From Buju to SOPE
BIG IT up! It is a strange irony that my favourite Buju Banton song sounds, on the surface of it, to be the single for which he was dragged over the coals. Being a typical African-Jamaican man, the description of “shorts hitch pon you body; ride up pon yo (bum)pa .... ; b...ty ride a wear, you affi inna dat!” had me transfixed. To date, kudos to the anuphiles, but that imagery spun by the Banton is a heterosexual’s notion of one of the greatest evidence of a creative God.
Yet, there is one line about that song that disturbs me up to today. Worse, it was followed up by another even more bothersome recording with a deeply disquieting hook. “Gal me serious, mi haffi get yuh tonight, haffi
get yuh body even by gunpoint.” In case there is any doubt about the rape subtext, he continued in the next stanza, “... mi haffi get yuh
body even by stick up”. Funny, hardly anyone raised any issue with the obvious felonious undertone. However, sometime later, the single anti-gay song that he recorded as a teenager became the one song that defined him. For the record, my position has always been that rape and homicide are in the same category.
True, after a hiatus and a Capleton-style epiphany, Buju was like a reincarnation of Bob Marley, a singjay hitting out against murderers and chanting positive and uplifting lyrics.
Then came Driver, where he sounded like a well-established drug dealer. My 2009 blog post lamented the fact that it seemed like taunting. Furthermore, it reminded me of the 1997 Niggas Bleed by Jamaican-descended rapper, the late Notorious BIG. Whatever the significance of his ‘fish scale’ comment, he was either a user or seasoned trader. Either way, the evidence piled up against him, and he was convicted.
Of course, I am happy to have the Gargamel back and even more gratified that he completed a master’s degree while incarcerated.
However, unless we believe that he honestly did not do the crime and was framed, he deserves no hero’s welcome because we must have zero tolerance for lawlessness, as we must to corruption and nepotism, all of which fuel crime. The powerful and most influential in society have a sacred obligation to obey all laws. I love Buju’s music and message, and I endorse the security forces. However, I neither support criminality nor do I back the use of states of public emergency (SOPE), where the parameters within the law are not met.
CONSENSUS IS PARAMOUNT
A SOPE must be instructed by Section 2 (b) of the Emergency Powers Act: “... action has been taken or is immediately threatened by any person or body of persons of such a nature and on so extensive a scale as to be likely to endanger the public safety ... . ” Beyond that, it requires a two-thirds majority.
On such matters, consensus is paramount. Not believing that a SOPE is necessary does not make me unpatriotic. My respected friend Kevin O’Brien Chang has decided to give his intellect a rest and speak with his heart when he raised the rhetorical question, “Are those who give aid and comfort to murderers by voting down measures that are reducing murder not committing treason against the Jamaican State, and, by extension, its people?” Such nonsense cannot be given a pass.
Indeed, where would you place persons who sound like they are wishing that the homicide rate would start rising again or who publicly warn Jamaicans not to come home? This hysteria crosses the political divide.
That the SOPE has been correlated with the reduction in shootings and murders in the parishes is irrefutable. However, is it the SOPE itself or the policing and military operations? Have we seen an increase in arrests, gathering of guns, and other information that will lead to a jump in prosecutions and convictions?
Yet, in all of this, I see a light. Both sides of Parliament need to recognise that this is beyond them and they might need to have a national entity guiding the process. Since they seem to be on the same platform, let’s put the SOPE away and love-sponge our national laundry.