The Voice Of The Jamaican Ghetto: Incarcerated but not Silenced

by Adidja Palmer

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.