Black History Month, as celebrated in the United States of America, comes to an end today. In Jamaica, February is also known as Reggae Month and among the highlights is the birthday of the genre icon Bob Marley.

In the USA, the tradition was started by Carter G Woodson (1875-1950), in February 1926, around the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Emancipation Act in the USA, and Frederick Douglass, a runaway slave who became an activist and an author.

Woodson was born to former slaves and was the second African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard University, despite having entered high school at 20 years of age. This eventually became a month of activities known as Black History Month.

Jamaicans who embrace the Black History Month concept need to extend the activities within February in future years to include programmes to change our post-slavery and neo-colonial attitudes. The destruction of such negative attitudes is very important if Jamaicans, in general, are to advance beyond mere material achievements that are disguised as real development, but actually not so.

It was Saint Mother Theresa of Calcutta who said that “the biggest disease in the world was not tuberculosis (AIDS came later), but the disease of rejection”. One of the symptoms of rejection and oppression appears to be the taking of misplaced revenge. Many who were oppressed but have now advanced become bullies in the workplace, or even in church, perhaps to satisfy themselves that they have arrived.

Two accounts of healing by Jesus Christ in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke might suffice here, such as when Jesus said “suffer the little children to come unto me” and in the healing of the blind man. In both instances the people seeking assistance of Jesus Christ were reprimanded by the disciples. Could this have been because the Jews who had a history of oppression now felt avenged because they misguidedly felt that they had Jesus for themselves? Isn’t that also true of people around politicians in Jamaica?

Conversely, if someone ‘step up inna life’ and acts in humility with the newfound fortune, such a person is usually the victim of jealousy. So, in future observances of Black History Month in Jamaica we should highlight the examples of civilised behaviour among black people.

One such example occurred in 1991 when there was a human mistake in the tallying of points for the annual schools athletics competition that initially gave the victory to Calabar. The tallying was done again and the second tally showed that Jamaica College (JC) had actually won by two points.

The JC fraternity decided to march from JC to Calabar to demand the cup. But the then principal of Calabar, the late Joseph Earle, telephoned the then principal of JC, the late Ruel Taylor (yes, JC has had two Ruels as principals) and said that he would bring a delegation of Calabar students to JC and hand over the cup. JC past students were invited to the event and I was there. In that instance, Earle called one of JC’s champion athletes to the platform and shook his hand for a wonderful race in front of the assembly. It was pleasing to see black Jamaicans behaving in a civilised manner.

I knew Joseph Earle before that happy occurrence from credit union circles and, frankly, my respect for him grew that day. And this is why I have written about that occurrence at least three times in the last 28 years as a shining example. I am sure that some of readers know many other examples of civilised behaviour among Jamaicans, which really should be highlighted in future, especially in Black History Month.

I wish to also give two examples of absolutely wrong attitudes that need to be addressed in some future observances of Black History Month. First, the teenagers that took part in the Kingston Riots following the demonstrations after the expulsion of Walter Rodney in October 1968 would be 60-odd years of age now. I was told by someone that after the plundering of a supermarket on Spanish Town Road a police Jeep drove up to the building. The driver of the Jeep told them to fill the back with food, but the boys who ran told them to do their own ‘teifin’.

Second, someone does something wrong at the lower level of an organisation and is reprimanded by the supervisor. But the wrongdoer knows someone in the higher echelons, so the supervisor is reported and perhaps dismissed for daring to reprimand the junior. This occurs in other parts of the world also, but it seems to be much worse in Jamaica.

Similarly If I tell someone that they are wrong, or if I reprimand someone for something that they should not do, then one of my relatives is bound to hear that I dared to correct them. That, however, never intimidates me, and I almost always let them know that.

But it really is past the time that Jamaican people stop this sort of behaviour. Indeed, it is part of the overall corruption in Jamaica. While in Jamaica it started in the time of the pirates, corruption looms in many Third-World countries in which people have been liberated after years of oppression.

In the United States, where the concept of Black History Month originated, racial rights have been coalesced with those who fight for women’s liberation and homosexual rights. In Jamaica, when I attended the launch of the Patois Bible some years ago, some women’s liberation pamphlets were handed out and given far more importance than the event.

In the two instances mentioned it is most unfortunate as it weakens the cause. Those who do not like the mix will not participate in the struggle. Could this happen in Africa? Let us look into these things in next year’s Black History Month’s observance.

Michael Burke is a research consultant, historian and current affairs analyst. Send comments to the Observer or ekrubm765@yahoo.com.