Jamaica: Paradise lost?

ID: INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE

DAVID MULLINGS

Sunday, October 16, 2011

LAST week, Time magazine carried an article titled 'Can a young prime minister reform Jamaica's old criminality?' which started with an opening line that paints a damning picture of the way the international media views what has transpired here over the last two years.

"When Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced his resignation last month, the only surprise was that it took him so long. Since last year, Golding, leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), has been embroiled in one of the worst scandals to hit Jamaica since it won independence five decades ago."

The article immediately reminded me of a famous Time magazine cover story on Miami in 1981. Headlined 'South Florida: Trouble in Paradise', the article painted a picture of drug-related crime and widespread corruption (I was born in 1981 so I only know about the article thanks to the documentary Cocaine Cowboys).

For those who do not know or do not remember, South Florida, especially Miami, has traditionally been a winter playground for tourists, but drugs and the resulting violent crime took over the region in the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, causing major problems for residents and visitors.

In September 1980, Miami was named by the FBI as being the most crime-ridden city in the USA and the murder rate was the worst in that country, reaching 70 murders per 100,000 residents. This crime wave was being mainly driven by the influx of drugs, as it was estimated that some 70 per cent of the marijuana and cocaine smuggled into the USA came through South Florida.

Tourism was still growing, albeit much more slowly, as resorts had lower occupancy and had to increase rates in order to stay in business. Miami in 1981 was certainly not Jamaica in 2011, but the path is very clear if citizens do not make more effort to combat corruption and drug gangs; if politicians continue to turn a blind eye to dons and the criminality occurring on their watch; and if politicians continue to associate with and protect criminals.

Cross Roads

This is not just a famous location in Jamaica where Uptown and Downtown meet, it is what Jamaica now faces, a crossroads. The country can either continue down the path to become what Miami was in 1981 — with regular brazen shootouts at shopping plazas in broad daylight and corrupt politicians openly facilitating criminals (some would say we are already there), or choose another path, the one that the Miami of 1981 chose — a path to dramatically reduce the influence of drug dealers and gangs on the city.

Last week, Time magazine could write that "Jamaican officialdom's links to organised crime date back to the cold war politics of the 1970s, when the JLP and its main rival, the liberal People's National Party (PNP), often employed armed thugs. By the 1990s, those gangs had morphed into drug-trafficking organisations".

That must change, because it can only hurt Jamaica when such views are spread around the world, because they are true and because too many Jamaicans seem to want to ignore such ugly facts.

On my flight into the USA from Jamaica this past week, US authorities had a sniffer dog greet the passengers in the tunnel as we got off the plane. Not many countries face that kind of scrutiny and I overheard a number of Americans wondering why they had to go through this since that never happened when they came from other Caribbean countries after a vacation.

This is what our paradise has come to, but I do not think it is lost. Miami was able to rebound but only because citizens demanded action, voted in politicians who would take action, especially against corrupt politicians, enforce the law and work to improve the image of the city.

Today, Miami is a thriving city with a great downtown area and the choice location for many people visiting from Latin America and the Caribbean (everyone has family there as well). It is hard to believe that the famous Al Pacino movie Scarface is based on the reality of Miami back then.

Let us all work together to ensure that Jamaica does not serve as a modern-day backdrop for 'Scarface 2' if Hollywood decides to make a sequel, which seems to be all they are doing today.

Having attended the University of Miami, I marvel at what the city came from and I hold out tremendous hope for Jamaica, especially Kingston. We have survived massive earthquakes and disastrous hurricanes, surely we can overcome gangs.

David Mullings was the first Future Leaders Representative for the USA on the Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board. He can be found on Twitter at twitter.com/davidmullings and Facebook at facebook.com/InteractiveDialogue

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Jamaica: Paradise lost?