“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.” — Marcus Garvey

As we reflect on Marcus Garvey’s words, made famous by Bob Marley, we ponder how, as we celebrate US President Joe Biden’s pardon of Jamaica’s first national hero, we still have communities living under the whip of mental slavery being wielded by gangsters.

“They carry my son to the barber,” declared a community member who protested police action against gangs in Spanish Town last week. Roads were blocked after an alleged gang leader was killed in a shoot-out with the police. Our courageous Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) officers, supported by Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers, were able to bring calm to Spanish Town in 24 hours. Their biggest enemy, however, is the mental slavery imposed on our poor and illiterate by these gangs, initially supported by politicians on both sides but are now beyond their control, dictating to the most vulnerable among us.

One school principal said a student explained that he has to pretend to be tough when he returns from school to his gang-controlled community or he would be a laughing stock.

For decades, admirers of Garvey have been petitioning the Government to include his teachings in the school curriculum: discipline, dignity, self-reliance, self-esteem. While we sympathise with Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness as he pleads for peace, we ask again that we immerse our children in Garvey’s philosophy so these values can be foundational in their formation.

Ken Jones curated Garvey’s quotes, presenting them under various headings in his book Marcus Garvey Said. That book should be required reading for every Jamaican high school student.

Garvey was a voracious reader. We have fine librarians in every parish of Jamaica ready to guide our children in skilled reading.

My love of literature started at the Savanna-la-Mar Library where our shopkeeper mother would send my sister and me regularly. The librarian, Miss Ottey, would make reading exciting. When my mother remarried and we were leaving for Kingston, Miss Ottey invited her two little fans (seven- and nine-year-old) to dinner, so close we had become.

Our libraries are free and welcoming. Could our Members of Parliament please encourage their inner-city constituents to send their children to the library and sponsor reading competitions for them? This is a national emergency, and as Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon explains, it is a challenge for every single Jamaican. However, we elect our leaders to lead. The invective coming out of tribalists on social media calls for better monitoring. What kind of example are we setting for our young people when they see actual vulgar words being used in these posts?

Garvey used no curse words yet became the leader of millions in the Jamaican and African Diaspora.

Power of the church

Our churches have more power than they may realise. In directly appealing to US President Donald Trump, Bishop Marianne Budde of the Episcopalian Church in Washington, DC, is proving the strength of the Church’s voice.

Having political representatives in your congregation presents opportunities to reach out and partner with them in community projects, helping them to spend well the funds which are allocated for constituency development. We have to be grateful to the brave clergy members who have set up their churches in inner-city communities.

Research out of Mona Geo-Infomatics, led some years ago by Dr Parris Lyew-Ayee, showed that the more churches there are in a community, the less violence there is.

As principal of the Holy Family School in the troubled 1970s, Sister Mary Benedict Chung, a religious Sister of Mercy, called in the gang leaders in Central Kingston for a meeting. She persuaded them to sign a truce because their children were all attending her school, and the enmity of the gangs was affecting their learning.

Even after her retirement, Sister Benedict opted to “remain with my people”, living in downtown Kingston, still serving at 92 years old.

CCCD — reach, teach, nurture

The Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf (CCCD) has been so quietly doing its life-changing work that one would hardly believe that it has been in existence for 67 years. The centre’s mission is ‘to reach, teach, and nurture the Deaf of Jamaica… to enable full language access and affirmation”.

The centre was founded in 1957 by Reverend Willis Ethridge and his wife, Mildred, from Ontario, Canada, and they were soon joined by Paula Montgomery, the first deaf American missionary.

Beginning with donated land in Knockpatrick, Manchester, the centre now operates two other campuses in Montego Bay and Kingston as well as the Jamaica Deaf Village which ministers to deaf adults and their families

At last Wednesday’s annual general meeting, the reports from senior executives Leon Samms and Claudia Morgan-Senior attested to a professionally run organisation with productive management, faculty, and staff.

It was announced that a CCCD Knockpatrick counsellor, Felicia Campbell, made history as the first deaf justice of the peace in Jamaica. She was sworn in last Thursday, a welcome moment for our deaf who face difficulty in communicating in many spheres of business.

For just US$35 monthly, you can sponsor a deaf child to attend classes at CCCD (see their website); this also covers boarding and meals. Sponsors receive updates throughout the year and are encouraged to correspond with the sponsored student.

The Kingston campus at Cassia Park Road also boasts the headquarters of DeafCan! Coffee Company where you can drop in and enjoy top class coffee creations. Kudos to my friends, the brilliant Tashi and Blake Widmer, who made this dream a reality.

Poet Laureate Kwame Dawes

Congratulations to celebrated poet, editor, musician, and storyteller Professor Kwame Dawes on his investiture as poet laureate of Jamaica last week. He is the son of novelist and Institute of Jamaica Executive Director Neville Dawes.

The Jamaica College graduate was moved by a presentation from students of his alma mater at the event. He holds a BA in Literatures in English at The University of the West Indies, and as a Commonwealth scholar he earned a PhD at the University of New Brunswick.

Professor Dawes has won prestigious awards for his over 30 collections of poetry and is a co-founder of the Calabash International Poetry Festival. The Musgrave silver medallist is a professor of literary arts at Brown University and lecturer in the Master of Fine Arts Programme at Pacific University in Oregan.

Jamaica’s first poet laureate was Tom Redcam (his nom-de-plume was his surname spelled backwards – MacDermot), who was so honoured posthumously, from 1910 to 1933. JEC McFarlane served from 1953 to his death in 1962. After it was reinstituted in 2014, we have been blessed with legendary poet laureates Mervyn Morris, Lorna Goodison, and Olive Senior.

I remember the late Ralph Thompson advocating the teaching of poetry, pointing out that when we develop imagination, people will have the ability to discern consequences before endangering themselves. Besides the grandeur of great lines, what better reason is there to teach and enjoy poetry?

Jean Lowrie-Chin is an author and executive chair of PROComm, PRODEV, and CCRP. Send comments to lowriechin@aim.com.