Ronald Thwaites | We deh pon wi own

Garfield came from deep Trelawny country, reached “third book” in school and became a loader man on one of those dual-purpose produce and passenger trucks which used to ply between Freeman’s Hall and Kingston. After “getting” two children “from” two different girls, he got what he considered the ‘bly’ of his life in the form of a farm work card to the US.

The conditions of work picking fruit were demeaning but at least he could send back some dollars to his mother and a barrel of jeans and cheap jewellery for her to sell.

SKIPPING

When it was time to return home, he skipped on the advice of a cousin who gave him a cotch in Brooklyn. That was about 15 years ago. Garfield managed to get a fake social security number and later, somehow, a driver’s licence. He tried a convenience marriage some time ago but the woman took his money and tricked him. His reading and writing skills are not strong so the complicated paperwork to try to regularise his status never got done. Until WhatsApp was available, his contacts with family in Jamaica became thinner and sporadic. His grief was his inability to be present at his mother’s funeral.

TERROR NOW

Garfield lives in terror now. Recently the ‘Black Maria’ ICE truck was seen near the supermarket where he works . He suspects that the woman who, for a commission, cashes his cheques for him may ‘snitch’ on him to the authorities since they have had a falling-out.

EXIT ROUTE CLOSED

Garfield’s case is multiplied among tens of thousands of Jamaicans across the United States. America’s new immigration policies will also disillusion the hundreds of thousands still on the island but who yearn to migrate, so fed up are they about their situation here.

Because the assumption is that it is black and brown people who comprise most illegal aliens, a pall of uncertainty is going to affect many of even those who have legal status. The resurfacing dominant ethos in America is pseudo-Christian white nationalism.

MONROE DOCTRINE

Caribbean nations should expect no preference from these modern exponents of the Monroe Doctrine even if, as is likely, we suck up to the new rulers as we are wont to do. If the Gulf of Mexico can be unilaterally re-baptised, so can the Caribbean Sea if we ‘leave ourselves careless’. What will happen to our aid-dependent, high- imported consumption, low productive lifestyle when tariffs take bite and remittances start to quail? Who is going to provide the cheap antiretroviral drugs and the like?

WI DEH PON WI OWN

Suppose we react by reaffirming our dignity as a people and asserting our capacity to do better for ourselves, not as offshore mendicants but as small but confident partners in the inter-American space.

First, the Government and churches should make modest provision for the reception and care of all returning Jamaicans. The disappointed Garfields are not failures because they no longer can send money.

Returning Jamaicans are entitled to assistance to reintegrate not to be threatened with instant death on summary judgment that they are criminals or slow death among the growing homeless on our streets. After the irreparable damage is done, the US economy will soon come running for us to come back to pick their crops and clean their toilets.

WHAT WE MUST DO

There are at least three major areas of national policy change which raging American nativism impels us to undertake. The first is food security. The prices of imported food items are bound to increase. More than half of our people are food-insecure anyway. What if the upcoming Budget reflected an emphasis on climate-resilient food production. Credit for agriculture is largely non-existent. Primary and secondary food producers should be relieved of income tax and their major production inputs similarly preferred. A powerful economic and psychological incentive would result.

Instead of deriding Dayton Campbell’s suggestion to remove some of the unfair competition which depresses local production, do away with the coterie of favoured importers whose profits fuel political tribalism and sabotage small farmers. Set targets for improving local food sufficiency. Start with school feeding.

EFFICIENT TRANSPORT

Next is transportation. I start with the premise that Jamaica cannot afford the runaway cost of petroleum products which currently nyams up more foreign exchange than our merchandise exports provide, increases pollution; creates chaos, danger and depresses productivity. Coming up with a sustainable public transportation policy and implementation timetable would be an important step of practical self-reflection in the context of a hostile external environment.

DISCREDITED POLITICS

Sadly, the political class is in no position to exact productivity gains commensurate with national needs and recent wage increases because they have so lavishly feathered their own nests and have convinced the population that they are corrupt .

BETTER TEACHING

At a meeting last week with leaders of some church schools the negative perception about some students and the frustration and low commitment of many teachers were identified as major impediments to education transformation. If we are going to strive on our own, teacher training, remuneration and accountability must make it worthwhile to become and remain a teacher in a Jamaican school.

If we continue to presume that good performance is beyond the capacity of most of our young people and if we tacitly accept mediocre social outcomes as a national norm, there will be no inclusive self-reliant prosperity for this society.

Our children are suffering when our best teachers migrate out of our classrooms to be replaced by some who are inexperienced and uncommitted. This year must be the time to listen to teachers, revamp their training, pay them better and hold them accountable. Billions are being wasted on extra lessons which should be the exception rather than the main route to success.

Entropy is no longer an option for Jamaica if we are to withstand the indifference of our ‘boops’ to the North.

Rev Ronald G. Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. He is former member of parliament for Kingston Central and was the minister of education. He is the principal of St Michael’s College at The UWI. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com