In a family recent discussion on Obama’s and Cosby’s comments to the Black American community about responsibility and fatherhood I was shocked by the response of a relative.  This relative mentioned that the majority of Black Americans did not want to hear what these men had to say and want to go on living “recklessly”. This relative added that we as “Jamaicans” should know this is how Black Americans are.  I was speechless. The majority of black American I know applaud the comments by these men. This mind set is one I experience many years ago amongst Jamaicans. We want to participate in “black American culture” but we still stereotype black Americans. I was recently in Jamaica. Many of the young males were sagging, the hairstyles were what you would see worn by black American and rap music was blasting out of cars. Back to the relative…I did not want to argue with them as they were from  a generation you don’t argue with. They will not listen to reason. They funny thing is the generation their children are having will be “black American”.

Two weeks ago I posted a link to an article in the Miami Herald on Jamaican track athletes. This weekend the New York Times published a similar article. The is one has a little different spin as it mentioned Jamaica’s relatively “drug free” track athletes.  I guess as we get closer to the Olympics we will be hearing more about Jamaica ability as the “Sprint factory” of the world. After reading the article do you sense the writers intent to set the “bull dogs” on us to scrutinize?

I love watching gymnastics and ice skating but I hate to see someone fall. My wife and children say I take it very personal. I cringe, groan in emotional pain and sometimes close my eyes. I feel embarrassed for them. You know it is over for them but they continue. I can’t get past the fall. The recent Miss Universe had me feeling this way. Miss USA fell and it was pretty bad. Jamaica was not one of the 10 finalist and I was really pulling for her. I had stop watching after she fell. I don’t know how I am going to handle the Olympics Gymnastics but I will be watching…

Today’s Miami Herald had a feature on the Jamaican Patois Bible debate.  The new twist to the article is that “yardies” abroad are mentioned for wanting a patois bible. They talk about our sense of nationalism for wanting this. I have been debating the issues with a few yardies here in South Florida an none of them thinks the bible should be translated. I am probably one of the few who think it should be. I find myself in the minority of all these discussions.

Yesterday I briefly talked about the simple facts and simplicity of the Republicans. I felt the need to expand a little more as this simplicity is one of the reasons I believe the Republican party has had more presidents in the last 40 years. Most Americans, like many other citizens of democracies, are not politically educated. I am not talking about formal education as I have friends with Masters Degrees that cannot tell me anything about the presidential candidates or political parties. This was illustrated to me a few weeks ago at a birthday party. A few of us started to talk presidential politics. Everyone in the group was talking about Obama. I asked the questions “What do you think of John McCain”. One of my friends said “Who”. He did not know who he was. I had to explain
Enough said…back to the point of simplicity. The Republicans have honed their beliefs and policies into 3-4 word sentences while the Democrats have a thesis for what they believe because they want to appeal to all. For example, Abortion, Republicans are “Against Abortion” (2 sentences) for Democrats “We are pro-womens right even though we think abortion is a terrible thing” (This is the short version depending on the Democrat). Another example, smaller government and less taxes (Republicans).  Government should not be the fix it all but should help it’s citizens (Democrats). You can automatically know what Republicans are for because of these simple snippets. These easy to remember snippets appeal to the politically un-educated who make up the majority of the electorate in the US. The messages is tweaked especially for those residents in the “Red State” who are the working class. They don’t have time to dissect longs policy statements. As they say “keep it simple stupid”.

I used to like that Republicans can argue a point based on “simple facts” and no necessarily personal attacks. The personal attacks seems to come from Democrats. I have witnessed (and took part) many discussions between Democrats and Republicans over the years that seem to end with the Democrats saying all Republican are racist, stupid or some other personal attack. They could never seem to counter the  simple facts  or the “simplicity” of the Republican policies. This seems to have changed since the last 2 years since the “Republican” brand has not taken a hit. They seem to have now cornered the market on “personal” attacks while the Democrats are now using “facts”.

Jamaican – Sgt. Andrew Seabrooks – Photo Courtesy of NYDailyNews.com.
As I read the story of this Jamaican who died in Afghanistan last week I could not help but think of recent conversation I had with 2 Jamaicans who serve in the US army. In the space of the last 3 weeks I was able to speak to these “yardies” who served both in Afghanistan and Iraq. They both said they are ready to go back. They spoke of the sense of obligation to their fellow soldiers and also the great things they are doing. They spoke of the children and how they were suffering. I watched soldiers on TV say they want to go back and always wondered why. Speaking to these Jamaican born soldiers give me a better understanding on why.