Excerpts from letter from Africanus J in response to Carolyn Cooper's comments. Background: I had denounced her claim that Jamaica's motto was 'fictive'. She wrote this on August 6 - the 50th Anniversary of Jamaica's Independence - in the New York Times!
I am a black man, but Cooper does not speak for me. I do not share her views, because I think she is a troublemaker...
... Under British rule, Blacks were not the first slaves in Jamaica. The Irish were. Yes, the first slaves in Jamaica were Irish, but as they couldn't deal with the heat, African labour was sought and gradually Africans surpassed all other groups in Jamaica. Nobody got free passage in Jamaica. All races have paid their dues to lay claim to this beautiful country and Carolyn Cooper should spend her time trying to unite than divide. Although, it is tied up in complex history, the first Europeans to lay claim to Jamaica are Jews fleeing the Spanish inquisition. Sometimes, they are called Spaniards or have Christian names, but Jews were the first Jamaicans.
...From the diary of Lady Nugent, wife of the first British governor to Jamaica, we can see, at least, in one case, where blacks were cared for, within the historical context of the time. The Irish were the ones at the lower social scale, because they were Catholics. By the 16th century, the British had broken from the Catholic Church and didn't allow any of their subjects the right to recognize the Pope.
Anyway, be strong. You can either answer Cooper or ignore her. If you go to the Gleaner website, you can get an idea of how Jamaica was peopled.
Keep smiling. You are a true Jamaican and you have the history to back it up.
Romans 1 v 14, "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise."
II Corinthians 2:11,"I am not ignorant of the devices of the devil."