Carolyn Cooper | How I became a bad-dog columnist

This month marks 15 years since I was invited to be a columnist for The Gleaner. I was most amused by what seemed like a backhanded compliment from the opinion editor who asked me to consider the proposal. I can’t remember his exact words, but it went something like this: “I’m not sure I should let you loose on the Jamaican public.” My immediate response was, “Is who yu calling bad dog? Couldn’t be me!” All the same, I decided to take on the role of guard dog, sounding the alarm on a wide range of provocative issues.

Before 2009, I had written occasionally for the newspaper. Two decades earlier, one of my most notorious columns was published in the Sunday Gleaner: “Cho! Misa Cargill, Riispek Juu.” It was in response to Morris Cargill’s usual contempt for the Jamaican language and all of us who speak it. I decided to back-answer Cargill in Jamaican. Too often, advocates of the Jamaican language defend it in English.

I chose the unfamiliar writing system for the language developed by the distinguished Jamaican linguist Frederic Cassidy. What upset many readers was the fact that their children could easily figure out the writing system. Adults, who were stuck in the conventions of English spelling, simply could not “make head or tail of the maze of phonetics,” as Cargill admitted.

A LABOUR OF LOVE

Cassidy was Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In 1962, he took up the challenge to become editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English. It was a labour of love that consumed him for several decades. For the full story of the making of this multi-volume dictionary, visit https://dare.wisc.edu/about/history-of-dare/.

Cassidy’s commitment to studying varieties of English was evident in the making of the Dictionary of Jamaican English which he co-edited with the British linguist Robert Le Page. That dictionary was first published in 1967. Regrettably, it is still not widely known in Jamaica, almost six decades later. It included many words that are Jamaican, not English. More recently, Dr Joseph Farquharson, head of the Jamaican Language Unit at the University of the West Indies, has been editing the Dictionary of the Jamaican Language.

This new dictionary will be bilingual, with the headwords in Jamaican and the definitions in English. For example:

“ bak-tu-skuul n. the period just before the beginning of the school year that is used to make preparations. Dongtoun ful op chruu a bak-tu-skuul ya nou.”

One of Dr Farquharson’s PhD students, Donikue Campbell, is preparing the first version of a Jamaican to Jamaican dictionary for primary school students. A revolution in bilingual education!

SNARLING READERS

For the decade and a half that I’ve played the part of bad-dog columnist, I’ve been forced to confront snarling readers who object to my perspective on the many contentious issues I’ve addressed: for example, race, class and gender politics; party politics; religion; language rights; popular culture; decolonisation; reparations; urban development and environmental protection.

In last week’s column, “Emancipation Park monument a naked disgrace,” I stated the following: “In all my critiques of the monument over the last two decades, I’ve made it absolutely clear that I have no issue with the artist Laura Facey. She did the best she could, given her limitations as a white Jamaican, apparently out of touch with black culture. She should have known that only mad people bathe in public.”

That didn’t stop ‘Globe Trotter’ from posting this self-righteous comment on The Gleaner’s website:

“This is Facey’s interpretation of Emancipation, and NO ONE has the right to dictate to her how she’s allowed to envision Emancipation or how she as a white Jamaican is allowed to feel or express herself. SHAME on you Dr. Cooper for even hinting at such a disgraceful premise! We have been very tolerant of what many would consider the load of quackery you’ve been allowed to unleash on the Gleaner readership these many years. Is it so difficult for you to tolerate what you might consider the quackery of others?

And on another note, let me make something very clear: whether white, black, purple or orange, Laura Facey is a BORN JAMAICAN CITIZEN and therefore has EVERY RIGHT to express her JAMAICANNESS in ANY MANNER she sees fit! Afro-Jamaicans have NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER to call her love and loyalty to this country into question because of the color of her skin! Shame, shame, SHAME on you!”

DRESSED TO KILL

A national monument to Emancipation should reflect the truth of our history, not the peculiar vision of a single artist. Enslaved Jamaicans wore clothes. Emancipated Jamaicans were certainly not naked. In support of my argument, I posted a link on The Gleaner’s website to the Caribbean Photo Archives, showing black Jamaicans dressed to kill at Emancipation in 1838: https://www.flickr.com/photos/caribbeanphotoarchive/ 4820734079 .

In my 2010 column, “Monumental Ignorance,” –

https://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100404/cleisure/cleisure3.html –

I quoted Professor Rex Nettleford who wrote the foreword to Steeve Buckridge’s illuminating book, The Language of Dress. Nettleford acknowledged the “heated debate” about the Emancipation Park monument and highlighted “the importance of dress . . . in affirming self, delineating identity, defying denigration, and asserting self-dignity and pride.” Incomprehensibly, Nettleford was one of the short-sighted judges who selected the unclothed figures to ‘grace’ Emancipation Park.

Over the last 15 years, I’ve been constantly hounded by countless detractors because of my controversial opinions. I’ve also earned the respect of many supporters who motivate me to keep going. I’ve taken the advice of the great African-American civil rights activist John Lewis: “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” My biting commentary is the persistent bark of a bad-dog columnist, fearlessly making noisy trouble.

Carolyn Cooper, PhD, is a teacher of English language and literature and a specialist on culture and development. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and karokupa@gmail.com