Dear Editor,

The protests in Jamaica over the visit of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made international news.

I read reports in the UK, USA, and Canadian media and was pleased to see how Jamaicans expressed displeasure over the visit with protests, newspaper articles, and comments on social media platforms.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness used the opportunity to tell The Cambridges and the world, “We’re moving on.” This, for me, was the highlight of the tour.

The prime minister couldn’t have picked a better time and place to make this powerful statement, which was beamed around the globe. He accurately described Jamaicans as expressive, bold, and proud.

The other highlight for me was Lisa Hanna, who represented the Opposition on the tarmac to welcome the royals on arrival.

Hanna appeared unbothered beside Kate and social media literally blew up. Several reports in UK described this as “a snub” and “cold shoulder”. At one point this was the top trending story on Yahoo. The Daily Mail described Hanna as “Miss World turned political power player who ‘snubbed’ Kate”. The report went on to describe Hanna as a “twice-married farmer’s daughter” who said she had a “pleasant” chat with The Duchess, despite wanting to remove The Queen as head of State.

This is the type of crudeness, with racial and classist undertones, that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, endured as a person of colour, who was not born into wealth and status. The truth is, there were moments when Hanna and Kate engaged, at times smiling. Hanna still held her own next to Kate, looking regal, stylish, beautiful, and poised, which must’ve bothered some who tried to keep the focus on Kate.

I’ve heard some calling for the removal of monuments and renaming of streets in Kingston to honour our own instead of colonialists and royals. This is a conversation we might eventually have. We can’t change history, but as an independent country we should be able to choose who we want to celebrate on Jamaican soil, we have many heroes and cultural and sport icons befiting of such honour.

Nonetheless, the tide is certainly turning for the royals, who struggle to maintain their image and relevance outside the UK.

To many, they have become more of a theme show attraction for UK tourism.

The more modern among us tend to be more inclusive, embracing friendships and relationships with different ethnicities and backgrounds, without thinking about it. There is a social and cultural infusion that, simply put, brings people together instead of keeping them apart.

This royal tour might not have been the love fest they hoped for, but more of a farewell tour. Politicians, professors, street vendors, artists, and students were all vocal about the royal visit. Beenie Man was blunt in a TV interview in the UK, appearing on the Good Morning Britain programme in which he shunned the royal visit and lack of value to Jamaica, given the historical context of slavery.

Just before the royals visited, it was reported that a flight of Jamaican deportees from the UK was delayed until after the visit. This says a lot about the agenda and how they carefully crafted the optics.

Prince William at the state dinner in Kingston described slavery as “abhorrent”, saying it should never have happened. We didn’t need the prince to tell us that. His words were carefully scripted and he fell short of issuing an apology, which would’ve been a powerful moment.

For close to 200 years slavery existed in Jamaica, and many of our problems today can be traced back to this very dark period.

Slave owners were compensated when slavery ended, but not slaves. These benefits passed down to descendents of these owners, which allowed them to continue to prosper today.

As Jamaicans we must constantly reassess our priorities and not allow others to ‘play’ us. We must distance ourselves from symbols of colonial trappings and domination that fuel racism and tarnish self-esteem. We have to be assertive and stand firm as we saw with Prime Minister Holness and Hanna.

We can chart our own course, treasure our history, and still partner with countries from every corner of the globe, but this must always be rooted in respect.

P Chin

chin_p@yahoo.com