“I Feel Like Mi Heart Gwine Burs’": Dominant Jamaican Athletes in Beijing!

I know this entry is late, but...!

On occasions like the absolutely amazing display of Jamaica’s phenomenal athletic prowess in Beijing, China on Saturday, August 16 and Sunday, August 17, 2008, I am reminded of that celebrated Jamaican poet Dr. the Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverly’s poem – Colonisation in Reverse. Among others, the popular Miss Lou poem extols the virtues of a colonial subject in classic revisionist mode, renegotiating the terms of the enervating relationship established between super power and satellite state.

Miss Lou’s poem underlines the trajectory of Jamaicans who go to Britain in droves in search of ‘greener pastures’, almost as a way of reversing the traditionally lopsided terms of the colonial relationship; in the process, simultaneously imbuing themselves, at least in Miss Lou’s universe, with the power to ‘tun history upside dung’. They subvert the oppressive embrace of an ambivalent ‘motherland’ (Britain) by insisting on purposefully acting outside the proverbial box. Their efforts are epigraphed in Miss Lou’s words:

Oonoo see how life funny, (Do you see how funny/ strange life is,)
Oonoo see de turnabout, (Do you see how it can turn around,)
Jamaica live fe box bread (Jamaicans have lived to exploit opportunities)
Outa English people mout’. (At the expense of the English.)

There is no room for hesitation or staying in the back.

Like the Jamaican exodus in the fifties, the Beijing bound athletes know only too well that there is no joy in pointless work, often unsuitable to their dignity. They, like Jane who sits and reads romance novels all day on Aunt Fan's couch in cool Englan', are much keener on standing atop the podium to receive all the accolades and glory that go with that on the world stage. Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart prefer another kind of fulfillment – winning races; setting records and standing aloft in medal ceremonies, while the rest of the world watches their dominant display.

In similar fashion to Miss Lou’s rupturing of the imposed silence(s) of subalternity through the technology of poetry, the Jamaican athletes literally ‘tun history upside dung’ in Beijing with their speed at the weekend! They not only took gold in the men’s and women’s short sprints – a first ever for us and the first in twelve years for any other country, Bolt, Fraser, Stewart and Simpson also set two separate though linked records.

Usain Bolt astonishingly trots to the tape in an astounding 9.69 seconds, notwithstanding the chest thumping. Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson, both place second; in the process, rounding out the top three spots of the Women’s One Hundred Metres! ‘I Feel Like Mi Heart Gwine Burs’, indeed! What ah (h)excitement! To add insult to injury, the severely distressed Americans in their petition to have a rerun of the race and or a bronze medal are firmly dismissed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF).

Miss Lou’s ability to think, speak and act is a definite sign of hers and her country men and women’s empowerment in the face of the super power dominance of colonial Britain. Indeed, her victory, though largely intellectual is nonetheless occasioned by an important device – her consistent use of humour to overcome the paralyzing effects of (colonial) oppression.

The Jamaican athletes, on the other hand, use speed as their weapon to defeat their highly fancied rivals. The Jamaican Olympic exploits are comparable to Miss Lou’s ‘re-verse-ing’ of the oppressive discourse of Empire echoed in the actions of Miss Mattie, Jane as well as all the other un-named, though fundamentally present Jamaican characters in the poem. By shutting out the Americans from the medal podium the wily Jamaicans give new meaning to being ‘likkle but (wi) tallahwah!’ Definitely awesome!

On another note, it behooves me to add that, even as we celebrate and are justifiably excited for the Jamaican athletes, Asafa Powell’s crushing disappointment in the same Men’s One Hundred Metres event is as painful as it is real. Like the early Jamaicans settlers in Englan’ who brave cold weather and difficult work conditions some of which often does not suit their dignity, Asafa must be content, yet again, with criticisms that he is unable to translate all that talent into meaningful hardware on the world stage.

However, lest we forget, please recall that it was because of Asafa’s exploits in the international arena of record making which have, in part, created space in our imaginations for daring to dream the impossibility of setting world records as a standard. Had it not been for Asafa’s own refusal to give in to domination we might not have fielded so many confident, young Jamaicans in their unrelenting pursuits of excellence in Beijing as well as elsewhere.

I recall, for instance, that after his first world record run many athletes at the local high school championships, some of who are now in reserve on the Olympic Team and before that the World Championships, indicated that he was their inspiration. Even now, the twinned emotions of disappointment and joy so feelingly expressed in the One Hundred Metres on Saturday continue to light the path to a new dawn. Many are asking, as a result of Powell’s exploits, however dubious, what else is required to become the absolute best athlete there is.

No doubt about it, Asafa Powell is a trendsetter, if even of a different kind. His story surpasses Track and Fields Athletics and incorporates instead the passion, struggles, expectations and nascent ambitions of the early settlers in their ‘colonisation in reverse’ memorialized in poetry by Bennett-Coverely. Powell is the first arrivant in the epic struggle of colonial resistance; that is, should we choose to see the use of performance enhancing drugs (PED) in this way. Embodied in his pain are the seeds of self growth so urgently needed to purposefully throw off the limiting shackles of enslavement and colonialism once and for all.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has aided the process by taking a decisive step in leveling the playing field in some way, it is now up to us to carry the baton all the way to victory. I am confident we will! Powell’s loss poignantly counterpoints Usain’s victory and underlines the twinned paradox of life in Jamrock. Damian ‘Junior Gong’ Marley reminds as a result that life here is gritty and problematic, which, in part, helps explain Miss Lou’s poetry insofar as the sentiments expressed therein become part of the push for a different take on colonial politics contemporarily.

Miss Lou’s ‘re-verse-ing’ of the terms of the colonial relationship act as a likely beginning point for discussion as well as understanding the power of Jamaica’s athletic genius and the vast potentials which reside in that largely untapped space. I am aware that Jamaican-American novelist and scholar Colin Channer has already given, through an analysis of Usain Bolt’s running style, a treatise on the theme of flight in Jamaican culture and its significance to our current Olympic exploits. It is not my intent to rehash this debate, necessarily. However, what I wish to highlight is that the texture of our celebrations must never loose sight of the historical dimensions, both on and off the field of play.

By making a comparison between Miss Lou’s ‘Colonisation in Reverse’ poem as well as her own attempts in that regard; that is, through the act of writing about this process in Jamaican language, I wish to underline the extent to which Jamaican athletes are conducting a similar campaign now in Beijing. In their dominant display at the weekend, the young Jamaican athletes many of who are trained and groomed locally, have eloquently displayed their refusal to be cowed by the politics of American/ super power dominance. Their rejection of the notion of sitting still and or bringing up the rear for other more established and resource rich countries is, therefore, especially commendable. This crop of Jamaicans prefer instead to run, and from the front to boot. Theirs is not a campaign about second fiddle. In fact, it is not a campaign about fiddling at all!…Jamaica has come of age!

Gone are the days when athletes were said to pay their own way to represent Jamaica in big meets. Hopefully, gone too is the lack of an appropriate ‘local programme’ to cater to the needs of those ‘stars’ who were not fortunate enough to gain scholarships to go overseas. Through the efforts of Glen Mills, Stephen Francis and others we have produced world record holders and Olympic champions right here at home. A clear indication, if ever there was one that there are good things going on in Jamaica. Like the ‘Lightning Bolt’, the colonized subject of the Jamaican imagination is uncontainable in its ebullience and energetic in its consummate display of world class abilities. Lead by the new generation of Jamaican athletes, especially those in Beijing China, most of who are in their early to mid twenties, we appear to have a different conceptualization of time and space. Our play ground has widened and we are taking it ‘to di worl’!

Hardly surprising then is Bolt’s continued dancing even while the metal filled mouth of Shelly-Ann Fraser smiles back at us with broad abandon. There is no reticence here. The colonial dominance of the Britain and America are as much a target as anything else. There are records to be set, gold medals to win and upsets to happen. That cannot be done from a spectator position.

We will not soon forget Merlene Ottey’s many near misses at the Olympics and World Championships and the unpleasant moniker ‘Bronze Queen’ so unceremoniously hinged to her by her critics. As the ‘perennial bridesmaid’, Ottey bears the dubious distinction of being caught at the crossroads of a traditional post colonial dialectics of struggling to defy being overwhelmed by super power dominance, albeit unsuccessfully. Shelly-Ann Fraser and before her Veronica Campbell, on the other hand, are the modern day reincarnations, then, of Ms Lous’s vision of the overturning, if not outright rejection of the colonial politics of (super power) domination. Their victories, like Bolt’s and the two other Jamaican silver medalists in the Women’s One Hundred Metres in Beijing, China are emblematic in many ways of the overthrow of the might of the giant Goliath by the seeming inconsequential shepherd boy David, both of biblical renown.

Bob Marley tells of the ‘small axe[s]’ can fall a ‘big tree[s]’; in the process, reminding that where as size can be threatening, in the overall scheme of things it is really the size of one’s heart and the stomach for victory which matter more. Here, the big tree is, without question the ‘great Americans’, with their long sporting traditions often presumed by some to be of questionable excellence, which is toppled by the seeming inconsequence of small Jamaica at the weekend.

Like the Jamaican Miss Lou who is embodied in her work in many ways, specifically as colonial subject in her refusal to sit still and to be dominated by the tyrannical regime of colonial politics, our athletes are also victors in the international narrative of sporting excellence. They, like Miss Lou in her ‘re-verse-ing’ of the Standard (English) through the use of the Jamaican dialect have made us all proud to be called Jamaicans!

PS: Congratulations to Shericka Williams on winning silver in the Women's Four Hundred Metres!

PPS: Photographs courtesy of the Intenational Ammateur Athletics Federation Website: (www.iaaf.org).

1. Asafa Powell and Lindell Frater of Jamacia comfort each other after finishing outside the medal placement in the Finals of the Men's 100M in Beijing, China.

2. Shelly-Ann Fraser reacts after winning the Women's 100M Final in Beijing, China.

3. Shelly-Ann Fraser in full flight!

4. Usain Bolt celebrates winning the Men's 100M Finals in Beijing, China.



...More later!

Blogging for the BBC and the Xtra Stress!

Recently, I was invited by the BBC World Service to be one of two weekend editors for the World Have Your Say 'Blank Page', a blog, where people from all over the world are invited to make entries on various topics of interests. Katharina, my co-editor, from the Netherlands and I ratcheted up a record number of entries for that weekend – a grand total of 173, after an acknowledged shaky start. We were both, unavoidably, absent for the opening segment of the blog – work and family commitments. Katharina had gone to dinner with her family, whereas I was late in getting back from work that Friday.

Secondly, Xtra, the gay and lesbian newspaper in Canada invited me to be a source in one of their stories which looked at the planned boycott of Jamaica’s tourism industry by Canadian gay rights groups. Excited at the prospect of speaking to an international audience about elements of my academic research which, in part addresses this issue, I was sorely let down when the story was printed. Despite my original request and repeated efforts to get them to change this part of the story, I was misrepresented as a Jamaican Government Spokesperson on the subject.

I was attributed the dubious distinction of being “a public relations officer with the Jamaican Government”, which though true, had nothing to do with the contents of the interview. They eventually altered it to say “but stresses that he does not speak on behalf on the Jamaican Government…” Still, dissatisfied I forwarded a letter of complaint to the newspaper voicing my concerns. I recieved a response from one of the editors offering to edit my letter, as it had gone over the three hundred word limit.

I later recieved an email from a colleague and friend in which I was quoted in another story by the newspaper. This time, however, I was cast in the especially unflattering role as flippantly denying the reality of homophobic violence in Jamaica. Portions of an interview completed with an editor from the newspaper here in Kingston were used, despite my wishes to contrary. Indeed, I was also misquoted in the story. Again, I sent another letter of complaint as well as explanation of my thoughts on the matter, elements of which are included in this entry below.

Before leaving this subject, I feel it important to make two related points. Firstly, the title of this piece is intended to draw attention to two of the reasons that I have not been able to update my blog in the last month, as well as to emphasise the growing importance of discussions about sexual rights and freedoms as crucial parts of identity politics, currently. Of course, I can jokingly refer to the Xtra issue as "stress", almost by way of making light of the matter.

However, the gravity of representation in the current dispensation is real. In fact, it is downright political! Hence, I am not very keen on seeing this as a simple matter to be laughed away under the meaninglessness of a minor inconvience. Much to the contrary. My interests in the stories/ issue go well beyond the "stressfulness" of the matter to more directly target questions of trust in the context of media representations, especially where people are keen to (mis) judge you even without knowing who you are.

It may well be argued that there is no need for any more knowledge in a context where most Jamaicans seem to rally round certain expressed signifiers of identity, in this instance, the defence of the national identity as heterosexual, male, working class and black, for the most part. Hence, I am making this entry as a way of addressing some of the key issues which impact this (Jamaican) identity as well as how it is percieved, both locally and abroad.

Sexuality in Jamaica is a, largely, political issue given the complex ways in which race, class and gender intersect in its construction. (Homo)sexuality, as a result, is much more than a mere question of who one sleeps with but also an act of political affiliation. Discussions of same which do not adopt a condemnatory attitude towards male homosexuality, especially, runs the risk of being considered pro-homosexual and, by extension, opens one up to victimization. The rampant homophobia expressed in Dancehall popular/ culture, specifically, ensures the active policing of the boundaries of sexual desires, accordingly.

This does not mean there are no homosexuals here. Rather, that Jamaica is represented in our imaginations as a space in which heterosexuality is homogenised national identity. All Jamaicans are the equivalent of Bible thumping, religious zealots with a penchant for bigotry. Our raison d’etre is the persecution of all that is different which is also considered ‘un-Jamaican’.

The Xtra reports to which I refer, partly elide these concerns and seek to construct Jamaicans and 'Jamaican-ness', by extension, as a homophobic monolith. That the reporter, in the original piece, felt no pains in revealing my professional credentials, notwithstanding the fact that I had asked him not to, clearly highlight the contempt with which we are held. You are, in other words, guilty by national designation/ association. Beyond the clear breach of trust in terms of the revelation of other parts of my identity and the subsequent efforts to construct me as flippantly disregarding such ovewhelming hatred, these two incidents point very clearly to the troubling nature of these issues, currently. Any discussion of which, must necessitate common understandings.

I have long felt that a meaningful discussion of sex and sexuality in Jamaica is urgently overdue. Such a discussion cannot countenance the traditionally one-sided diatribes in which poorly disguised bigots articulate their own aversions to other expressions of sexuality, even while claiming the 'need' for tolerance. There can be no tolerance where there is no understanding, empathy and human compassion. Power struggles are not a sufficient substitute for real dialogue on this very important topic. Freedom has to encompass all members of civil society, a point I was especially careful to make to the Xtra editor who interviewed me in Kingston. By which means, one section of the population cannot be considered free and able to move about while others must operate under the cover of darkness, all the time fearful of infringing on the laws of the land.

Conversely, freedom also means respecting the rights of others, notwithstanding that we may sometimes be in disagreement. The ancient colonial laws in Jamaica which thinly veiled the xenophobia of the white colonial elite who drafted them, centuries ago, must be removed from the books as a matter of urgency. In their place, the strengthening of the institutions of civil society must be such that the notion of human rights are expanded beyond a mere question of "freeing unjust criminals" and granting rights to "batty man", et cetera.

The efforts to recapture Victorian manners and custom, through the bastardised versions of 'Britishness' enshrined in parts of the Jamaican constitution must go. We must approach the twenty-first century with readiness and purpose. Political apathy and cultural disaffection cannot be the course of action. It is not 'business-as-usual'. The effects of the colonial legal system, which it may be argued, were more about reconstructing Britain as an imagined space of desire, rather than a real society in which non-Britons (also) lived constructed ‘the natives’ as insignificant beings unworthy of rights and freedoms. These institutions must be abolished. We must come into the twenty first century and join the global struggle for human dignity in the post-slavery, postmodern era. We need to get with the programme!