NETTLEFORD
The positive interpretation of the colour black to mean strength and resilience was an oft-repeated recommendation as were others that would "strengthen our people's sense of dignity and confidence in our African heritage by denoting that the black in the flag should be more representative of the nation which is predominantly black".
SOMEBODY OR other is concerned about a recent comment by a talk-show host about the meaning of the colour 'black' in Jamaica's flag. Back in 1996 when a national committee which I chaired was set up to examine the matter of national symbols and observances, a report followed the investigation recommending that "a new interpretation should be provided avoiding the association of black with hardships or any symbolism that may be regarded as negative".
Negative to whom? Clearly to the vast majority of people inhabiting this land of ours and who, like it or not, are as a famous saying goes, 'hopelessly black'. The recommendation was not made lightly. It followed on the many submissions made to the investigating committee expressing the feelings many people carried about the symbolism attached to that particular colour in the flag.
For while the gold identified with the sun which shineth and is life-giving, and the green was meant to mean productivity of the green and fertile land, black spoke to the hardships that admittedly exist and are to be overcome. It is the word 'hardship' which made people uneasy. I had had this discussion with Mr. Theodore Sealy, a former editor of the then Daily Gleaner, from as far back as the 1960s. While he understands the concern, he personally had no problem with the meaning attributed to the colour black since hardships we certainly have had and hardships we must endeavour to overcome as part of the national effort in Independence.
WIDESPREAD DISAGREEMENT
Some on the committee were (I, for one, was) amazed at the widespread disagreement with such an interpretation so many years later. There came from a great many who made submissions, a call for an interpretation in words that depict such values as 'resilience', 'hope', or 'fortitude' which some pointed out was the interpretation of the colour black in the national flag of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The association, reads the report echoing those who submitted views, "should (indeed) be with the overcoming of hardships among which should be numbered the threatening lack of self-esteem and a sense of self-worth among persons of African ancestry as a result of the historical and (the) continuing denigration of things African and the underlining in colour of social recognition and class status".
Nowhere is this stubborn persistence of that inheritance from centuries of slavery and colonialism linked to the present alienation of so many of our young people who take to violent criminality in a psychic allegiance to the view that life means nothing to them who matter little in this society, and so taking a life or losing theirs at an early age means little in the circumstances.
NEW INTERPRETATION
But back to the colours of the flag! Many who appeared before the committee asked for a new interpretation that would reflect strength in unity, the promise of productivity from the land and the purifying power of the sun. The positive interpretation of the colour black to mean strength and resilience was an oft-repeated recommendation as were others that would "strengthen our people's sense of dignity and confidence in our African heritage by denoting that the black in the flag should be more representative of the nation which is predominantly black". Not all recommendations were as ethnic-specific and the committee took this into account. I, for one, am too aware of the unease with which so many of our Jamaican people admit to the natural melanin of their skin what with bleaching creams, the urge to be brown and so on, which are so prevalent among us.
In summary, the report states, there was no request for a change of flag. "In any case, the study of flags and standards (vexillology, as it is called) renders the Jamaican flag a viable [and] well-designed symbol." The colours in the flag are also quite acceptable, the report notes. "The colours green and gold have ancestral linkages [among] all of humanity which has time out of mind seen the colour green [as signifying] growth, fertility, [and] agriculture, while gold signifies civilisation, the energy of the sun and therefore growth [as well as] human achievement to high levels of thought and productivity based on the exercise of the [creative] intellect and the creative imagination."
The symbolism for the colour black remained contentious and clearly does to this day, surfacing yet again over the recent past, during the observance of Emancipation and Independence. Many still feel that its official signification of hardships overcome and to be overcome is denigratory of things African.
Moreover, it perpetuates the use of the term black as signifier for all things negative as in Black Friday, blackmail, and the Oxford dictionary meanings given as 'deadly', 'sinister', 'wicked', 'hateful', 'dismal', 'sulky', 'threatening' and 'implying disgrace'. With such inherited meanings, do we still expect black people to be supportive of systems designed to perpetuate such myths about millions of members of the human family to which they belong? We need to think on these things along with all the other admittedly critical bread and butter issues we must now face as many colleagues in the media now understandably insist.
