the serious issues stated above have been debated EVEN HALF as much as the personal life of a single entertainer

AVALANCHE! I bleach my skin and the entire country starts to talk about black consciousness! Wow, hmm, so the guy who wrote the song asking where is the love for the Black Child and got no answers, bleached his skin and it caused a national and international debate about the same question that he was asking. Did I provoke the answer? No comment. All of a sudden this crazy person, as Babylon describes me as, is invited to the podiums of esteemed universities. I suddenly became the moral compass of a nation and even politicians want to have progressive dialogue. What was happening all those years when poor people had been bleaching, where were the psychologists and academia then? That, I don’t know. However, I can tell you with certainty that my actions have brought about the most debate about Black Consciousness in Jamaica since the Rodney Riots. Rodney Riots? I bet most of you reading this book do not know what I am talking about. That is why I

On a more practical note, when you take the emotion out of it; when you take your hate for Kartel out of it; when you look at the matter from a macro level; how come with the history of slavery, exploitation, and colonialism, people hardly ever question our white Head of State and the money it costs the country to keep her King’s House well kept? If Kartel bleaches, I assure you it will never cost Jamaica’s tax payers a cent, but every single day of our lives, we pay for the cost of the Queen’s home. Again, this is not an issue that is often discussed in the public domain. The people who control the media set the agenda in the country and they have a way of preoccupying us with trivial things thus taking focus off the wastage of resources that hurt our country.

Furthermore, Kartel is not the first to bleach nor will I be the last. This has been happening in Jamaica for as long as I can remember. In fact, it has happened all over the world. I think the greater question is, if everyone truly believes that bleaching is a sign of self hate by black people; what would make a black person hate his own skin? Is there a lack of love for the Black Child? This never started with Kartel, but I have said it before; this book is not about me. It is about my people so I am not going to use this to defend my personal choice to highlight my tattoos by lightening my skin as I have a serious love for tattoos and a strong desire to show them off. My inspiration in this music business is Tupac Shakur, the renowned West Coast rapper who pioneered the mass proliferation of tattoos by black rap artistes. Today, it is commonplace with African American celebrities, from rap artistes and basketball players to actors. When Tupac started the trend, he faced a lot of criticism because it was not common for black celebrities to show off tattoos. So

when I decided I wanted to fulfill my desire to have tattoos all over my skin, I knew there would be backlash from a public not used to seeing this in Jamaica. I re-emphasize, I am an artiste; I get paid to entertain. My birth name is Adidja Palmer, I am 35 years old and I am an entertainer. When I am on stage, I am called Vybz Kartel, a Dancehall Deejay who is lyrically inclined. I feed my family not by robbing, not by being a politician (not much of a difference there in my opinion), not by swindling, not by selling drugs but by entertaining as Vybz Kartel. Professional entertainers typically don’t wear the same clothing that the general public does; we typically don’t drive the same kind of cars nor do we go to the same events. I have done other things, for example, I wear braces without my dentist deeming them necessary. Was this about me having an issue ...

Let me start with politics. How many people in Jamaica really know who the true Head of State of the island is? No, it is not Bruce, neither was it Portia, PJ, Eddie, Manley (Joshua), Shearer, Sangster, Busta or Norman Manley in their time. Since Independence it has been a lady named Elizabeth Windsor and so I do not get in trouble, let me refer to her by her official title which is Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Hmm. We need to understand that most of what we were taught in school was wrong, because it is not slavery, colonialism, or history that put us in this situation of where we are Africans displaced from our continent with a ruler in Europe, but it is by ‘the Grace of God’. I shall offer no comment except to say we should at least be gender specific and recognize it as a Queendom and not Kingdom because the British Empire currently has no king. Please bear with me, Vybz Kartel is not very versed on this monarchy thing so I might be a little shaky here. Her Majesty hardly ever uses

her last name which incidentally came about in 1917 when, during World War I, people in England hated Germans so in order to hide their German roots and remain popular, King George V renounced his family’s German name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and changed it to Windsor – kindly remember this point. Oh, just so you know, Her Majesty, our Queen, married her third cousin – Prince Phillip, they have the same great grandmother – Queen Victoria. Among Prince Phillip’s many titles, he is also the Knight of the Garter.

Again, Kartel is not very versed on this subject, but can someone explain the logic, the rationale and tell me, where is the love for the Black Child when the Head of State of the country is not of the same race as 95% of its people? Not even an animal would willingly allow another

why are we still expected to bow to a foreign Monarch who does not even mention Jamaica in her official title? Not even a stray dog would do that, but we do, and if anyone decides not to, they could be tried for treason. When there was debate about

If it were an Ashanti King, a Zulu Warrior, Yoruba King or even a Xhosa (Nelson Mandela’s tribe) that we are asked to bow down to as black people, I would understand because Nelson Mandela could represent us better than an Anglo-Saxon. If it were a descendant of Haile Selassie I could understand because our first National Hero His Excellency Marcus Garvey said we should look to Ethiopia for our leadership. Even, most Christians cannot dispute the fact that there was a promise made to Isaac and Israel that as long as there is a sun and a moon there should be one to sit upon the Throne of King David. There is historical evidence that it is Selassie’s descendants that have that right today, so if we have to be a part of an Empire, if there is love for the Black Child, should we not pay homage to an African Empire rather than to a European empire that maintained its wealth through the robbing, raping and pilfering of our ancestors? If you show so

much love, honour and respect to the descendants of the people who enslaved us aren’t we then showing our children that we do not love our black selves when we have simply ignored the hundreds of African Monarchies and chiefs without paying them any homage. The lack of love for the Black Child does not stop in England politically; it is in our Cabinet today. Jamaica is a democracy. By definition it is a government for, of and by the people. It would therefore mean that 95% of the Cabinet of the country should look like the majority of its people. Not so. It is not a racist comment – it is a logical argument and we must try and understand why our children may aspire to be another race. When they look at the visible people in our Cabinet – our Speaker of the House, our Minister of Information, they just do not look like us. A young mind looking at the politics of the day, a young person versed in Civics who knows our true Head of State will deduce that people of a lighter complexion control this country politically. They will think that if they want to be a leader

We are only 2011 years AD – Anno Domini which means after Christ but Egyptian civilization existed at least 10,000 years Before Christ. The pyramids that you see in Egypt were built with space at the top specifically reserved for prayer as spirituality was strong through the Nile valley of Africa. There was a time when everyone had their own ideas of who the “Son” was but then Constantine, a Roman Emperor, decided to consolidate the story of the Christian Father and Son throughout the Roman Empire. Later a Pope commissioned Michelangelo to create an image of Jesus and he drew his relative; that image has been the image that blacks in Jamaica and the Caribbean primarily worshipped as the image of God. Even the most devout Christian will accept that God created man in his own image. With this universal acceptance of the image of God, it is only natural that each man would see God in the light

Yes, modern day Christians do not like to admit this, but during slavery, slaves were taught that their enslavement was just their lot – their cross to bear. This is what God wanted for them and a good Christian would never question God’s will so they served Jesus and God on Sunday by serving their Masters in the week without resistance.

Even after we were freed physically, spirituality we were still told that we had to be like that man who did not look like us or we would have no salvation. Those of you who went to Catholic schools may remember that if you were late for school you had to bow down to pray to a white Mary – “Mother of God” and ask for forgiveness or blessings as the case may be. When the Rastafarian community (starting with Leonard Howell in 1930) began to follow Marcus Garvey’s instructions and look to Ethiopia for its spirituality, they were not only ridiculed but they were also punished. One of their first dwellings called Pinnacle was destroyed by the police. Years later they were slaughtered in the Coral Gardens

When it comes to our spirituality, we are extremely warped in our reasoning especially as it relates to our hatred for the Black Child. If a young lady wears hair extensions, her family is likely to say she looks nice and is taking care of herself, but if she grows her hair naturally, most people in Jamaica say “lawd a Rasta shi a tun.” Or, they may say, “har hair bad,” or “shi neva get good hair.” Even the former Prime Minister’s wife Beverly Anderson Manley explained how she was ridiculed and chastised for keeping her African roots in dress and hairstyle.

the little boy down the lane, none for himself or his family. Sounds familiar? Sounds like the black slave who cultivates sugar for Massa and none for his own people. If teachers are honest with themselves, in the 1970’s when you sang this song and had us clap and sing it with joy, you would pick out the child with the darkest complexion as the Black Sheep and the Master the one with the lightest skin. I have heard horror stories about the little child who was selected to be the Black Sheep. That child would just stand there crying much to the dismay of the unknowingly brainwashing teacher who may remind her that it is nobody’s fault but hers that she black so. I don’t know about anybody else’s opinion but that was straight child abuse. However, it never stopped there. After a good round of racial ridicule with Baa Baa Black Sheep, the racial inferiority of Black Children was further shoved down their throats when they were then made to sing “There’s a Brown Girl in the Ring tra la la la la” right after. Now Mr. BC, this is where I think you are negligent. You ban an edited version of Romping Shop but you allow this kind of foolishness to be forced into our children’s innocent brains as early as

infancy. How sick is it that a country with a colonial past will allow young impressionable children to sing such crap. It is mental abuse of our little children right there and it has to be stopped. Note the brown girl in the ring looks like a sugar in a plum. But we never get to say what the black girl looks like, because we already know that at home and in school she is told that she is ‘black like tar’, with a ‘picky picky ‘ed’, big nose, thick lips so nuh good man nah guh want har.

That which I just described was kindergarten or nursery school. When they get to grade one, the system intensifies the brainwashing. We tell the children stand up and recite that the genocidal Christopher Columbus discovered Jamaica in 1492, or 1494 depending where you get your propaganda. This is where we teach our children that nothing major really happens until a white person does it. Remember the Arawaks were living here before he ...

neighbourhood for years and some men arrived with their flags and say, “hey, we discovered you.” I believe that any ghetto youth would destroy that flag but somehow the Ministry of Education in Jamaica has allowed our children to be taught that lie without any reservation. Christopher Columbus neva discova nuttn! He was an opportunist, a murderer, a liar and a thief but we are taught to revere him as a great man. We continue the brainwashing throughout our children’s secondary education and many leave school learning nothing great about black people. On the contrary, blacks are portrayed as an inferior, backward and subservient race that should be glad that whites helped them advance. On the Gaza, you have to pree things in a way that eliminates brainwashing. Everyone knows the greatest pyramids are i...

instead of the foolishness that we do? I would love to have learnt more about Timbuktu, the great city of Babylon, how Ghanaian law affected Westminster Law and how Europeans stole our architectural designs in Africa and built Europe based on those designs. Keep in mind, Europeans were just learning about government after Africa was having her 25th Dynasty. If we loved the Black Child we would have taught him that. We would have taught him about Carthage and Hannibal, King Tut and Nefertiti, Kenyatta and Lumumba, Biko and Tambe. We would have taught them about Menelek II and the victory of the Battle of Adawah where the Ethiopians defeated the Italians. We would have taught our children that before European prejudice came in to place due to slavery, Africans ruled Europeans and three Roman Emperors were African; so were three Popes. It was white supremacy that destroyed the integrity...

removed everything that was African from the church. It is Ethiopia that maintained the oldest form of Christianity in the world but because we do not love the B...

If somehow children got past the brainwashing and could dismiss that they were ruled by people who did not look like them, they would enter the adult world as stable and functional, seeking to succeed in our economy. However, I believe as they enter adulthood they would realize that there is no love for the Black Child anywhere, including the business world. They don’t have to look very far beyond the business climate in Jamaica. Our country is 95% percent black and our first national hero was so selected because he taught us self-reliance, self determination and self ownership. I often wonder what would happen if Marcus Garvey and Paul Bogle were to somehow ri...

the airport, they would be bombarded with advertisements from foreign phone companies and their African phones could only roam on one of their networks. I am sure Marcus especially would have figured the black owned phone company was somewhere too big to be at the Airport. He would be surprised as to how roughly Customs and Immigration would have dealt with him as one of their own, but figured they were just having a bad day. Paul Bogle may have seen some British police in our uniform but think that it was just a costume because there was no way in the 21st Century that Jamaica could be importing police from Europe, not after what happened at Stony Gut. At some point, someone who loved them would sa...

the three factors that determine our lives – politics, spirituality and economics

John Conny was a Guinean chief who would treat the European sailors like any ship docking at an international port of call today. These ships would have to pay landing fees, taxes, custom duties and were not given any special treatment just because they were white. The white slave owners were so afraid that his story would have gotten popular in the West Indies that they renamed him ‘Jonkonnu’, which became an evil silly dancer that would scare kids at Holiday time. This way, when a Black Child heard about John Conny he would not listen because he would think it is something evil and stupid like Jonkonnu. Even today our children all know Jonkonnu, but hardly anyone knows about John Conny.

Martin Luther King went to Jail, so did Nelson Mandela and Marcus Garvey. Malcolm X, Steven Biko, Medgar Evans, Patrice Lumumba and too many to mention here were executed. Even during the labour riots that we had in Jamaica 1938, the Caucasian looking Alexander Bustamante got a decent jail cell with food and a bed, while William Grant had to sleep on the floor and was beaten and treated inhumanely. This hate for the Black Child extends to the English language that was given to us to replace our natural African tongue. We are told that Black Magic is evil, when someone has information on you and demands money its blackmail, when your song is banned it is blacklisted, the day the stock market crashed is black Monday and the list goes on. A black cat crossing your path is danger, so is a black bird but a white dove means peace and serenity. Can you imagine for me to get a visa, I have to have my name moved from the blacklist? Where is the love for the Black Child in the language you gave us to speak?

Not only has Babylon taken our spirituality from us but they have even taken away our names. The names most of us have today are the names that were given to us by our slave masters. We do not even know our true ancestral last name before we were enslaved and branded like animals. In fact, we do not know which country in Africa we are from as the slave traders kept no record of us individually. The church considered us infidels and our transportation as slaves from Africa to the New World was similar to (if not worse than) the way we transport cattle today. Many of us assume that we are from the West Coast of Africa but we cannot even pinpoint the country because Europeans took the continent and carved it into pieces the way thieves share the spoils from a heist. To this day, there is no direct flight from Jamaica to Africa but you can pick choose and refuse to go to the land of the former colonial master on a daily basis, but only if you are ‘allowed’ through Immigration. Where is the love for the Black Child when our people have to travel through the land of our former slave masters, just to get an affordable ticket to our homeland? Can’t all the countries in the Caribbean get together and have one direct flight to West Africa? Unbelievable!

Why do we that?

Sentence error

The ‘house nigga’ concept is so deep, it even influences the way we treat certain parishes in Jamaica. St. Thomas is the parish that maintained most of the African traditions since slavery. In fact, the most violent rebellion occurred there. In the same way Haiti has been punished in the Western world for being the first black nation to gain freedom (through charging them for their freedom to the point where 45% of their GDP was used to pay back France as compensation for ending slavery), St. Thomas is still being punished for its role in the Morant Bay Rebellion. The area of Sea Forth was very instrumental in the Labour riots of 1938 and you can still find the most poco, reada man, herbalist, drum beater and spiritual rivers in St. Thomas. The spirit of our ancestors resides there and so non-black Jamaicans stay away. It was the last parish to get a high school; the Morant Bay High in 1963. When there is heavy rainfall, St. Thomas is cut off from the rest of Jamaica, as there are no proper bridges. The Bath River, a world renowned natural spring, has almost no infrastructure around it. Cane River, another wonderful river mentioned by Bob Marley in his song Kaya – no infrastructure. I think the ‘house niggas’ know that Paul Bogle’s spirit still lives there and they fear that one day black people will rise again, so to prevent that they demonstrate no love for the St. Thomas Black Child.

They revealed some of the skullduggery that foreign companies undertook and their reward was an email from the government the next day, threatening to revoke all their licences. Peter Tosh was certainly not a bleacher but he cursed Babylon everyday and would get some serious police beatings for it. If they did that to private companies and the great Peter Tosh and tried to take away my livelihood over a song, what will they do to me after the next paragraph is read by the powers that be? A lot of the secrets of the past are going to come out now. A Gaza mi come from, so I am not afraid Babylon, read this and when unu done ready, do whatever you need to do to me, I am no girl guide, man a soldier. As Ninjaman would say back in the days; Hear Dis! Part of the reason there is no love for the Black Child in Jamaica, is because one of our former black Prime Ministers, Hugh Shearer, banned all Black Power books in 1968. Why would any Prime Minister want to ban Black Power books in a predominantly black country? The answer is that the powers that be have