Hilary Robertson-Hickling
IN WHOSE image and likeness are we made in Jamaica? While there is a debate raging about the Prime Minister's engagement of the church in the restoration of Jamaica, I have been listening to the discussion.
I would also like to review the popular images that we celebrate as that might provide some insight about our image and identity.
According to historian Sharon Shacko, who was speaking at a recent conference, much of the art done in public places by community members celebrates Emperor Haile Selassie and his wife the Empress.
DESPERATELY SEARCHING
In this year, when we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the visit of the Emperor, Jamaicans remember him fondly for his Biblical, political and symbolic significance.
I had the privilege of witnessing the coming of the Emperor at the Palisadoes airport in the company of my family and thousands of other Jamaicans.
It is said that when the Emperor looked out and saw the exultant crowd, he nearly went back into the aeroplane. He was amazed at the response of the Jamaicans who had come to meet him.
Some shouted 'God come'. This country is still desperately searching for itself and struggling with its image and identity.
On the T-shirts worn in Jamaica, the Emperor and Bob Marley dominate, with some wearing the faces of Garvey and in recent years Tupac Shakur, the handsome Rapper destroyed by the tragedy of violence and criminality which has bedevilled Gangsta Rap in America.
The most intriguing shirt I have seen is that of the Latin American icon Che Guevara entitled 'Rasta from the Start'.
I am sad but not surprised that politicians on shirts have been overtaken by remembrances of dead dons and so called area leaders in an increasing number of communities.
For the funerals of the latter, people are often forced to attend in a shirt bearing that 'hero's' face. In this society, no woman is iconic enough to be worn on a shirt and the women on the dancehall posters are naked and hypersexual.
The search for the hero continues and not even our monarch Queen Elizabeth, who has just celebrated her 80th birthday or the European saviour promoted by some of our churches, fills the deep need and longing felt by so many of us.
OUR POSITIVE SELVES
Although I missed the visit of Nelson and Winnie Mandela, I heard that many Jamaicans poured out their love and hearts for these two.
On a visit to the Mandela Museum in Soweto, I saw the University of the West Indies envelop which contained the announcement of the conferment of the honorary doctorate on that great man.
As I read his comment that he wished that South Africa could be like Jamaica, I wept at the thought, with pride and hope that my country could live up to the image of being a place of pride and dignity.
As we come to terms with who we are, more of us can recognise our positive selves and continue to inspire ourselves and others. The murderers in our midst remind us of our negative selves and require that the positive overwhelm the negative.
Our image as a nation of bad men and women is incorrect and we cannot afford to reinforce this.
Our young people need to see themselves in a positive light, as heroes, not just in mobs and demonstrations, not weeping at another death, not simulating sex in public or threatening other people but winning and succeeding and feeling good about themselves.
Heather Robertson-Hickling is a lecturer in the Department of Management Studies, UWI, Mona.
