New York, USA — The response by Richard Vernon, deputy mayor of Montego Bay, to the backlash from Diaspora members angered by his characterisation of migrants as cowards and unpatriotic, has found little favour in the Jamaican community here.

In a Gleaner report last week, Vernon, reeling from the harsh criticisms about his address to a back-to-school fair in the western city, sought to clarify his remarks by acknowledging the role of the Diaspora in the development of Jamaica.

“Our Diaspora has made significant contributions to the development of Jamaica via aid, health missions, sponsoring education programmes, and paving the way for opportunities in sports — among other endeavours,” he was quoted as saying.

He also sought to make a distinction between qualified Jamaicans who are leaving the country but contributed to the island, and those who turned their backs on Jamaica by failing to contribute to its development. He added that was the context in which he had used the word “coward”.

Still unhappy with Vernon, New Jersey-based Patrick Beckford, a former head of the Diaspora Council for the Northeast United States, described the response as inept, saying: “Rather than issuing lame excuses to justify his conduct, the deputy mayor should apologize, and seek to build consensus within the Diaspora to assist in the development of the country.”

Beckford also criticised what he said was the silence of government officials on the matter. He called on Junior Foreign Minister Leslie Campbell, who has responsibility for Diaspora affairs, to strongly condemn the position taken by the deputy mayor “so that there can be no misunderstanding where the Government’s priorities are in respect of Diaspora affairs”.

Sadie Campbell of the Jamaica Progressive League said: “He should apologise and resign from his position as deputy mayor.”

She described Vernon’s response as inadequate and lacking education on how Jamaican immigrants had contributed to the country over several years.

“It was Jamaican migrants in the United States who started the independence movement,” she insisted.

Another high-profile member of the Diaspora, Irwine Clare Sr, said that neither the original comment nor the effort by the deputy mayor to explain his position had met the requirements for meaningful engagement with the Diaspora on moving forward. He described the deputy mayor’s utterances as “poor and shallow”.

Clare Sr has also raised questions regarding the silence of those around the deputy mayor on the matter and urged the Diaspora to use the incident as “a teaching moment to see how best we can collectively move ahead”.

Dr Rupert A Francis, another high-profile Diaspora member, said that he was not impressed with Vernon’s attempt to clarify his original statement, as it had not done anything to repair to clear the damage.

“It would appear that he gave little or no serious thought — in either instance — before he spoke. He said that he too has family members overseas who are making remittances to the country. Was he referring to them as well as being cowards and unpatriotic?”

A frequent critic of successive governments for how the Diaspora is treated, Francis said it is “astounding that there was yet to be any word from any member at the level of the central government on the deputy mayor’s comments.

He said that while the island’s diplomats in the United States were working hard to keep the Diaspora together, the interest of the Administration in Kingston seemed fixated on remittances from Jamaicans abroad.

Ronnie Hammick, president of the Brooklyn based Ex-Correctional Officers Association of Jamaica, said the attempt at clarification had only added more confusion and insult as it “has also left the impression that some of us who are unable, for one reason or another, to be engaged in contributing to the country’s development have turned our backs on our homeland”.

And Rick Nugent who heads the Jamaica Association of Maryland described Vernon’s response to the outrage from the Diaspora as one of contradiction, asking: “How can you know that your own family members are contributing and then make such ill-conceived statements?

“I migrated to this country in the 1960s for educational purposes. It was a time when the opportunities for higher education was not at the level it is now. The fact that I have not returned permanently does not mean I have turned my back on my country,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“At this very moment I am engaged, through my organisation, in securing school supplies, furniture and medical supplies to assist in the health and education sectors, something which is done by several other organisations annually.

“It’s not all about the remittances; people have done a whole lot more — something which the deputy mayor needs to understand,” he said.