Amina Blackwood Meeks
DEAR MIKEY Smith:
Miss Lady on her way to St. Elizabeth wid de biggest potato pudding you can ever imagine. She sey she talk to you just de odda day an yu memba har an how dat was yu favourite.
But why she gone so far wid it? Well me an you know sey is nearly 23 years now, since ascarding to anadda famous poet, Edward Kamau Braithwaite one "stone fall that morning out of a johncrow sky" an yu meck a transition.
But we also know sey yu still talk to people pan dis plane who know how to listen to people from a next plane an nuff, like Miss Lady, no shame fe sey she in line wid de communication channel.
For people like she know sey if more people from dis time was fin tune wid people from dat time more sensible tings wudda come outa nuff more mout.
REFUSING TO CELEBRATE
So anyway, she sey Sunday gone she open har newspiapa an see one headline bout wid one story bout people refusing to celebrate we shame and disgrace.
She sey she ready now fe tink sey some people decide fe stop block road when police come fe arrest suspeck or stop jubilate when suspeck escape an kean find.
Low an behold, Mikey, a nuh dat! A people find fault wid one national initiative fe find appropriate ways fe deal wid de fack sey 200 years ago after nuff sacrifice an fight an death before dishonour, black people force traffickers in human beings fe bring a halt to dat shameless practice.
For as far as she is concerned, smaddy haffi born an raise widout no concept of shame at all fe did indulge in such activities in de first place.
Gone clear up a Africa a capture people, manacle dem, put dem pan ship, sell dem, force dem fe labour wid nutten but some brutality as dem pay and call dat legal and lawful trade.
Is de ending of dat deh kind of trade de smaddy dem is saying is a shameful ack fe memba.
She after she read it she find herself a shake har head an repeat over an over, "Me kean believe it. Me sey me kean believe it".
An den she hear like somebody sey "Me neida, but a long time me a tell dem sey nuff tings a gwaan dat is unbelievable".
An she look round an dere yu was. She sey unnu have a long conversation an when yu was leaving yu give a copy of yu famous poem dere.
An she decide fe meck de journey de 100 an sinting how much mile fe present a copy of it to de smaddy who de piapa sey raise de objeckshan.
LAND OF MAROONS
Yes Mikey, dung a St. Elizabeth she go: land of the Maroons, parish of de treaty whey de British agree fe bow to certain demands, same place where Nanny walk from Portland fe go tell har bredda dem nuffe sign nutten for is nat a partial ting she was dealing wid, it was a full freedom fe everybody or none at all.
An she herself cudden believe how dem cudden see what she wassa see.
Miss Lady sey she tink sey all a dat mix up into what dis most learned genkleman, who by de way is a elected representative of de people, declare sey him nuh waan have nutten fe do wid.
Yes, Mikey, yu undastan me, a de madness what into we she a try deal wid. A big learning man down here call it psychic disarray.
Miss Lady sey she tink sey dat mean sey, we nuh fully realise sey a nuh we duh nutten disgraceful.
A we overcome de most shameful episode in de history of humanity.
We overcome it an go on to become de foremost creators of some of de tings what de entire human race now enjoy.
Dem dance to we music, marvel at we athletes, eat out we food and wrap up demself into every single colour what dem see we wear an use fe symbolise weself.
Dem wonder how from dat time till dis time, we send Boukman go a Haiti, set Marcus Garvey and Bob Marley fe go walk Nelson Mandela outa prison, give birth to Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral and Kwame Nhrumah. She sey dis a de significance of dat deh date.
Dis is de knowledge what mix up into de inspiration an aspiration dat create Portia Simpson Miller into Jamaica.
Dis is what meck we know sey dat no matter how much smaddy teef from we, no matter how hard dem slam one door an put up sign pan it mark "Door of No Return", we jus wheel an come again an do sometings dat people can only stay one side an call miracle and magic.
MARK THE DATE
She sey as long as she live, she nuh waan feget dat date. As far as she is concerned it fe deh pan de calendar every year, like yu birthday.
She mark it like how ef smaddy rob yu she meck sure sey har yard never outa dawg afta dat, an every which part she can put up alarm an close-circuit teevee, it deh-deh. For anyting what happen to yu inna broad daylight naw go fraid fe come back come happen a night time. She sey dat is where de disgrace and shame wudda come, chu carelessness.
Shame an disgrace is fe we siddung yahso an gwaan like we nuh see sey all who bring we come yah an plan big celebration fe mark de fack sey dem was forced to stap an if we nuh mind sharp, by de time dem dun an de book write and de film dun document it ago come in like sey we tell a big lie pan dem an is we did force dem fe come fe we inna de firs place an chu de goodness a dem heart an dem closeness to de Almighty dem teck years fe convert we to de idea sey de ting was criminal.
Mikey, she sey she teck heart sey de smaddy sey him will celebrate Independence. Even doagh dat is like how yu mean sey some a we roots nuh go too far, it start wid we madda an en before we reach we grandmadda an deh so she waan fe go.
She kean jus celebrate sey har madda tun big-big nurse and shame sey har granmadda did walk barefoot go dig pitata fe pay de school fee. An afta dat she is going to want to know which part de pitata seedlings did originate from.
An dat is why she carry de pudden gone dung dere. For even dat have genealogy and roots.
Me hope de esteemed recipient enjoy de pudden as much as you.
