Michael Abrahams | Jamaica’s colour issue

Our National motto is ‘Out of Many, One People’. It reflects the racial diversity of our population. According to The University of the West Indies, our ethnic make-up is as follows: 76.3 per cent African descent, 15.1 per cent Afro-European, 3.4 per cent East Indian and Afro-East Indian, 3.2 per cent Caucasian, 1.2 per cent Chinese, and 0.8 per cent other.

The majority of our populace is of African descent, and most of us of this ethnicity are descendants of slaves who were brought here during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The enslavers were European, although there were Africans who were complicit. Slavery was officially abolished in Jamaica in 1834, but the legacy of slavery still exists. Colourism persists in this country.

Darker-skinned Jamaicans are still being discriminated against in some quarters. Many dark-skinned Jamaicans prefer to have light-skinned spouses, or ‘brownings’. Remarks such as “too black”, “black and ugly”, “anything too black can’t good”, and “bad hair”, referring to the texture of black African hair, are still being uttered. We still see children with Afrocentric hairstyles being discriminated against. This year we witnessed the cyberbullying of Jamaican Olympic athlete Junelle Bromfield, with her dark complexion being weaponised and used to denigrate her.

White or very light-skinned folks run the majority of big businesses and corporations in our country, and many Jamaicans, consciously or subconsciously, feel that light-skinned people are better. I recall attending the wedding of a female colleague many years ago. She was a black Jamaican with a light-brown complexion. But the man she was marrying, another colleague, had a dark complexion. The bride’s mother was not pleased, and her displeasure was obvious at the wedding, as she frowned throughout the entire ceremony. With the continued denigration of dark skin, it is no wonder that many dark-skinned Jamaicans have resorted to bleaching their skin.

RESENTMENT

Understandably, there is resentment directed towards white and light-skinned Jamaicans. We know what took place during the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the cruelty our African ancestors endured, and many of us know that the light-skinned among us are likely to get preferential treatment.

But discrimination goes both ways. White Jamaicans and those with light complexions face discrimination, too. It is close to home for me. My youngest child has the lightest complexion of all my children, and he has been bullied and harassed at school because of his skin tone, and has been told that he is white. Some of our political leaders have been similarly affected.

Former Prime Minister and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Edward Seaga was the target of racially discriminatory comments from the People’s National Party (PNP). Seaga was of Lebanese, African, Scottish, and Indian descent, light-skinned, and could pass for white. He was born in America and came to Jamaica when he was three months old, but spent much of his life immersed in and helping develop and promote Jamaican culture. Unfortunately, not only was Seaga’s place of birth used against him, but also his skin colour, with slogans like “Black man time now” being directed at him.

Today, in 2024, you would like to think that we have grown past nasty racial politics, but we have not. The PNP leader and Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding, the son of white British parents (his paternal grandparents were Lithuanian Jews), has found himself at the end of nasty, racially incendiary comments from JLP members of parliament Everald Warmington and Juliet Cuthbert Flynn.

UNDERCURRENT OF DISCOMFORT

There is an undercurrent of discomfort regarding race and skin colour in this country. The persistence of the discrimination against and harassment of children wearing Afrocentric hairstyles in schools, the popularity of bleaching, the disproportionate amount of white and light-skinned Jamaicans in positions of power, the nastiness of the comments directed at Golding, and the tolerance of them is evidence that despite our motto, we are really not ‘one people’.

More public discourse regarding this issue is necessary. It must be made clear that Afrocentric hairstyles are not inferior or nasty and prone to spread lice. That nothing is wrong with dark skin, and that bleaching is an unhealthy practice. That just because someone is white, it does not mean that they are racist or that they are descended from enslavers. After all, not all white people enslaved people during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In fact, some white people (such as Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce from Britain) were abolitionists, and there were black people (such as Antoine Dubuclet from Louisiana) who were slave owners. And even if someone is descended from slave masters, it does not follow that they have that mindset. One of our national heroes, George William Gordon, was the son of a slave master but lost his life because of his dedication to standing up for disenfranchised Black people.

In the meantime, we must not tolerate the nastiness being hurled at Mark Golding from the JLP. There are many issues to criticise and call out Golding for, but to use the colour of his skin against him is unconscionable. The fact that the prime minister has not called out the members of his party for their comments indicates weak leadership and is appalling.

Recently, the JLP Chairman Robert Montague opined that the JLP “is the institution best suited to lead this national conversation” on race. That comment is one of the stupidest I have ever heard. The organisation that harbours and enables ignoramuses who repeatedly utter racially discriminatory comments does not qualify to lead any rational conversation on race. Montague’s comment only highlighted the arrogant and delusional mindset of the party and its leadership.

It is, therefore, incumbent upon those of us who know better to initiate and entertain these conversations, educate those who are ignorant, and do all that we can to unify people of all ethnicities and skin tones in our beloved country. Racial discrimination and colourism of all forms must be rejected.

Michael Abrahams is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, social commentator, and human-rights advocate. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and michabe_1999@hotmail.com, or follow him on X , formerly Twitter, @mikeyabrahams