A bucket of blood
JAMAICA HAS always been the paradise that promises to make the next step into Heaven. But it has never successfully outdistanced itself from its dark side. I once sat with a small group of elders who grew up in West Kingston at one of its worst times in its history.
Some time before the bulldozers moved in to build houses packed with Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) voters, just at the little bump on Spanish Town Road was a coal yard. I can remember that coal yard doing brisk trade as the majority of Kingston’s poor were still into using charcoal as fuel to cook.
Beside the coal yard was the Queens Theatre. That I can remember. The elders remind me that before it was named Queens, the movie house was named Tivoli. They tell me that before Back O Wall was bulldozed it was named Bucket a Blood. It was said that a notorious badman (in the 1950s) in the pantheon of renegades and killers with political stripes from that geographic strip would always have with him a human skull.
Whenever he was in negotiations with other characters of the streets, he would sip and eat from the skull. That, of course, made him a most feared man as others thought that he was in direct contact with his African forefathers and duppies.
I say of all that because if one stands at the bus stop long enough, one specific bus will pass there many times. The raw evil that flowed out of the religious leadership of the late pastor Kevin Smith and what is being generated as evidence in the One Don Gang case at Circuit has similarities.
The head of t he split- off from Klansman, Andre Bryan, is obviously a man in love with chaos and one who gains more power the ‘hotter’ his sphere of influence is infused with the chaos he generates. Pastor Smith had pushed his congregants to their limits, and as they gave their all to him, he desired more. He wanted his bucket of blood. And, like the One Don boss, he wanted to see lifeless bodies made dead by his words.
Most of the vicious killers who operated in political zones of political exclusion would tell me about a lifetime of violence, quite often before they reached 10 years old. One man who used to operate with the late murderous Natty Morgan told me that he was being kicked from pillow to post. First by a mother who did not want him and a father who deposited him outside an uncle’s gate at seven years old. Without underwear.
The late Bashington Douglas (Chen Chen) was a notorious gunman from Homestead. When I spoke with him, his life was all about relatives being shot dead, wounded, loved ones perishing in arson attacks. All before he was eight.
At this stage, though, who among us would be seriously interested in exploring the mind and life of Bryan. Many people at street level simply want him to be put away. For a very long time. But unfortunately, many more are lining up to follow him.
REALLY, HENLEY MORGAN
It is real easy to understand why management consultant Dr Henley Morgan is admired by so many people. Leaving the safe social space of New Kingston and environs Morgan set up his business in Arnett Gardens, and from what I have heard, he has never had any major regrets.
According to Morgan, some years ago, the daughter of someone he knew was seriously ill and she was ‘healed’ by pastor Kevin Smith. We can either accept the word of Henley Morgan ,who is not a medical doctor, or we can reject it. Morgan is a devoutly religious man cloaked in Christianity.
He tells us that he opened doors for Smith and goes to bat for the power of Smith’s prophecy. Seriously, Dr Morgan. What great thing did Smith see and speak of before it befell all of us? Did he see the pandemic coming?
If he did and his power of prophecy was so powerful, why stop there? Where were the immediate vaccines? Dr Morgan does not usually attract controversy, so he can only conclude that a little part of Morgan’s conscience has moved him to explain that in opening doors for Kevin Smith, he may have burnished the tainted bona fides of a badly bruised and evil individual.
COST OF SICKNESS AND PAIN
Early last week, at a few minutes to eight in the morning, I was at a well-known hospital in the Corporate Area with an emergency that needed urgent attention. I had carried a friend there, and he was in terrible pain.
“Please pay at the cashier,” the nurse directed. While my friend was in a room being immediately treated, I paid the fee. Nothing to divest him of riches - $4,500.
As I was headed back to Accident and Emergency, I heard the sound of uncontrolled crying. An ambulance had just arrived, and it seemed that minutes later, the worst had happened. In about an hour, my friend was okay. The remaining bill? He could survive another $4,600.
Then he would need some laboratory tests. Those would be done later. Estimate of tests: $10,000.
There are some tests that the very poor simply pass on or they wait for years in the public-health system. Tests in the urology or endoscopy private labs may be considered ‘cheap’ at $50,000.
In the public-health system, it is not unknown to be given three years until a date is firmed up for such a test. So the poor man is given the date and he shows up, changes and goes to prep stage. Then comes the news. The specialist has been called away to deal with an emergency.
The poor man slowly puts back on his shirt and trousers and shuffles out of the medical compound. He is convinced that he is a mere pawn and the test will never get done.