Tweet
Heroes and villains - Part 2
Published: Friday | November 6, 2009
We are creating Jamaican history and heritage right now and future historians will tell the story. Why do we study history? Because the seeds of the present are in our past, just as what we do today will determine the future of Jamaica.
Two weeks ago, I gave instances where armed black slaves (called 'Black Shots' by the colonial state) fought against the Maroons and against rebel slaves. What must have been in the minds of these Jamaican slaves who chose to fight to keep the slave system intact? What were their ambitions for themselves and their families? What was their consciousness of their identity as African Jamaicans?
The Maroons have determined much more of the course of Jamaican history than we often care to admit. Their treaty with the slavemasters called for them not to accept runaway slaves within their communities. Indeed, they were required to turn them in. For the slaves, that ruled out the hills as a possible refuge after escape from slavery on the plantation. Further, the passion with which the Maroons pursued runaway slaves for the reward money was a disincentive to try to escape. The Maroons were an important factor in maintaining the slave system.
Even after Eman-cipation, the Maroons remained a resource for the British colonial state to use to maintain order. Paul Bogle appealed to the leader of the Hayfield Maroons, Major James Sterling, for help with his cause but they declined on the grounds that they had a 1739 treaty which called upon them to assist the government in returning runaway slaves, and in crushing slave revolts (even though slavery had been abolished).
In fact, the Hayfield Maroons sheltered several whites from Bogle's marauders. On October 23, 1865 the Maroons captured Bogle and handed him over to the authorities. He was hanged the next day.
The Maroons were heroic in defeating the British Colonial State and bringing them to the bargaining table. The Maroons, many of them former slaves themselves, or children of slaves, then turned against their brothers and sisters still in slavery by helping to keep the slave system intact and later by supporting the oppressive regime of Governor Eyre. What must have been in the minds of these Jamaicans who chose to fight to keep the slave system intact? What was their consciousness of their identity as African Jamaicans?
Tired of colonialism
Eventually the Jamaican colonial system came to an end, not because Jamaican heroes fought for it, but because the British tired of colonialism and considered their colonies to have become liabilities rather than sources of wealth. Jamaican-born colonial elites were invited to write their own constitution, and were handed independent Jamaica on a platter.
Many have observed the continuity between colonialism and independence, how little of substance has changed in the last hundred years. Jamaica has continued to be governed in the interest of a small minority, and the rest of us exist to facilitate them.
The colonial government had no interest in high-school education and did not establish a single one! Every child in high school meant one less cane-cutter. Education was a disincentive to plantation work. It was only after self-government in 1944 that the colonial state began to build high schools. But independent Jamaica has invested in secondary schools where, to enter, a child must fail the Common Entrance or GSAT. After almost half a century of Independence, we still cannot teach half our primary school children to read properly.
What must be of interest is how so many poor, black Jamaicans have supported a partisan system which has led to the creation of political garrisons in the ghettos. Only a few years ago partisan election workers stuffed ballot boxes for their patron. Today, political thugs called 'shottas' enforce order in the garrisons, such that their departure, some believe, would leave a huge vacuum in what passes for public order.
Education system dropouts
What must be going through the minds of these dropouts from the Jamaican education system - graduates into mental slavery - who choose to fight to keep the iniquitous system intact? What are their ambitions for themselves and their families? What is their consciousness of their identity as African Jamaicans emerging from slavery into freedom, from colonialism into Independence?
And who is going to emancipate us from the mindset that supports garrisons and shottas and mental slavery? The seeds of the present are in our past, and what we do today will determine the future of Jamaica.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon.
Published: Friday | November 6, 2009
We are creating Jamaican history and heritage right now and future historians will tell the story. Why do we study history? Because the seeds of the present are in our past, just as what we do today will determine the future of Jamaica.
Two weeks ago, I gave instances where armed black slaves (called 'Black Shots' by the colonial state) fought against the Maroons and against rebel slaves. What must have been in the minds of these Jamaican slaves who chose to fight to keep the slave system intact? What were their ambitions for themselves and their families? What was their consciousness of their identity as African Jamaicans?
The Maroons have determined much more of the course of Jamaican history than we often care to admit. Their treaty with the slavemasters called for them not to accept runaway slaves within their communities. Indeed, they were required to turn them in. For the slaves, that ruled out the hills as a possible refuge after escape from slavery on the plantation. Further, the passion with which the Maroons pursued runaway slaves for the reward money was a disincentive to try to escape. The Maroons were an important factor in maintaining the slave system.
Even after Eman-cipation, the Maroons remained a resource for the British colonial state to use to maintain order. Paul Bogle appealed to the leader of the Hayfield Maroons, Major James Sterling, for help with his cause but they declined on the grounds that they had a 1739 treaty which called upon them to assist the government in returning runaway slaves, and in crushing slave revolts (even though slavery had been abolished).
In fact, the Hayfield Maroons sheltered several whites from Bogle's marauders. On October 23, 1865 the Maroons captured Bogle and handed him over to the authorities. He was hanged the next day.
The Maroons were heroic in defeating the British Colonial State and bringing them to the bargaining table. The Maroons, many of them former slaves themselves, or children of slaves, then turned against their brothers and sisters still in slavery by helping to keep the slave system intact and later by supporting the oppressive regime of Governor Eyre. What must have been in the minds of these Jamaicans who chose to fight to keep the slave system intact? What was their consciousness of their identity as African Jamaicans?
Tired of colonialism
Eventually the Jamaican colonial system came to an end, not because Jamaican heroes fought for it, but because the British tired of colonialism and considered their colonies to have become liabilities rather than sources of wealth. Jamaican-born colonial elites were invited to write their own constitution, and were handed independent Jamaica on a platter.
Many have observed the continuity between colonialism and independence, how little of substance has changed in the last hundred years. Jamaica has continued to be governed in the interest of a small minority, and the rest of us exist to facilitate them.
The colonial government had no interest in high-school education and did not establish a single one! Every child in high school meant one less cane-cutter. Education was a disincentive to plantation work. It was only after self-government in 1944 that the colonial state began to build high schools. But independent Jamaica has invested in secondary schools where, to enter, a child must fail the Common Entrance or GSAT. After almost half a century of Independence, we still cannot teach half our primary school children to read properly.
What must be of interest is how so many poor, black Jamaicans have supported a partisan system which has led to the creation of political garrisons in the ghettos. Only a few years ago partisan election workers stuffed ballot boxes for their patron. Today, political thugs called 'shottas' enforce order in the garrisons, such that their departure, some believe, would leave a huge vacuum in what passes for public order.
Education system dropouts
What must be going through the minds of these dropouts from the Jamaican education system - graduates into mental slavery - who choose to fight to keep the iniquitous system intact? What are their ambitions for themselves and their families? What is their consciousness of their identity as African Jamaicans emerging from slavery into freedom, from colonialism into Independence?
And who is going to emancipate us from the mindset that supports garrisons and shottas and mental slavery? The seeds of the present are in our past, and what we do today will determine the future of Jamaica.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon.
Comment