THE EDITOR, Sir:
AS I enter my 51st year, I look forward to Jamaica's 50th year in 2012 with increasing despair and trepidation. I feel so ambivalent that I am now in search of a new country.
This country is not going to be the U.S.A., Canada or England where I know the full effects of the cold winds and people, the constant pressure of racism and the treadmill that people live under.
In Jamaica, I pass these embassies and high commissions and see my compatriots standing burning in the sun, hopeful for their exit papers.
BENEFICIARY
I am a patriotic Jamaican woman, a beneficiary of all that has been good in this country and I have tried hard to do my share. However, I am overwhelmed by the murder, crime and the divided leadership of the country.
Are we incapable of developing a consensus about the CCJ, the educational system and other critical issues which bedevil the country?
I am horrified at the lot meted out to my parents and their generation who laboured in the vineyards, building this country seeing their work go up in smoke and their efforts in vain.
The builders of the country have been handled with contempt while the destroyers rape, burn, steal and despoil the hard fought heritage. Garvey would weep at the state of his country which has so much promise.
Where could this new country be? Should I try Cuba as my grandfather did at the beginning of the 20th century? There are problems there.
Should it be Ghana or South Africa? There are as many opportunities as there are problems.
What about the other Caribbean countries which
currently host many of our citizens while we seem opposed to the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.
If there is nowhere outside, I might have to go into internal exile in Jamaica, setting up a new country as the Maroons did some time ago.
I am giving this serious thought. I want to be a new Jamaican as the old one has grown tired and weary.
I am etc
HILARY ROBERTSON-
HICKLING
hilary.robertsonhickling@
uwimona.edu.jm
