The driver barrels down to the traffic lights at King’s House in the right turn lane and veers left across cars. Now at the head of the line, he sees ladies at the Jamaica House bus stop and is off — a madman driving a lethal weapon. Every other driver is seething at his indiscipline, but “it’s our culture”.

The mom beats the hell out of her child by ‘Standpipe’, he wails like the devil, but “it’s our culture!”

Girls’ sensual dancing; loud, lewd music; statuettes with projectiles as penises, our culture?

We must not buy into these views. We must strongly repudiate them; this is not us. We have, by silence, given these notions power over our kids. We must not give comfort to these views and it is time to demutualise these negatives. “Sorry, I do not agree with that!” or “Keep that nonsense to yourself!” Our emancipation begins with us.

Our real culture is love, free spirited, generous; no grudges; we do not oppress. We love yam, mango and paw-paw, easy music. We are slow to anger, forgiving, work long and hard. We are self reliant; grow what we eat; sing like Solomon, dance like the wind. We are honest as the day is long; we respect women and rise early to greet the day. We must take ownership of positive affirmations; speak up and live by them. We protect our kids and our aged. The police are our friends. We are prudent; we are God’s kids. What’s the truth about our culture? Where are its roots? Is it our heroes? Garvey lived comfortably with his British pith helmet and three-piece suit. Is Africa the root of culture? No hero went back to Africa; no leader in politics, business, church; no entertainer, sportsperson did. Some Rastafari went to live on a reservation in Sheshemane, but Rasta is “made in Jamaica!” — our best culture export. Is Britain our cultural home? Near millions of us ‘pack-up’ there, not-from-Africa hypocrisy is alive and well. Check your roots, but your fruits matter more. We grow family wealth in a generation and study can change family fortunes. Our ancestors were debased, but we can pay it forward for children yet unborn by education, hard work, and a caring life. Your child’s culture can be reset by you. Selah!

Culture is learnt behaviour. If you live hardship you will become hard. Live caring and become caring. Persistent poverty formed in the crucible of the last 50 + 1 years ‘screwed up’ our lives and our culture. We are uncaring, suspicious, cynical, and our needs exceed our means. Yet, our culture can rise no higher than our education. My culture is Keats, Louise Bennett, Achebe, Ferrari, Sun Tzu, Dior; nothing to do with Empire, a lot with English. If you are illiterate in Chinese, English, Spanish, etc you are barren like Mars rock.

Peoples who have had periods of prosperity are soft, forgiving and sharing. Their surpluses bought them leisure. They were thoughtful, they built, they innovated; developed faith and philosophy. We may be best at it, but the Olympics is of Europe. Culture subsists in our habits. Have you had a holiday in 30 years? Leisure after years of misery? If offal is all you ate for years then your love affair with it will not end when you are rich — remember “Butto in Benz”, a pig in a palace. Your leaders made you; resist with your might.

Wikipedia says culture is “manifestations of human intellectual activity”. So I checked Jamaican culture. Rastafari got 21 lines of text, cuisine, dance (nine), theatre (13). For Europe the first three items are “arts, science, philosophy” — flippin’ hell! In Africa “arts, craft and folklore” top the list. Wiki thinks all of us are Rasta. What of Sir Willard White? Bishop Gregory, Blair or Reece? Why do seven measly films in 50 years get so many lines? Culture may be positive, negative, progressive or reactionary, and ours mired in negatives; but we can undermine it, change it, or embrace counter culture. Let’s begin to retool our culture.

Re-engineering culture

The secular trend is for things to deteriorate. Go with the flow and you go downhill. We have to climb to rise. Let’s write our own textbooks; write out our values, the consonant behaviours and embed them in books, families, schools. We have to fix the odds. We did not have 50 + 1 years of life affirming experience. If only our trusted leaders had delivered. We got squat! We can get back on track. Hardship is a temporary condition, not a counsel of despair and enterprise is born in dark days. Many found success in the interstices of a hard society. A few kids had a microclimate of positive values and love. We all have choice, it’s not easy, but we can. Cabinet must work to embed new mantras. Am I a hero if I do not ‘hug-up’ poverty, incest, crime, abuse, ‘red-eye’, and prefer fresh to salt beef? Yes! Can I reject handouts and work to pay my way? Yes!

Parents must repent, put kids first. Ask not what the government can do for you! Women must stop shielding criminals. Her two-year-old with a badly torn vagina was “pecked by a duck” — yeah right! Is “niggeritis” cultural? “Get back to work after you eat, negro!” Let’s make work our culture. Slavery did not create our culture, slackers did. Did we internalise any good in two centuries of freedom? Men say our irresponsible sexploits is because our forefathers were studs — nonsense! Why use slavery to hide a robust sex drive? Celebrate it! If we lived openly with sexual appetites men might stop abusing their kids in secret. Open the closet door!

Mythmakers

Let’s create positive myths and mantras to build character and nation. A depressed Hebrew slave people created “David and Goliath”. Tom Sawyer lives for every Yankee kid. Let’s embed heroism. Can “Superdread” find criminals who terrorise and rape our kids? Cabinet must fund writers, patriotic storytellers, film-makers, orators; do as Hitler with his devilish effective films, posters, mantras, installations, slogans. Let’s create positive cultural florescence. Is ace scientist Henry Lowe cultural? Beenie man is, though. Why is a dancehall funeral cultural? Someone from the Ministry of Dancehall at the university will soon discover vaginal mutilation aka female circumcision is cultural. Women will surely murder our men in their sleep.

Culture czars, why should things I did to cope with past hardship become my culture? Do you plan for me to be poor forever? I work hard because I want to live well and enjoy curry goat, local steak with mushrooms at Medusa, and single malt. To adjust our culture to fit poverty is bulls! I am poor now, I do not expect to be poor forever. I do not want to be habituated to imported tripe, pig’s tail, salt fish, oxtail, chicken back. Not now, not ever! Eat fresh, eat local! Our leaders have not prospered us, so do I adjust to inept leaders? Faffin’ hell! Why not fan the flames of revolution? Do not own the “informa feh ded” culture, fight it. We need every parent, writer, film-maker to help positivise our culture. Can young, cross-party MPs join hands and help? “Whom shall I send?” Stay conscious, my friend!

Dr Franklin Johnston is a strategist, project manager and advises the minister of education. franklinjohnstontoo@gmail.com