This post is a response to the rhetoric used this morning in an editorial posted in the Jamaica Observer called “No requiem for Dr Shane Alexis” Read At Your own peril Here
The author came from the reasoning standpoint that, because Dr Shane Alexis chose to live, work and run for political office in Jamaica he should be viewed as a “real Jamaican” worthy of public office. Apparently, this makes him more Jamaican than alot of people who were born here. The author states “Most people are Jamaicans only by an accident of birth”, to call this level of reasoning Asinine would be too kind.
The “accident of birth” line is my favourite part, so some people are Jamaicans because they planned to be born Jamaicans? the author must be a super patriot, you know the type that before you were born got invited into the VIP suite and asked, where would you want to be born sir/maam? after all only “Some People” are like this, others are not.
The level of snobbery dripping out the editorial is on a whole different level, it almost borders on being satire. If Dr Shane Alexis loved Jamaica so much, he would renounce one of his other citizenship and become a legal Jamaican citizen no? The editorial’s logic is fundamentally flawed. Your nationality is a legal status, it is not a feeling, it is not an opinion. You are either Jamaican or you are not! Alot of Chinese live in the country, who have been here “donkey years”, we gonna start making them MPs too?
Let’s get something clear, there are alot of perks to choosing Jamaica over Canada to live and join politics. First of all, the pathway to being a politician in Canada is much more scrutinised than in Jamaica. There are alot more questions asked and it is undoubtedly easier to become a Jamaican MP than a Canadian MP. But let’s give the author a chance, let’s look past the whole “accident by birth” and look at the practical side of things.
Stop take Jamaica for “Pappy-Show”
Can a Non-Canadian become an MP in Canada? Can a Non-American become an American governor? how about Mexico, China, Russia? this wouldn’t even be an argument, a matter of fact, he would not reach that far as to even be one of the top 2 candidates. Stop take Jamaica for “Pappy-Show”. You cannot tell the America people “I been living here for a long time and I am more American than alot of you who are only here by accident of birth”. They would chase you back to whichever country you came from.
The time you spent in a country does not translate to being a citizen of said country, ask all the Jamaicans who got deported after living abroad for 10,20 years about that. It doesn’t matter if he used two fish and 5 loaves of bread to feed the multitude, if he is not Jamaican he should not a political office in Jamaica. It’s as simple as that and there should be no changing of the rules for any candidate, green or orange.
The article says he is Grenadian, why doesn’t he renounce this citizenship and take on Jamaica? after all, he is a Jamaican patriot, right? This is like a man telling his ‘matey’ that he loves her, reminds her they have been having sex for 20 years but when she asks him to divorce his wife and marry her, he starts stuttering and having hiccups. See if she really was his soul mate, then she would get the legal entitlements and perks that come from being a wife. What separates the wife from the ‘mate’? they both get sex, money and time right? well, one has the paperwork to back it up, should he die the mate gets nothing legally because on paper “she nuh count”. You love Jamaica so much then marry her and upgrade her from matey status.
