What really happened at Four Paths ‘barber shop’?

If we are to follow initial reports, a terrible crime was committed at the Four Paths Police Station in Clarendon recently.

It involved the trimming — by force we were told initially, but still without clear evidence — of a young woman’s locks, one of the symbols which identifies her as a member of the global Rastafarian community.

The complainant, identified as 19-year-old Nzinga King, claims that a certain member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force cut her locks against her will. Police personnel have informed me that the accused individual has denied the claim.

It is known that Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson has ordered a probe into the allegation made by Ms King. Maybe it is not widely known that two members of the constabulary, based at the Four Paths station, have been transferred, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Now, it appeared that the police station was transformed into a barber shop of some kind, because what seems real so far is that the locks were sliced there, whether by the individual accused, or, as information has surfaced elsewhere, by someone else.

The news emerging lately is that the young woman cut her own locks and has been feeling regretful over it. As stated on Nationwide Radio last Thursday, an individual named as a colleague of the 19-year-old said that the young woman had accused herself of the trimming.

If indeed she trimmed herself, it would have had to be done at Four Paths Police Station, or barber shop, if you wish. That would also lead to the question of how she got the tool (scissors) to do such a thing.

Any of the two scenarios cited would have been wrong. If the police force member is found to have cut Ms King’s locks, then that individual who swore to serve, protect, and reassure should be made to leave the force and open a barber shop at a convenient location.

However, if the story, as told on Nationwide pans out, then that would throw a completely different screwdriver into the works. It would then mean that action would have to be taken against the complainant.

The trimming of locks by police and correctional personnel in this country is a serious thing. Though it should never have been the case, it has happened many times before.

Rastafarians have been persecuted in Jamaica more than any other religious group, which makes the allegations raised by the 19-year-old as serious as can be imagined.

My sources tell me that the report on the incident ,as requested by Commissioner Anderson, should reach his desk by Tuesday at the latest. It should be interesting.

Proud of women’s 4x100m quartet

The sweet Independence Day victory in the women’s 4×100 metres relay at the just-ended Tokyo Olympics by Briana Williams, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Shericka Jackson was refreshingly accompanied by an interview on Television Jamaica t hat is not the norm when it comes to athletes expressing themselves verbally.

All four spoke with authority, confidence, and brilliance and it demonstrated the ability that Jamaican sports stars have in their verbal arsenal. As usual, Fraser-Pryce was the most articulate, but the others were not far behind. Shelly was the lead spokesperson, the one who initiated the jokes, and who knows when to switch to the lane of seriousness, like, for example, calling for the bashing of the male athletes to cease.

Let’s not forget, at the end of the women’s 100 metres a week earlier, how the uninformed tore into Fraser-Pryce and Jackson for seemingly not congratulating Thompson-Herah in a way that they would have liked after Thompson-Herah won the event in record time.

With the passage of time, everyone seemed to have forgotten that initial moment and many basked in the glory of the team which posted a new national record for the one-lap relay. How the women jelled in the television interview was quite impressive.

Men typically get on better with their own sex, than do women. That’s a given. There may have been kinks in the professional and personal relationship involving Thompson-Herah, Fraser-Pryce, and Jackson, but at the end of the 4×100 metre event no one would know. Even the choice of what was to be worn was disclosed as a decision made among the quartet. That was good, and capped a fine day as Jamaica celebrated its 59th anniversary of Independence.

Attack on Gonsalves should not faze Holness

The attack on Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves last Thursday came as a surprise to a country that does not usually make that kind of physical statement against its politicians.

Leaders in St Vincent and the Grenadines, like many of those in countries of the eastern Caribbean, do not have tight security details, certainly not like what obtains in Jamaica. Many times, prime ministers even jump in their vehicles and drive away by themselves, believing that nothing will befall them. It is something similar to what former Jamaica prime ministers Hugh Shearer and Michael Manley used to do when they wanted to keep their movements as clandestine as possible.

It seems that the blow inflicted to the head of Dr Gonsalves arose from his Government’s decision to make the taking of the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for some categories of workers. I am relieved that Dr Gonsalves was not killed, but a bit concerned that he had to be flown to Barbados to undergo an MRI scan, which is an indictment on his Government that no machine is available in his native land.

That aside, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness should, like Dr Gonsalves, push ahead and make it mandatory for Jamaicans to take the vaccine at some point. Still, there are issues of availability, which has forced some of us to sit and await the commodity. But Holness should make it compulsory for everyone who either lives on this rock, or does business here, to take the vaccine — even allow each individual to have his brand of choice, just like how I am interested in one of the Cuban shots, which is not yet available here.

Too often we allow uninformed people to stall the progress of our nation. We are faced with a matter of life and death. Remember now, it was mandatory for us, as youngsters, to get protected against some cruel diseases like mumps, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, and others. Why, then, can’t we do the same with COVID-19 if the Ministry of Health and Wellness can get things right?

If people want to call Holness a dictator, or even take the matter of compulsory vaccination to Court, then they are free to do so. But we cannot just sit by and allow detractors to railroad a country’s future. The science says it all.

Should Holness press the compulsory button, then, for increased safety, he could play it cool by starting to wear a crash helmet wherever he goes.

Get serious about extra holidays

Last Sunday was August 1. Normally, the first of August is observed as Emancipation Day, the important history of which will not be told now, due to space considerations.

But the day after that, Monday, August 2, was celebrated as the ‘official’ Emancipation Day. This is Jamaica’s natural practice — whenever a national holiday falls on a Sunday, it is marked the Monday after. This is sheer madness… a counterproductive position that Jamaica can ill-afford.

Not even the great United States of America indulges in the practice of celebrating an extra day whenever a holiday falls on a Sunday. Now, if the world’s number one economy can see it fit to celebrate national holidays on the days on which they fall, and not be bothered by giving an additional lazy day all because they fall on Sunday, why does Jamaica think that it is necessary to spend an extra day in the zone of low or no production?

This is something I hope the Government will look at in quick time. If New Year’s Day, Emancipation Day, Independence Day, Labour Day, Christmas Day, or Boxing Day falls on a Sunday, then we celebrate the same day, not on a Monday.

Now is a time for the island to produce. It’s not a time for a continuation of skylarking and gallivanting, much of which we like to do.

Last Sunday was August 1. Normally, the first of August is observed as Emancipation Day, the important history of which will not be told now, due to space considerations.

But the day after that, Monday, August 2, was celebrated as the ‘official’ Emancipation Day. This is Jamaica’s natural practice — whenever a national holiday falls on a Sunday, it is marked the Monday after. This is sheer madness… a counterproductive position that Jamaica can ill-afford.

Not even the great United States of America indulges in the practice of celebrating an extra day whenever a holiday falls on a Sunday. Now, if the world’s number one economy can see it fit to celebrate national holidays on the days on which they fall, and not be bothered by giving an additional lazy day all because they fall on Sunday, why does Jamaica think that it is necessary to spend an extra day in the zone of low or no production?

This is something I hope the Government will look at in quick time. If New Year’s Day, Emancipation Day, Independence Day, Labour Day, Christmas Day, or Boxing Day falls on a Sunday, then we celebrate the same day, not on a Monday.

Now is a time for the island to produce. It’s not a time for a continuation of skylarking and gallivanting, much of which we like to do.