You running away but you can’t run away from yourself – Bob Marley

There is a line of criticism that has always been thrown in the faces of Jamaicans who have accepted their fate and lived outside of the land of their birth. We have ran away from the hardship so who are we to level any criticism at anything that may seem untoward in Jamaica?

Who ran away? Excuse us?

Yanique McDonald is a manager at a retail outlet in South Florida. She supervises a number of persons from all walks of life who seek employment. It is amazing how this Jamaican woman gets things done. Yanique represents Jamaica with aplomb. Punctual, stern and fiercely professional. In foreign, people respect us. We work hard and rise above the effluent of life.

In similar fashion to Herb McKenley, Peter Tosh, Merlene Ottey, Donald Quarrie, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Usain Bolt and others, Jamaicans in the Diaspora have raised the flag high. Do not dismiss us or disrespect our contribution and input.

What we have observed and expressed is true and Jamaica needs to address it. Stop being petty Jamaica, look inwards. Our problems can only be solved by us, at home and abroad.

Some of us had to go. There are more Jamaicans living outside Jamaica than those at home. All of us simply cannot hold. So get over it. Emotion tends to skew reason. It is a known fact that some Jamaicans cannot stomach the hard truth and hate to be criticised.

But only those who really care about you will stare you in the eye and deliver the cold, hard truth. Take constructive criticism positively and resist the urge to shun those who may want to see better for our country simply because we have to point out the ills in our society.

It is this refusal by some of us to accept the truth that has given rise to the ‘informer fi dead culture’. Everybody knows that certain characters in the community are causing mayhem, creating an uninhabitable environment and harm the elderly, women and children, but most are afraid to condemn such acts as those who do are dealt with cruelly by the criminal element.

However, the criminals are in the minority and are only feared because they have made up their minds to commit heinous acts in order to protect their criminal status. Most criminals enjoy a short shelf life and are most times coughed up by the very communities they were once protected by. It is strange how people who alert criminals to police presence are not also branded as informers. Are they not also informing against law-abiding citizens who want to rid the country of the wanton killings and violence which besets us? The gunmen know they do not have enough ammunition to kill the entire community and they need the community for protection.

We who live abroad are concerned for the safety of our loved ones and most of us keep in touch with the daily happenings in our island. We love Jamaica too, sometimes even more than some of our fellow citizens who are domiciled at home. Why should some of those very same citizens harbour any thought that they and they alone have a right to love Jamaica?

Living in the Diaspora does not make one any less of a Jamaican. In fact, it is when one leaves the beautiful shores that your ‘Jamaicaness’ kicks in and you are suddenly even more aware of the respect that many other nationalities have for Jamaicans.

It is us who are not self-respecting at times and it is us who must dig deep to turn our country around. In South Florida a host of Jamaicans hold important public and private sector posts and there is a thriving Jamaican-owned business community. As such we contribute positively to both societies. It is not a privilege, but our right to speak on issues at home and we will not be silenced by those who would adopt a blinkered view and hurl cheap insults.

We have a right to Jamaica too and no one will deny us of the right to call it as we see it.

Jamaica has too many self-inflicted wounds that are festering to the point of gangrene to be wasting time and energy on those who are aligned with them and wish the country well.

Let’s come together at home and abroad to rebuild our precious land. Only we can do it and the job will be long and hard but it has to be done.

Karyl Walker is a veteran journalist who served as the Jamaica Observer’s Crime/Court and Online News Editor. He now resides in Florida, USA.