Dual citizenship can’t overshadow one’s loyalty
Published:Saturday | June 1, 2024 | 12:06 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
In the same way that a marriage licence doesn’t necessarily determine a man’s loyalty to his wife, and vice versa, neither does the passport and/or dual citizenship that one holds determine one’s loyalty to their adopted homeland and/or the country of their birth.
Loyalty is determined by actions and actions are fuelled and guided by one’s intentions. England-born musician Chris Blackwell has been for many decades, both through his actions and his words, very loyal to Jamaica, even though he was born in Britain. Likewise, the late Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, a half-British, was arguably one of Jamaica’s most patriotic sons. Likewise, so was the late Prof Sir John Golding, whose work throughout his lifetime positively and immensely impacted the lives of Jamaica’s disabled community, In fact, Professor Golding, more so than anyone else to date, has done more for Jamaica’s disabled community in the 20th century.
Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon, even though he is Trinidad-born, has impacted Jamaica’s disabled, poverty-stricken and HIV/AIDS-infected children – via his Mustard Seed Communities which he founded in 1978 – in ways that words cannot adequately do justice. Ramkissoon’s immense love and loyalty for and to Jamaica has stood the tests of time.
The abundant and unbroken love and loyalty to Jamaica by all the aforementioned persons shows just how wrong and downright absurd it is for anyone to use a person’s birthplace and/or the dual citizenship and/or the passport they hold to measure their loyalty to their adopted homeland. Last, it is a backward argument that has no place in civil society and one which should be frowned upon by all well-thinking Jamaicans.
PATRICK GALLIMORE