BETHEL TOWN, Westmoreland — His voice box was surgically removed in 2022 but Derrick Claude Robinson, popularly known as BLACK X, is determined to be the voice of the people of Westmoreland Eastern. He intends to run as an independent in the September 3 national polls and has plans to be nominated on Monday.

Though complications from a tumour cost him his larynx, he communicates through body language accompanied by low, sometimes inaudible sounds. At other times he relies on a spokesperson.

A poet known for previous stints as a radio presenter, singer, and sports commentator, Robinson has lived in the Bethel Town area of the constituency since 2021. He is founder of the 20-year-old Tacky Heritage Foundation and is an advocate for Tacky to be made a national hero. Though born in Kingston, the 60-year-old grew up in St Mary between the ages of four and 15. After attending Pembroke Hall Secondary School in St Andrew, he returned to St Mary in 2005 where he launched the heritage group. He has authored a book on the Tacky revolt in St Mary and the role that Westmoreland played and is convinced that, like Bob Marley, Tacky can also be used to promote tourism in Jamaica.

On October 20, his birthday, Robinson will be at King’s House to receive a Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service in recognition of his role in the preservation of Jamaican history through the works of the Tacky Heritage Foundation.

His passion for representational politics is being fuelled by what he described as a hurtful gaffe by the People’s National Party (PNP) whose General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell is also vying for the seat. For the last two decades, as part of his advocacy for Tacky to be named a national hero, Robinson has walked barefoot to various locations across Jamaica with a 30-pound chain around his neck. He told the Jamaica Observer he was mocked by the PNP when the party “copied” his well-known symbolic gesture.

Robinson was referencing a sharply criticised skit performed in 2023 from the platform of a PNP constituency conference in St Andrew Southern. A man with a padlocked chain around his neck told Dr Campbell that he was being held in bondage by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness. PNP President Mark Golding used a key to unlock the chain.

“To him, it is a disrespect for the chain and the advocacy that he has done for Tacky,” stated Robinson’s spokesperson, Loraine McPherson, who is also secretary for the Tacky Heritage Group.

Robinson added, “That is why it is important that I go to Parliament and expose my ideas. I have been hurt.”

The aspiring Member of Parliament pointed to the PNP general secretary’s role in the skit.

“Dayton Campbell and I have a score to settle. [The incumbent who was elected on a Jamaica Labour Party ticket] Daniel Lawrence did a good job but this time, it is time to step up the game… by making more people benefit genuinely,” stated Robinson.

His campaign motto is “From chains to changed politics (Pot cover to box cover!!!!)”. The symbol that will be used to represent him on the ballot in September is a heart.

Among his other stated reasons for seeking office is a desire to spread his ideas for the development of Jamaica, to make Westmoreland aware of what it has to offer and the role the parish played in the Tacky revolt of the 1760s. Robinson also spoke of his goal to give Westmoreland a woman senator in the person of his spokesperson, McPherson, who unsuccessfully ran for councillor in the Bethel Town Division in the 2024 local government election.

Robinson has promised that, if elected, once a month for a two-year period, he will use his MP salary to donate a motor car to a 17-year-old student.

An MP currently earns, on average, $1.175 million per month or $14.1 million per year.

Member of Parliament aspirant for Westmoreland Eastern, Derrick Claude “BLACK X” Robinson with his spokesperson Loraine McPherson who helps him get his message across as his voice box was surgically removed in 2022. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)