“THE ISLE OF PARADISE”
On the corner of Bay Farm Road and
Waltham Park Avenue in the Waltham Park section of Kingston
Jamaica, four hard looking young men hang out in the corner yard
smoking weed. Reggae music emanates from the back of the house.
Richie sits on the low wall that
makes up the front of the yard. He’s 21 years old, 5' 10'' tall,
brown skinned, curly haired and handsome. His dark eyes hide a
deep intelligence but his brave adventurous spirit shines
through. He sports his standard neatly pressed, khaki uniform,
with a pair of well polished brown Clarks leather shoes.
Sitting beside him with his two
young mongrel dogs is 17 year old Indian. Indian is half Hindu,
colloquially called Coolie in the Jamaican culture. He loves
dogs and his mongrels accompany him everywhere.
Stretch, a 6' 4" lanky, wiry framed,
dark skinned youth is standing beside Jah Blue, a Rastafarian.
Jah Blue is 35 years old with long flowing locks almost touching
his waist.
The youths are engaged in an
animated discussion about the status of the dancehall dejays
while Blue meticulously rolls a spliff.
“Shabba is
the best dejay who leave Yard
and go to America,” Stretch
states emphatically.
“You must
be mad! What about Super Kat,” Indian objects.
“Kat is good but
I think Shabba
made more
dollars,” Richie observes as he
makes a subtle, furtive glance to his left and right, taking
stock of his surroundings while he puffs a spliff lightly.
“That is true,
for a dejay to make
real dollars he has to go to America” Stretch adds as he exhales
a cloud of marijuana smoke.
Jah Blue
puts the finishing touches on his meticulously rolled spliff.
For him, rolling and smoking weed is a religious ritual. It’s an
act of reverence and he’s fastidious when it comes to this holy
sacrament that’s said to have been found on King Solomon’s
grave.
Rastafarians hold that the marijuana herb is a gift from God to
humankind as a purveyor of divine wisdom.
Blue asks
Stretch for the lighter and uses it to light the baseball bat
shaped cigar sized spliff. He sucks the tip gently encouraging
the flame licking the butt to catch. The butt ignites at Blue’s
coaxing.
After two short quick puffs, he begins a long slow pull,
inhaling the weed smoke deep into the furthest recesses of his
lungs. It takes a couple seconds to
fill his well trained,
highly developed lungs to capacity. Blue holds
his breath a few more seconds then exhales slowly.
vapors stream out his
nostrils and mouth enveloping his head in a cloud.
“Yes
Natty, run away all ghosts
from around here,” Richie
encourages
pleased to hear the Rastafarian incantation..
“Yes
youth we have to sanctify the place and give thanks and praises
to the Most High,” Blue affirms.
The
sun baked hardened features of these youths reflect the
poverty and hardships of 1ife on this isle
of paradise.
Jamaica
contains two societies masquerading as one. You have the rich
and affluent and the sufferer. In between is a buffer zone of
the not so poor and the poor. That is those who barely put
enough food on the table to feed their family.
The
foundation of this social construct is the sufferer. These are
some of the most resilient and creative people in the world. For
all their shortcomings, it’s from this unlikely root, the dregs
of the society, that the people who make the Jamaican culture a
unique culture of world renown arise.
There’s
something about abject poverty that forces a person to be
resilient. Either you survive or you perish. To survive, many of
the youths turn to crime. This is not an easy choice because
criminals are mercilessly persecuted and summarily executed by
the State sponsored killers who pass as the police force.
When
these youths, out of desperation, fatalistically choose a life
of crime, it’s a euphemism for suicide. Yet these ghetto youths
are a proud, enterprising, ambitious, and determined set.
They’re driven to succeed against all the odds and are willing
to risk their lives for one chance at success, however temporary
and fleeting that success may be. From their perspective, better
a minute of success than a lifetime of suffering.
Indian
flicks the stub of his spliff into the air. His two dogs chase
gaily after it while yapping at each other.
“So
what’s going on Natty? What type of hustle you on? Right now I
am broke. Can you give me something for my pocket” Indian asks
wistfully.
“Well
youthman the hustle is slow right now. From the other day the
Babylon them are all over the place. I can only give you two
dollars.”
Blue
refers to the recent police activity negatively impacting his
small time street hustle. He’s like a door to door salesman and
walks from neighborhood to neighborhood throughout the ghettoes
of Kingston. He sells a variety of medicinal herbs for homemade
remedies, handmade wares and brooms while dispensing words of
wisdom for free. Respected by all, he traverses the most
dangerous neighborhoods at anytime without fear..
Blue
retrieves two bills from his pocket and hands them to Indian who
accepts them with a subtle nod of the head.
Among the ghetto people gratitude and appreciation need not be
verbalized, it’s understood by the very act of acceptance. In
their most sincere form, sentiments of gratitude are often
communicated by body language only; by a nod, a smile, or
through eye contact. These wordless
interactions
speak volumes about the Jamaican ghetto sub-culture and is one
of the reasons why these people are some of the most kindhearted
and generous human beings in the world. For them acts of
kindness and generosity are done from the heart. Satisfaction is
inherent in the act itself and they need no further confirmation
or acknowledgment.
Unlike
poverty in America, poverty in Jamaica produces a culture of
sharing and generosity, rather than one of greed and selfishness
among the ghetto youth.
“Natty is that what’s happening?
No
dollars flowing right now; so what, Dred do you have somewhere I
can rob?” Richie asks more in jest than seriousness. A wry smile
spreads across his face to betray his shenanigans.
“What’s
the matter with you youth? Rasta don’t partake in iniquity,”
Blue responds with indignation.
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