The recent killing of Minneapolis

As hashtags encouraging justice for Floyd – who was killed after a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes – flood posts online, so too are hashtags for Susan Bogle, a disabled August Town resident who was killed during a joint police/military operation last week in St Andrew.

Though

social media users are calling for the “same energy” when it comes to

demanding justice for local wrongs, entertainer Dexta Daps says Jamaicans are

not yet organised.

“Inna

Jamaica mi hear bout a girl fi real, Susan…Susan she name. Yuh see in

Jamaica, we nuh really unite yet fi start fight, this is my point of

view,” the singjay said earlier on Instagram live. “We nuh unite yet

fi start mek a movement, fi mek a big change, so we need that.”

He

added that the outrage surrounding Floyd’s death deserves greater

understanding, especially since Jamaica does not face life-threatening issues

with racism.

“Fi

tell yuh di truth, Jamaica isn’t that big on racism but it still deh here so

for future references, we need fi do something bout that because racism stems

from so much things,” he said. “You have classism, people just think

dem better than you, that is like the daughter fi racism enuh cause yaa go

think you better than me fi wah? Cause yuh brown? Yuh not even white…

“So

classism still deh here so until we can recognise how fi accept others, not fi

weh dem have but fi who dem is then it nah go really a change too much things

so we haffi go address this likkle by likkle. But mi see the change coming so

we just haffi be patient and fight.”

Koffee and Spice are two Jamaican artistes who have been met with backlash for loaning their voices and platforms to the current Black Lives Matter movement. Spice’s decision to denounce racial injustice and police brutality by joining protesters in Atlanta this week was met with some criticism as folks challenged the dancehall star to be as passionate about injustices inflicting her homeland. Daps commended his peer for taking a stand and added that he, too, would be in the streets if he were in the United States.

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[naviga:li]Related story:

Spice leads Black Lives Matter protest in Atlanta[/naviga:li][/naviga:ul]

“Memba seh Spice a walk up and down out deh, inna di streets wid di people dem, a fight fi black people, not Jamaican black people enuh, she a fight fi Jamaican people and black people and everything inna one. She a fight fi the human race, she a fight fi one world, one people. How unno fi bash Spice? Unno fool eeh.

“Lowe Spice mek Spice gwaan do har ting cause nuff people mi nuh see a try. Nothing beat a failure but a trier, so at the end of the day, yuh haffi try. Mi see Spice a try mek a change so just show her support. Some a unno fi just do weh she a do and stop di noise.”