The Editor, Sir:

I note with some measure of satisfaction that Jamaica has received an improved rating from the United States Department of State in its latest annual report on human trafficking. My satisfaction flows not from the source from which the improved rating came, but the fact that an improvement in one area of our national life has occurred.

But seriously though, my fellow Jamaicans, the matter of human trafficking and exploitation of children should not require the U.S. State Department to hold a big stick over our heads to do something about it. In fact, 'Uncle Sam' really needs to take a good look in the mirror and see how well, or not so well the U.S. has done in the very areas in which it casts judgement on the rest of the world; it would see clearly that it does not have the moral authority to police the world.

But Jamaica needs a wake-up call and a decisive change in direction. We cannot keep on the path of social decay and decadence on which we have been travelling. We need to return to the fundamental values of love, respect, value of the human life and sense of community which have been a part of our heritage. These are the core values which restore the foundations of a strong society.

Dire need of renewal

We are in dire need of a social, moral and spiritual renewal. Come on, Jamaica, we don't need the U.S. to tell us to stop raping and killing our women and children. We have a conscience, and most of us were at least sent to Sunday/Sabbath school, so we know what is right from wrong. I call on all well-thinking Jamaicans today to lend your voice to this process of renewal. We must be unrelenting in speaking about what is wrong, even in the face of death. We must also be persistent in helping to guide the young, empower the weak among us and create opportunities for social and economic advancement.

Yes, the U.S. will continue to do what it thinks it needs to do to police the world. But it is time now for us to find the will within our society to do the right thing. We need to do it together; from King's House to the almshouse, from the dancehall to the pulpit, we can make a change.

If we don't, my brothers and sisters, then in a little time from now Jamaica will be an unliveable place. Let us make the change.

I am, etc.,

ERIC B. BAILEY

bailey@msu.edu

Via Go-Jamaica