It is a patent fact that some members of the Jamaican diaspora, especially in the United States, either do not take enough time to inform themselves sufficiently of happenings in Jamaica, or they are so passionate about the country that they do not give a hoot about distortions, however detrimental.

How else could one explain some of the irritating inaccuracies, misrepresentation and arrogance that accompany so many of the letters to the editor and the ignorance behind the botched American accent that colours some of the conversations on the talk shows?

My gripe is not with the struggles that some face in masking our unique Jamaican lilt under the blanket of a “Johnny-come-lately” foreign accent. It is with the devotion they seem to have with painting a picture, especially of North America, that presents it as Utopia when in reality many of the problems that Jamaica faces are the same that many other countries have to grapple with.

Recently, I listened to Wilmot Perkins as he asked an overseas Jamaican caller to his show: “Have you ever experienced a power cut in the US?” As the caller attempted to answer, Perkins swiftly suggested to him that such experiences would most likely happen only during natural disasters, such as hurricanes. Unfortunately, the wimpish fellow agreed with Perkins without realising that other listeners, who live in the same area as he, knew that he was flat out lying.

I hold no brief for the present administration and I have absolutely nothing against the United States of which I am a citizen. In fact, I have enjoyed tremendous success here, but we have to put things in perspective in order to arrive at reasonable conclusions. Undoubtedly, Jamaica faces many hurdles, fiscal limitations and social challenges. However, to present the view that the problems are inimitably Jamaican is scandalous at best and disingenuous at worst. It is against this background that I share the following statistics with you.

A lot of overseas callers to the talk shows and writers to the newspapers quarrel about Jamaica’s indebtedness. While this is cause for concern and deserving of a deliberate debt reduction strategy, callers should also know that as at May 25, 2007, the outstanding public debt of the USA was US$8.810 trillion. Put another way, each US citizen owes US$29,176, a further $1.28 billion is added daily. In Japan, at January 2006, the debt stood at US$7.1 trillion which was 160 per cent of its annual GDP.

The nightly television newscasts have become unofficial sites for charity appeals. Again, some members in the diaspora exploit these appeals by reinforcing the refrain, “This could not happen in America,” as though poverty is exclusively Jamaican. According to US Government Accountability Office, in a letter dated January 24, 2007 to Charles Rangel of the Ways and Means Committee of Congress: “In 2005, 37 million people, or approximately 13 per cent of the total US population lived below the poverty line.”

Additionally, Catholic Charities USA reports that “25 million people in the US sought help from food banks in 2006 – an increase of 18 per cent since 1997. More than 7 million people living in rural areas are poor, and the highest rates of poverty are among children, mostly children of colour.” According to the October 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Family Physicians, “Each day in the US, at least 800,000 people are homeless. This includes 200,000 children in homeless families. As of the beginning of the 21st century, 2.3 to 3.5 million people were homeless at some time during 2005.”

Much discussion has surrounded government announcement of free health care for children under 18 years old, and the JLP’s proposal for universal free health care. But it has always fascinated me how some members in the diaspora like to create the impression that health care is available in the USA for all at no cost; knowing fully well that nothing could be further from the truth.

The National Coalition of Health Care reports that “due to rise in health insurance premiums, nearly 47 million Americans or 16 per cent of the population were without health insurance in 2005 including 8.3 million children”. Overseas Jamaicans may find this interesting, “The largest majority, of the uninsured (80 per cent) were Native Americans or naturalised citizens.”

Nearly eight out of 10 uninsured people came from working families and almost 15 per cent of employees had no employer-sponsored health coverage available to them. In 2005, health-care spending in the United States reached $2 trillion or 16 per cent of its GDP. The US spends nearly US$100 billion per year to provide uninsured residents with health services, hospitals provide about US$34 billion worth of uncompensated care per year, another US$37 billion is paid by private and public payers for health services and US$26 billion is paid out-of-pocket by those who lack coverage with the average cost of a hospital stay about US$3000.

The crime problem in Jamaica poses the greatest and gravest threat to our economic and physical security, and I remain unimpressed with some of government’s crime focus. However, the US Police Executive Research Forum reports that “violent crime increased in 2006, and many cities experienced double-digit or even triple-digit percentage increases in homicides and other violence”.

The FBI also reports that “An estimated 1.391 million violent crimes occurred nationwide in America in 2005. It also reports that there were an estimated 469 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants. Aggravated assault accounted for 62.1 percent, robbery for 30 per cent, forcible rape accounts for 6.9 per cent and murder for 1.2 per cent; 45.5 per cent of violent crimes and 16.3 per cent of property crimes were cleared by arrest or exceptional means; 62.1 per cent of all murders were cleared up.”

Finally, while we should never hide our woes by foolishly burying them behind emotions or pretend that nothing positive has ever happened in our country, it doesn’t hurt to look dispassionately at what obtains elsewhere as we lay the foundation for reasonable dialogue, given the penchant for some to see our country and ourselves in the most negative light. Burnscg@aol.com