From Natty to Doggie

Don Robotham, Contributor

On Saturday, August 24, 1991, the Gleaner printed a copy of the Bible of Nathaniel 'Natty' Morgan, who had been killed by the police in a shoot-out three days before. According to the Gleaner, "The short script which continued on the back inner covers of the Bible begins: 'This is coming from the lips of the outlaw Natty. I am a lonely and upset man. My life is full with pain and misery I ask myself continually why it have to be this way but the answer seems vain. I search out my whole life to see if any better enough is enough and I am getting more than enough, longing for some changing in my life'."

But no change came to the life of Natty, and these poignant, even moving words, cannot alter this cold fact: Natty Morgan murdered 11 people and drenched their friends and families in pain and misery beyond anything that Natty and his comrades could dream of.

Eighteen years later, we are presented with the diary of Cedric 'Doggie' Murray. This is a far fuller document, although so far, only bits and pieces have appeared in the press. Here are two characteristic passages:

"I sit alone, no friend or woman. I feel like all has gone from me. I am sad over many things in my life. It's like from January 13, my quiet life has never been the same ... . I am a real gangster all out, but I love the Lord with a passion. Why I do the things I do? SIN. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me: that means I can repent and change but yet my faith is weak. My life is a book of puzzle."

Doggie, like Natty, was another case of that Jamaican youth specialty: a cruel killer with deep religious reservations about the criminal life he was leading.

Morality and Crime

What are we to make of the moral reflections of these two young men? What do they tell us about who they were and how they came to the criminal life? What does this tell us about the state of Jamaican society and the nature of the task we face in making Jamaica a better place for all our citizens?

So far, comment seems divided between a minority struck by the pathos of Doggie's writings, and others (the overwhelming majority) who dismiss them as self-serving, hypocritical, and grotesque. It may surprise some, but my reaction was more along the lines of those belonging to the first group. I have not the slightest doubt that Doggie's writings were deeply and honestly felt and that his life was a real Jamaican tragedy.

Cases like Doggie's make me even more vehemently opposed to the death penalty. I will not sit and make facile moral judgements of Natty and Doggie. Who in Jamaica is without sin? At the same time, it is absolutely clear to me that Jamaican society, warts and all, must defend itself from the depredations of the Nattys and Doggies forcefully, and, if necessary, ruthlessly. This is the reality of our situation: no easy moral answers here.

Warrior Cause

However, this is not the most important challenge we face. Far more important is this question: are we witnessing a transformation of youth criminality along more ideological lines? To what extent is criminality morphing into a "Warrior Cause" in Jamaica as immortalised by Elephant Man (O'Neil Bryan) and Spragga Benz (Carlton Grant) in the 2001 dancehall hit of the same name?

Before going on, it is only fair to note that both 'Ele' and 'Spragga' were careful to express criticisms of this 'cause' in that song. However, here are two verses from what they sang in one of the most effective dancehall singles of the decade:

"Well mi come fi big up all di warrior from the present to the past

An who know dem fight fi a cause

Big up all di warrior from the present to the past

An who know dem fight fi a cause

Well some say dem a badman and no know di half a it

Don't know a big gill nor a quart a it

Whappiking and Rhigin was the start a it

Feathermop an Burry Boy was di class a it

Tony Brown an George Flash come master it

Jim Brown fight the struggle inna di heart a it

Starkey an Daley the bloodbath a it

Bucky Marshall an Tek-Life di rath a it"

The central point to note here - and this was being expressed from 2001 - is that these individual 'badmen' are no longer seen as isolated individuals. On the contrary, they are now grouped together to form a tradition.

The second point to note is that they are presented not simply as 'badmen', but as persons championing a 'cause'. Not much imagination is required to understand what that cause is: they are seen as defenders of the black, poor and oppressed of Jamaica, especially the youth in our inner cities.

Organisation and Ideology

Professor Anthony Harriott has written eloquently and insightfully about the tendency for crime in Jamaica to become more and better organised. From his writings and the work of others, it is clear that what we face in Jamaica is not random individual acts of criminality. What we are dealing with are relatively well-organised criminal gangs with an internal structure and codes of conduct. This assessment of the state of Jamaican criminality was completely vindicated in the assault on the police stations and the sophisticated defences and tactics deployed against the state in the Battle of Tivoli in May. Even the most dogmatic human-rights fanatic realised that Jamaica was on the brink and rallied to support the state of emergency.

But increased organisation is one thing, ideological transformation another. If indeed we are witnessing the birth of an ideologically driven criminality in Jamaica, then we are entering a new and very dangerous phase.

I first raised this question in an article titled 'The Fight for our Youth', published in the Sunday Gleaner of December 9, 2007. There, I remarked on the ideological significance of the name of Joel Andem's gang - Gideon Warriors - and what this suggested about the changing political tendencies among our youth.

But others have been writing about this tendency well before me. Mel Cooke in particular, has long pointed to this issue, for example in his series of interviews with Bounty Killer published in both the STAR and The Gleaner in August 2001, and also in his recent piece on 'Don Music.' At the 26th West Indian Literature Conference in March 2007, Kim Robinson-Walcott presented an important paper titled 'Legitimate Resistance' raising very similar issues.

I would urge all those with an interest in this question to go back and carefully reread these pieces. When you do, you will see that what we are faced with is by no means a coherent ideological construction such as, for example, one may find among Islamic radical groups; however, there are similarities. A particular type of religiosity seems to be becoming an essential part of the psychological make-up and ideological armoury of the more intelligent Jamaican criminal.

Fire and brimstone Old Testament heroes such as Gideon provide an inspiration capable of mobilising other youth and sustaining them through the many trials of their battles with 'Babylon' and the 'Medianites.' Given the glaring historic injustices in Jamaican society, and our innumerable social and racial divisions, this is a heady brew with a truly explosive social potential which would make the events in Tivoli in May look like a picnic.

Take sleep and mark death!

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