... Louis Farrakhan's excellent vacation ...

... Louis Farrakhan is a walking, talking oral tradition, a rousing orator of a testimonial narrative many would forget, minimize or disregard as irrelevant to the present-day timeline ... being aware that mere mention of his name will alienate some readers gives me momentary pause, but won't inhibit my parsing the content and context of his message as it swung by me last week ...

Quote:- "(black people) spiritually we are sick"... "until we heal ourselves spiritually nothing will happen economically"

... the newspaper article said he'd be giving a free address the next day at the multi-purpose Cultural Center, not far from where I reside when I'm in Antigua ... characters like Paulinaire in the dynamite Dominican historical novel Pharcel: Runaway Slave (Alick Lazare) came quickly to mind, prototypical abolitionist agitators travelling the Caribbean furtively fomenting resistance to, and uprising against, the oppressive slave-driven plantation systems of the time ...

Quote:- "you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free"

... but there was nothing clandestine about this visit in this century ... the local brass was welcoming and hospitable, right down to the security-'pon-top-a-security which goes everywhere with this man, giving some suggestion of the passions stirred when he calls attention to the way these territories were populated and socialized ... institutionalized racism and proselytizing religion were primary building-blocks of these western societies, and, pre-industrial revolution Europe itself ...

Quote:-"they cannot educate you to free you from them"

... U.S.A. based Nation Of Islam (NOI), led by Minister Farrakhan, is an organization which looks to the East while continuing the pushback against a past which has shaped our current realities as descendants of colonial families ... what comes across to some as anti-European and anti-Semitic can instead be viewed as pro-African and pro-Islam, a way to recognize people building something out of disadvantage rather than acquiescing to mutually exclusive polarities ...

Quote:- "I am a Christian, I am a Muslim, I am a Jew."

... notorious for ruffling the feathers of Jewish groups and slamming entrenched European privilege, this Calypsonian turned motivational-preacher knows which notes to hit in this sankey ... Farrakhan at the lectern opened with "salaam alaikum" juxtaposed to "shalom aleichem,"... taken at face-value, this was an olive branch from a firebrand forced recently to cut back his workload for personal health reasons ... here, hailing peace goes hand-in-hand with humor aimed at local tastes ...

Quote:- "peace" is a better greeting than the English "hello," because hell has always been low" ...

... Louis Farrakhan's father was Jamaican ... his maternal roots are in St. Kitt's and Nevis, islands I can see in the distance from the front deck of my home, and on this evening there was no doubting his Caribbean flava ... in the auditorium, where I occupied my standing-room-only spot at the balcony railing, near-flawless accents, replete with regional nuance, spoke of a man who clearly enjoyed being received like a son of the soil ...

 Quote:- "you can't let America tell you that you can't have a relationship with Cuba ... to hell with you!"

... namechecks for Elijah Muhammed, Malcolm X and particularly Muhammed Ali were sparks to tinder, but every mention of Allah was met with sotto voce murmurs of "Selassie I" from the Rastafarian contingent, noticeably not acknowledged as afrocentric allies despite  much in the way of shared interest ...

Quote:- "all of us are sons and daughters of Africa"

... powerful, pokerfaced, palookas, dressed in the de rigeur NOI tailoring, eyeballed the crowd and Mustapha Farrakhan (a son of) took the Minister's back ... the brother on his right rescued the Holy Qur'an which would go flying during fiery passages, memorably those outlining a connect-the-dots assessment on the spread of  HIV in black populations and poverty-cycles which lead people of color to poor nutrition and hard drugs ...

Quote:- "there's a plot against the black male" ... "they are killing us with our taste-buds and our love for sex"

... as for the females, Farrakhan showed he has personally witnessed a Carnival or two by shifting the theatre to comic relief, even Mustapha curled his lips when Pops let his hips do some talkin', but some women in the crowd were no doubt waiting for the speech to get back to the big picture ...

Quote:- "if a man regards what you show him, your bosom, your behind, he never gets acquainted with your mind"

... the new Burger King downtown got pink-slimed and Trayvon Martin got solemnized (en passant, to his credit) in a show of familiarity with the stories-of-the-day ... references to Haitian-hero Boukman (actually a man from Jamaica) and Antiguan father-of-the-nation V.C. Bird  suggests scholarship and reflects research but Farrakhan always has some special indictment reserved for Churches High and Low ...

Quote:- "Jesus was Jehovah's witness but he never called himself a Jehovah's Witness" ... "if a man treated you as bad as we were treated, would he give you a God that would free you from his whip?"

... more rumblings 'round the room ... "Rastafari, Selassie I!" ...

... today a terrorist tumbled in Toulouse ...

... this is Toulouse, a pretty city,

a French city,

historic city,

high-tech aerospace city ...

 

... and this is a market town,

crossroads town,

 an artist's town,

a fashionable town ...

... this is foie gras ville,

cassoulet ville,

magret de canard ville,

also, doner kebab ville ...

... this is vin Minervois country,

University student country,

grenouille rugby country,

Midi-Pyrenees country ...

... and, this is an immigrant's place,

melting-pot place,

a catholic place,

a multi-cultural place ... 

... Toulouse will outlive terrorism ...

... on line tee-shirts ...

... twelve laundered tee-shirts hangin' on a line ...

a number which, to me, seems perfectly fine,

but if my fair lady has her way

the older ones would be given away,

maybe burned, put out in trash bags,

or ripped to shreds and used for rags,

but that won't happen for love nor glory,

'cos most of 'em have a pretty cool back-story ...

... why complain, is it a gender thing? ... maybe,

'cos, I really have doubts that it's just me

who finds it somewhat profligate to part

with threads that have represented the heart,

 a sold-out show, proud product or cause,

a clever "bon-mot" drawing looks or applause,

it's not about any hanging onto the past,

the cotton itself was designed to last ...

... my cleaned-up, dirty-dozen, enviro-display,
long-shadow-afternoon, late in the day,

points to casual sartorial attitude,

separate from formality or desire to exude
haute-style from every fashion corpuscle,
sometimes it's sleeveless, all 'bout da muscle ...
dem haffe fit me to-a-tee, like this lineup here,
and the next lot, biding time in a drawer somewhere ...

... cool Britannia ...

... it only took a few years in the UK to give me a taste for malt vinegar, prawn flavored crisps and real ale ... I got hooked on a certain once-great football team, which doesn't warrant a namecheck this season, developed a liking for articulate, matter-of-fact news reporting and prurient page three exhibitionism ...

... my movements exposed me to a cross-section of Brit-society and there was plenty time to observe my pre-cognitive ambivalence to class privilege and monarchic imperative ...

... at a certain point "God Save The Queen" became more about Sex Pistols than the divine rights of centuries-old reigning houses ... but then again, there was always "Rule Britannia" with it's strident melody and the staccato refrain "Britons never, never, never shall be slaves" to stir the heart of empire, conjure high-seas perfidy and re-inflate an entrenched colonial dynamic ...

... I'm sure Prince Harry has to sing that line aloud from time to time, it's in his job description ... only Jah knows what goes through his mind when he does, but on this, his first official tour, for grandma's diamond jubilee, he's just as likely to bus' a Bob lyric ... "ev'ryting gonna be alright" (No Woman, No Cry) ...

... the late Lady Diana Spencer's "rebelution" (to co-opt the title of an excellent 2006 Tanya Stephens CD) shifted the throne so it now faces a bit more ... outward ... her legacy survives in her sons, not least in the younger who thankfully manifests his mother's spirited humanity ... it is this third-in-line heir who just might blend a bit of Anansi into the bloodline ...

... the world will focus on the training track tete-a-tete with legend-in-the-making sprint king Usain Bolt ... snaps of these royals, bigging up brands Jamaica and Puma, flew around the world faster than a Jamaican 4x100 relay team ... his good-humored, bent-kneed, grease-hipped bruk wine didn't go un-noticed either ...
Jiggy Royal, howzat for a stage name? ...

... but wait, a whaddat pon 'im foot? ... da' crepe deh a di lick! ...

... the Daily Telegraph called 'em blue suede shoes but Harry's Russell & Bromley kicks will remind yard-savvy fashionistas of England's iconic Clark's desert boots, a perennial fave of roots steppers and dapper dans in Jamaica ... in-demand dancehall DJ Popcaan can thank "Clarks" for his big break, it surely slayed Sloane Square and may even be on Harry's iPod ...

... Jamaica, with it's history of rebelliousness, is considering rebellion again lately with the concept of republic and severing of historic ties to the British Crown ... either this prince is au fait with generational signifiers that loosen the stiffness of that Anglo-Saxon upper-lip, or s'mady in Queen Majesty's employ is briefed on the power of cultural code ... yard colors an' a cris' track suit, a gun-mout' khaki,  new Clark's and a likkle samfie stylee ...

... so yes, now there's the residual matter of that photo-op Bolt race, set up so the mischievous maybe-monarch could run away with the spoils and have memories to look back on while blazin' chalice in da Palace with Wills an' Kate ... well, that's a stretch, but my mind tells me there is redress in the offing this summer, repatriation of bragging rights, payback ... reparations of a sort ... 

... "run for cover, run for cover, rebels takin' over" -The Wailers ...

 JAMAICAN GLOSSARY 

Anansi - a tricky, African derived, folkloric, spider character

"bruk wine" - (break out into) dance

"da' crepe deh a di lick!" - those (crepe soled) shoes are very cool!

"cris' " - crisp, sharp, brand new

"gun-mout' khaki" - straight legged khaki pants

"likkle" - little

a "samfie" man - a trickster

"s'mady" - somebody

... super whose day? ...

... feels like a blink-of-an-eye since we were last here ...

... d-day on this otherwise unremarkable Tuesday in Spring when a quartet of likely lads, from America's chest-beating right-wing, rage against the machine ...

... in this latest swing of the pendulum, America's quest for democratic equilibrium, there is petty polarity and piety aplenty, which speaks of divergent camps ... ideological options before the electorate are clarified and stark ... decisions, decisions ...

... in the grand tradition of referring to national baseball championships as the World Series, Black Friday consumer frenzies and a grandiose style of doing things, U.S. politics bills this polling day as Super Tuesday, with primaries in eleven States and hundreds of electoral delegates up for grabs ...

... who'll get the cookies from the cookie-jar? ...

... the HBO release of "Game Change" is a timely harbinger ... a screen depiction of that dramatic convention stunt in 2008 when Crusty Crony (McCain) pulled Lively Rabbit (Palin) out of his hat, effectively pegging back the frontrunner ... could we have a repeat of that maverick moment this year? ...

... cynical, smart-money is on a spectacular addition to the Republican ticket in order to boost the lackluster candidate who finishes top ... should Rick Santorum, a man I first heard of in a particularly graphic Dan Savage column, emerge G.O.P. leader he'll need a total makeover and a Latina running mate who looks like Sofia Vergara to make our incumbent look sideways ...

... today's probable winner, Mitt Romney (we'll know around the time this ackeelover observation gets published tonight), carries a yoke or three around his neck and each one is extra-weighted with stumblebum gaffes and halting riposte ...

... it'll take something quite monumental for reluctant Romney to thwart Barack Obama's sophomore term but don't bet the house just yet ... plans are likely underway to co-opt an irresistable candidate, one possessed of credibility and clout ...

... in fact, they've already got the lapel buttons circulating ...

 

... natural porn and games ...

... I find double entendre almost anywhere given a sniff of a chance ... the prickly bush at the end of my driveway is in its reproductive phase and neighbors have been cruising to collect the seed pods of the procreating plant ... the seeds they seek have immediate allure in their shiny smoothness and are irresistably tempting to touch ... indeed ...

... when it comes to mischievous metaphor and suggestive simile you can't beat nature ... the ripened hardness of the beans are purposefully exposed when the time is just right ...

... "the little men in the boat" present themselves to destiny ...

... some reach fertile ground to start another cycle but others are prized as gaming pieces for a local board game called Warri ... said to encourage contemplation and cunning ...

... African in origin, specifically Akan from West Africa, this game sometimes unfolds like life itself in a nascent form ... although onlookers are encouraged to participate, it's essentially a two-player game, and successful stratagems can result in a triumphant grand slam ...

... and, as if the naughty-by-nature visualization of the labial display isn't enough, in the Caribbean Warri is traditionally played with these nickernuts ... locally known as "nickars"...

... I'm not making this up ...

... rastaman vibration is positive ...

... birthdays are great for philosophizing on human immortality, a deliberate oxymoron ... on examination you'll find, amid the acclaimed and elevated, many musicians ... this is because music strums a soulful chord in our special complexity ...

... February 6th marks the birth of Bob Marley, one such, who would have turned 67 this year had he not died ... for "died" read "transcended to a higher state," the only time it's allowable to express yourself like a Waco Branch Davidian to make your point more reverential ... 

... incidentally, a Marley relative reportedly perished at Waco, so perhaps I shouldn't make light ... still, it's safe to say Bob's umm, ... ascension ... was more assured by his passing, unlike the demise of nearly all who take that "final taxi"...

... Bob's image has been preserved better than King Tut in iconic photography and sound recording, meaning Jamaica, Africa, Europe and the entire "mix-up, mix-up" world can visualize him in his vitality each and every Earth Day ...

... we naah go tired to see Bob face ...

... Jamaica, birth of a nation ...

... tempus fugit, to raass!, Jamaica is 50 years old this year ...

... that, of course, depends on when you start counting (insert reflective chuckle here), but, for the sake of this particularly lengthy rumination I'll go with the officially designated August 6th, 1962 shift-of-gear that transitioned The Land Of Wood And Water from tropical British sugar dependency to black, gold and green, post-colonial island autonomy ...

... at that time swinging jazz, dipped in The Caribbean, became contagious ska, infecting generations with the rhythmic fallout, which, as no respecter of persons, has spread like airmail around the world and now reaches back-a-yaad ...

... benevolence please Oh Jah, let there be nothing "back-ward" about this year ... Jamaica 50's hyped 2012 vibrancy mus' face forward ... the recent election of PSM as PM despite low poll turnout presents an opportunity for the People's National Party to step forward - a revolutionary concept in politics that ought not to be squandered by comrades among us ... and ourselves ...

... more Jamaicans live outside of Jamaica than live there - one of those "indisputable" facts I've been told my entire life ... I never doubted this for a second and fully understand that in '62, when sterling was our currency and British symbolism adorned all officialdom, Jamaicans, at home and abroad, were largely proud to "go public" with the assets of a blessed birthright ...

... everybody had a family day rafting in Portland didn't they? ...

... through the years there's been resistance to, and considerable angst over, the diminishment of  inherited traditional constructs and the emergence of comparatively reactive trends ... one need only tune in to the strain of familiar commentary, from anyone with an opinion about the direction of the country in general ...

... truth be told, Jamrock's advantages remain ever-evident, despite being subjected to perpetual pressures of attrition and learn-as-you-go management by a people determined to make their own mistakes ... or triumph uncompromisingly ...

... brother Bob famously remarked "Jamaica likkle bit small"... not at all a disparagment but a statement of reality ... although, this 4,411 square-mile geographic jewel will admit just as readily to being "likkle bit big," since Jamaica repeatedly punches above its weight in key international arenas ...

... this year there is palpable optimism Jah-mek-ya can start to rebound from an ignominious end to the previous administration ... the primary objectives being to further reduce declining homicide rates, improve import/export ratios and domestic productivity in service of a re-engaged public imagination, for the greater good ...

... change in Government, Olympic fervor, Independence fever - sounds like a perfect storm for a Jubilee to me ...

... Jamaican self-awareness and social fabric has had plenty of time to season, maintaining a dynamic cultural profile in the process ... tallawah! ...

... much of our national impetus is generated by survival strategies of ordinary people, begetting influential artistes, athletes, rebels, bumper crops of goodas and Beauty Queens ... in addition to pontificators, prognosticators, gangstas and arbiters of style ...

... this likkle country represents in all major fora, including the Arms Race if you count prodigal light weaponry and boombastic shotta imagery ... serious preoccupations which have become bellweathers for both national excitement and introspection ...

... as I write, hot JA film-of-the-moment Better Mus' Come puts bums in the seats at the prestigious TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto ...

... Jamaica 50 also brings a highly anticipated treat, Out of Many, One Documentary which casts a wide net for footage and fodder ... producers of estimable pedigree ensure this one will be crucial and Sly & Robbie are sure to have the riddim tight ...

... 50 years of political adolescence served up an explosion of Jamaica's cultural expression but also boosted a diasporic vanguard which emanates irieness from beachheads in divers places ... in some cases these beacheads virulently cater to the inner yardie, and bless our hearts, the swag is so sweet everyone wants to be a cowboy, at least enough to get by back home ...

... y'see, there is humility in independence too, it's the point reached when there is no outranking recourse ... "making it on your own" becomes raison d'etre, which carries a paradoxical sense of security considering there really is strength in numbers and no man is an island ...

... it's clear Jamaica sits at one of Earth's vortices, a place where geophysical intersects with metaphysical, imparting a yin-yang equilibrium to those who dwell therein ... it's no coincidence this tends to happen where dispersed African populations are rooted - places where humanity created crucibles to speed up forces of spiritual adaptation and soulful innovation ...

... Garvey ... Headley, Quarrie, Ottey, Holding, Dujon are names who, like VCB, Asafa and the bar-raising Usain Bolt inspire compatriots in myriad ways ... anyone who witnessed Lawrence "Yagga" Rowe's Sabina Park cricketing immortality is dismayed at his subsequent anti-hero status yet admiringly reverent of his flashing blade and exquisitely balanced execution at the crease ... lesson: flair and flaw aren't mutually exclusive ...

... but, Bolt apart, 'cos he truly looks like an annointed one, the next 50 years could struggle to live up to a halcyon past ...

... there are more steerhorns to grapple and duppy to frighten ...

... incompatibility of values on either side of an impasse over homosexuality and short-sightedness impeding the way of a progressive approach to ganja spring to mind ... still, as always in Jamaica, "if you cyaan ketch Kwaaku, ketch him shut," so look for us to transcend the lip-service detente and symbolic sutures of that ironic 2008 "common-wealth" summit, which could easily have been dubbed ... Nyabinghi meets House of Windsor in West Kingston ... no sign yet of the CD ...

... musical namechecks are endless ... Coxsone, Buster, U-Roy, Tubby, Scratch, Toots, Spear, Cliff, Tosh, Marley, Dennis and Gregory ... Shabba, Beenie, Capleton, Sizzla, Garnett, Etana ... Popcaan and on ... the soundtrack to the last five decades has been breathtaking, mercurial and provocative ... whether you appreciate how Reggae influences a collective flex, or are yet to, Jamaica's global imprint continues to spread out like Muta foot-bottom ... raggamuffin and tuff ...

... speaking of unshod griot Mutabaruka, I was fortunate enough to hear him read at the 2011 Asante Adonai Literary Lyme in St. Ann ... he didn't disappoint, sagaciously treating the term-of-the-day, "independence," to the analytical deconstruction we expect from Rastafari, our homegrown faculty of philosophy ...

... "in Depends" - as in incontinence  

"in de Pen" - as in incarceration (Zeeks, Dudus, Buju, Kartel ...)

"in dem pen, dense" - captivity en masse ...

... a luta continua ...

JAMAICAN GLOSSARY

to raass! - mild expletive used for emphasis
tallawah - stalwart, strong

goodas - nice girls
likkle - little

PSM - Portia Simpson-Miller (newly elected Prime Minister)

back-a-yaad - back home

duppy - ghost, spirit

irie - the state of feelin' goood

"if you cyaan ketch Kwaaku, ketch him shut (shirt)" - a proverb that advises improvisation when faced with a challenge

JA, Jamrock, Yaad, Jah mek ya - other ways to say Jamaica