A friend sent me the link to a  very interesting site that shows Jamaica is number 1 in Medals by Population in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. What an amazing accomplishment.

There is a great article on the Gleaner about why Jamaicans run so fast. Glad to see the Jamaican diaspora support is one of the reasons. I know the Penn Relays has really become the “Jamaican Relays” because of the support of the Jamaican Diaspora in the US that support it. The Reebok Grand Prix is also becoming a popular meet that Jamaican abroad come out to support the Jamaican athletes. With all that “nutting nuh nice” like CHAMPS.

Last week I was having a conversation with a friend about the CNN series Black in America. The discussion led to one of the hosts of the series, Soledad O’Brien. She is considered “black” but is of of mixed race. My friend was upset because she is not only a member of the Black Journalist Association but also a member of the Hispanic Journalist association. He said she was playing both sides and needs to just be black.

Now I explained to him that in my opinion the “one drop rule” taken to the extreme seems to require that someone of mixed race is to forget their other heritage but being black. I asked him what is someone to do when they don’t look black but has one grandparent who is black. I know of cases like this. Where people who could “pass” as anything else but black try to join a black organization and are told they are not black. In fact I know many Jamaicans who would have a “fit” if you called them black because of one a parent or grandparent who was black or had “one” drop of black blood. I tole him about my wife’s cousin who is a teenager visiting the US from Jamaica. He has grandfather who is black but he looks “Syrian” because of Chinese and East Indian Blood in the other parents and grandparents. He mentioned to me that he has seen so many “Black children” wear their pants “sagging”. Not if he lived in America he would be classified as Black. But in Jamaica he is “Indian” or “Syrian”. There is no way I can tell him he is black by American standard. Some would want him to do this to “prop” up the number of Black people. Does it make sense? Let me not even mention my wife (Chinese/Black) who is “Black” by the one drop rule but referred to as “Hispanic” in Florida and “Chiney” in Jamaica. She does not look “Black”. In fact she tried to join the Black Students Union in college and was “rejected”. There are many other stories out there. The point is the “one drop” rule which was used to “degrade” people of mixed race  is seen by some to increase their numbers…

Time has an article titled “Can Jamaica’s Sprinters Fight Crime?“. Very interesting as this week murders are down in Jamaica. I remember a friend of mine saying the Reggae Boyz in the World Cup has the same effect. I say we get athletes in all types of international sports so there is an event every week.

The US media provides some very interesting angles on stories all the time. One of the stories I heard on a radio show is that Usain knows that he will get extra money each time he breaks the World Record. So the reason he eased up is to assure that he keeps getting paid…WOW

Photographer: Unknown at this time.

As I mentioned in my trip report , I would be giving details on some of the interesting discussion I had on my trip to Jamaica last month. One discussion was with a gentleman who was a Maroon. He never appreciated being a Maroon till he went to college overseas. The students held him in high honor when they learned he was a Maroon. He explained to me the stigma of saying you were a “Maroon”  during the time he was growing up. This leads me to the main point of this post. The lost history.

The Maroons are probably one of the few people in Jamaica that could have kept their “African Family” tree intact. Through oral history they would have been able to trace their ancesty straight back to a “description” of where in Africa they came from. For many of us who would like to trace “tree” the only route is through DNA testing. This would only give us an idea of a region and a possibly a tribe. Now the Maroons could narrow it down for thier tree with names.

In my discussion with other Maroons and this gentleman none of this was done. He explained that no one asked the elders in the village any questions. He explained that the Maroons were blamed for catching run-away slaves and helping the British to quell rebellions including those led by Sam Sharpe and Paul Bogle. They were not accepted by the free slaves after Emancipation because of that. Your social status would drop when you mentioned you were a Maroon. For many this stigma and guilt had them “running away” from anything Maroon. It probably helped to prevent the oral and written documentation of a direct family tree.