Orville Taylor | Valedictory and other hard things to choke on

It was not one of those testosterone driven acts of stupidity, although as he spoke, it seemed that this hormone as well as his adrenaline were fast deserting him as he quivered, hesitated and even the word valedictory appeared to get stuck halfway down his throat.

The young man inhaled and hesitated, before he blurted out the now single expression which totally shifted focus from his rather engaging address, and the rest of it is ... Nope! Not history ... it is sociology, because it has brought to focus the question of how do we keep a society alive across generations.

This was weeks ago at the graduation ceremony of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA).

Immediately, it has been tied to other issues, with some who think that they have a greater stake in free speech and the validity of the Jamaican language, singing his praise. Others have gone as stupidly self-righteous as to suggest that the young fellow’s hard-earned degree should be rescinded.

My psychologist colleagues will seek the motive for his well or ill-timed 15 seconds of fame. However, if it was a stunt to catapult him from obscurity to the front pages; it worked. His name just won’t get any mention in this column.

Of course, he declared: “I want to impress upon all, that this was not the intention of my speech. It was not a ploy for attention.”

I think that his drama training prepared him well and perhaps he might consider a future in politics, given his penchant for alternative truth.

Still, a first question is what is inherently wrong with the use of the expression, “big up unoo b.. c..t self!”?

WRATH OF THE LAW

Inasmuch as it came off as staged and fake, we know that this is one of those Jamaican ‘curse words’ which can cause officer Dibble to charge you under the Towns and Communities Act. Many entertainers, including the other black clad Miss Ivy’s last son, DJ Bounty Killa, and Nicki Minaj have faced the wrath of lawmen for ‘cussing bad wud’ on a dancehall stage.

Mark you, at Sting and Sumfest, where even the late Reverend Ian Boyne attended, we all have come to expect lewd lyrics and similar words. Dozens of dances have been aborted by the cops because of the performers’ proclivity to use ‘indecent language’.

Not only is it unlawful, but no one expects such language at an EMCVPA graduation stage, which is a family event.

Jumping to his defence is a number of activists and some very lecturers of the college, who celebrated his artistic creativity and his ‘disruptive’ impact.

When we rubbed as young painters, sculptors and other fine artists in the artists and craftsmen guild in the 1980s, and met Mrs Manley herself, we debated the push of artists against conformity and grappled with the notion of ‘art for art’s sake’. Indeed, many of us understood the need to be free and creative. Others recognised that the artist is always situated in a larger social context, where he/she is both product and producer of the environment.

Many of my Christian friends avoid the use of the Jamaican and universal curse words, because they are ‘sinful’, according to Matthew 15:11 “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth ... .” Yet these hypocrites habitually use derisive words to describe everyone who is not their pastor; including their parents, spouses, children, and neighbours.

Nonetheless, our Jamaican choice words are criminalised in the Jamaican language but not in their English form. Thus, the r***c***t is the old precursor of the used toilet tissue, p***y c***t and the b***d c***t are synonyms and, of course, the ‘bbc’ takes the cake. The origins of these words are deep in our colonial history and all can be traced to denuded femininity, raped masculinity, and emasculation of our enslaved Africans.

SANCTION HIM

Every descendant of enslaved Africans understands that one thing which she could hold on to in defining her already stripped self-worth is her perceived miniscule orifice. A b..bo is the old Jamaican language word for the vagina of a large mammal. Therefore, a ‘bbc’ does not only refer to a used sanitary napkin but is doubling as a disrespectful reference to the female having a canal of grandiose proportions.

Note: one of the worst things a woman can be called is a ‘big…p gyal’

As uncomfortable as it might be to some of the very people who support this act of intemperance, these expletives have the same birthplace as the ‘homophobia’ B word and monikers like ‘punguy’.

Therefore, a curse word which calls to mind the intimacy of a woman cannot be fair game, whether the speaker has any deep knowledge of women or not.

For that reason, I stand with dub poet Yasus Afari, who disavows the use of Jamaican expletives in the dancehall space because they degrade and disrespect women. None of these words have any space in a public space where children are.

We might wish to argue for free speech. But what if a valedictorian at the very EMCVPA were to use his free speech and use the B word? Imagine an African American valedictorian at the all-male Morehouse College saying, “Big up all you Nig….z and F…ts.”

The EMCVPA valedictorian hijacked a moment when he was to speak on behalf of his cohort and seek to uplift the generation behind him. It was not a platform for his ‘disruptive’ ramp to fame.

For the record, when Fluffy Diva Miss Kitty LLB ended her address to The University of the West Indies Class of 2018 with her signature “lalalalala” and Jamaican language, she was already famous and some people came to hear her speak.

Finally, dancehall lyrics are sanctioned for using these words in places where they are expected to be heard. There should be no exception for this youth or anyone else like him. Freedom comes with responsibility; equality does not mean privileging.

Sanction the … boy!

Fill in the blanks.

- Dr Orville Taylor is head of the Department of Sociology at the UWI, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.