Comming in late on the Cliff Twang thing.

[Rudi]

Aw Cmon Ben. You must learn to share a laugh with the natives. This complexion thing kinda sounding psychological now. "Out of Many, One People" Ben.

[Muadib]

it all started rolling ball one day in Ft. lauderale bout 23 years ago.. mi nevah know di crew.. One sequence mi have di ball ah guh chue di miggle per usual and next mi hear is "Red Man my ball !"

Mi nearly drap.. den mi tek a stock.. di crew did on di darker side still but nuh suh mi woulda notice... ever since mi study di ting haard...

Quite a curious state of affairs...

[MdmeX]

Folly..........
Golly.............
Jolly...............
Lolly..............

[TDowl]

All the above.

[Don1]

Aw Cmon Ben. You must learn to share a laugh with the natives. This complexion thing kinda sounding psychological now. "Out of Many, One People" Ben.

This is where certain types lose the plot with Jamaica...and it usually comes back to bite them in the a$$ at the polls.

The country has a calcified class system (ala England) which is operated from the top. The paler the skin the higher the class position of the person... something bequeathed by slavery which still persists. Ridiculous but true.

The people who mostly benefit from this ludicrous class construct wish to retain their artificial advantage and so do their best to buttress that system....mainly by tolerating/encouraging political division by their JLPNP leadership cohorts and grossly underfunding the input that can assure social mobility...education. Also severely restricting access to capital and reserving plum jobs for like minded insiders.

Then the same nincompoops feign ignorance about the impact of class and any relationship it has to pigmentation. Well I don't know if they're just blissfully unaware or just plain dumb.

Jamaicans are mentally diseased to a point where it is almost laughable....from top down....but particularly at the top.

[TDowl]

Maudib as to maintain the Colonialism status fi get by/bly, him preach it ya every day, one day one day when himah flaunt it...

I guess him try the Pass Thing a Foreign too.....Deputy...Honored Darkie...Ah little tan..

[Muadib]

Meanwhile on the reality tip:

25% 70's
40% 90's

80% Brain Drain and yuh ah chat bout pale skin and 'status'..

Lee Kwan seh he had no time for profundity and 'war' against the 'man'.. he had serious work to do much to learn.. he sent his technocrats to Harvard and Cambridge.. not Russia and Cuba..

Dem man deh close down Auto Plant cause dem cannot be the best or near the best at it.. our eediats ah cling on to Sugar Estate and Air Jamaica..

Poor yuh nuh even realize wi nuh have nutting fi have a revolution over.. Manley was too previous.. eediat.. before him wait till wi did reach somewhere..

Rebels without a cause..

[Don1]

lol... true ting

[Muadib]

Emancipate yourself from Mental Slavery..

I can see him when I'm deep in the covers
When I awake I don't see the mo...f..ker
He owns a black hat like I own
A black suit and a cane like my own
Some might say "take a chill, b"
But ******** that ********, there's a ni@@@a trying to kill me
I'm pumping in the clip when the wind blows
Every twenty seconds got me peeping out my window
Investigating the joint for traps
Checking my telephone for taps
I'm staring at the woman on the corner
It's f...ed up when your mind is playing tricks on you

[Willi]

It is way more complex than that. Ben does have a point.

Colour/ethnicity and economic class are NOT the same thing, but we tend to over-generalize in Jamaica and its dysfunctional. I had a Chinese classmate back in the 1970s who lived off Hagley Pk Road and the family was far from rich! Indeed, they were struggling like those around them and it made things harder as people assumed wealth when they saw him. I know ehere he lived and seeing that makes you realize immediatley that di breddah nuh born with nuh silver spoon. Then there was a white Jakan bredrin from Bridgeport (not even close to being upper class) that went to KTHS and Camperdown (in the late 1980s) among other schools where he got expelled for knife fighting etc. Di breddah used to chuck nuff badniss, because the average person seeing him thought he was soft and easily preyed upon, but he had the mentality of a Jungliss. LoL

I was at a StGC match in the 1990s when Bertis was the coach. My younger brother who is significantly darker than I am (and even the rest of my family) was there too sitting in another row. Ah just suh it go with black people. Look at Hedda compared to her brother the JC judge!

There so happened to be an UPTOWN dark-skinned benz-driving accountant with money who had a son in the squad. The son was a nice fellow, but not the most gifted baller and was rubbing the bench on occasion, as he was not a regular starter. The monied daddy who was re-living his past vicariously thru the son was NOT happy that the son was not even on the bench for that game, but in the stands with us. He was there grumbling about Bertis and "fight gainst" and all kinda thing...all unfair to any impartial observer.

It went on to the point of annoyance and I could take it no longer and intervened by saying that the coach is doing a good job, rotating the squad and getting the best out of the players, etc. Who tell mi fi guh open mi mouth? i instantly became the center of his verbal attacks with him stating that ah suh "brown man" stick togedda and downpress black man. He kept on and on and went looking for verbal support from those in the stands close by. He turned to my brother who he knew (he didnt know me, but the son did) and egged him on for support. "Willi, yuh see how dem brown man stick togedda", etc. My bothere tried to ignore him and quell it, but he kept going at it trying to beg support, even while his son (who knew the deal) was telling him "cool it nuh Daddy". He refused to listen to any reason. Finally, I could not take it anymore and told him what an idiot he was, because the person him begging support from was my FULL brother!

Unno ever see a darke skinned black man blush yet??? I have. the breddah left the stadoium soon after that and I never saw him at training or another Manning match after that.

The point is, Jamaicans nned to grow up and move away from the silly knee-jerk reactions of misleading things like skin tone. As MLK states, its time to judge a man by the content of his character, not by the colour of his skin....especially when in the grand scheme of things, we are talking about minute differences in colour shades.

[Rudi]

Errr that's all well and good Willie. I think you should address that to the people who developed and perpetuated that skin-tone system for their own material and psychological benefit. Whatever anyone is experiencing now is simply blow-back. It is the people who have benfitted from this system whom you should address.

[Muadib]

We need to tek out di Kartel fellow.. dem man deh juss a perpetuate di ting hard !

[Rudi]

Agreed. Now I am curious since 2007 have you increased or started any new investments in JA.

[Don1]

More complex? Nope. My point is fundamental.

Ben's point is minor (what else is new?)... ok someone called for the brown man to pass the ball...im did probly ah hog di ting...sounds like the personality type....yuh nuh si ow dat feel seh im muss ave di las word inna evry thread? Peeple juss haffi lef dat fi spout im fooliniss cause dat nah tap...LOL.

I'm talking about society's STRUCTURE... NOT about individual instances of pique caused by people's opinions on skin pigmentation... that pique will always happen it seems. So the personal anecdotes are interesting and informative but don't describe the system.

Even if one was to concentrate on individual cases of hurt or discomfort about pigmentation..... dark skinned people suffer from that 100000X more than any sub group.... the main suffering being in lost jobs, lost promotions, lost access to capital, lost access to people of influence who can advance them in life...those influential people happen to be disproportionately of a paler complexion and like any group they prefer to take care of their own....which in turn perpetuates the class system very effectively. Of course they are joined by many highly roasted breadfruits who revel in the Brown Man Time philosophy....so it's not simply about pigmentation but about a world view or philosophy.

The task for the majority black and poor is to find a way to overcome the structural dysfunction of society by themselves....through concentrating on education and enterprise.

It is clear that the JLPNP and their patrons at the top of the class system are unwilling to do the things necessary for more social mobility... the biggest element being to prioritize education.

Consequently I'm forced to conclude that the JLPNP divide & rule program, aided & abetted by the equally backward monied class, are engaged in a self serving conspiracy to protect their hegemony over the country.

Selah

[Muadib]

yah man.. jobs, jobs, jobs !