The politics of race in Jamaica
The use of race to politically mobilize the Black majority, connect with them, and frame opponents as the “racial other” is an old strategy which frightens the Brown and White local and overseas power brokers. However, these strategies are not destabilizers. Jamaica is one of the most stable plural democracies in the Global South. Race can be used to destabilize the country. However, Jamaica is far from this point.
Culture, Pan-Africanism and Black Power
Edward Seaga of White Arab ancestry, prime minister of Jamaica between 1980 and1989, had connected with the Jamaican people through a number of activities which showed empathy with the history and culture of the masses. An anthropologist, he studied Jamaica’s folk culture in the early 1950s with a focus on the role of Revivalism, a religion practiced by many in the island. During his tenure as Minister of Development and Welfare, in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government of the 1960s, he facilitated the return of Marcus Garvey’s remains to be buried in Jamaica in 1964 and was also integral to his being declared the first national hero. These actions gave him more legitimacy among Jamaica’s Blacks. The (JLP) Government further cemented their support base by inviting Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, revered by Rastafarians, to visit in 1966.
However, the JLP Government feared the rising Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and banned books dealing with Blackness from being brought into the island. Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian, lecturer at the University of the West Indies and Black Power activist was also banned from returning to Jamaica in 1968 because he was considered “dangerous”. Another casualty of this stance was Elijah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam (NOI) who was also prevented from visiting Jamaica.
Pan-Africanist and lawyer Dudley Thompson, worked with Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya on his trial by the British before he entered local politics as a leading member of the People’s National Party (PNP). Thompson, using Kenyatta’s moniker dubbed himself the “burning spear” but could not unseat Seaga in Western Kingston in the 1967 General Election. President of the PNP Norman Manley saluted Black Power in Parliament to tap into the support of militant Black urban youth.
Manley and Blackness
Michael Manley, whose physicality was white, succeeded his father Norman as PNP president and became prime minister (PM) in 1972 as a result of a masterful election campaign which captured the imagination of the people. Strategies included the co-option of the popular Rastafarian slogan “the word is love”; leveraging of the powerful symbolism of “the rod of correction” which, on returning from an extensive tour of Africa, he claimed that Haile Selassie had given him and ths he would use in correcting the ills of the country; the appropriation of the moniker “Joshua” (deliverer) to prevail against PM Shearer whom the PNP framed as Pharoah (the wicked King). All were presented on the PNP’s “better must come” platform. These tactics were boosted by Manley’s compelling personality and marriage to the popular Afro-wearing, Black broadcaster, Beverly Anderson, further endeared him to the masses.
Following his electoral victory, Manley visited Tanzania in 1973, and Julius Nyerere visited Jamaica in 1974 both united by nonalignment, Pan-Africanism, and African freedom that threatened the White power structure. Manley spoke the people’s language when it was politically expedient. He recognized the growing influence of feminism and gender equity and asked some university lecturers to select a Black national heroine. Thus, Maroon leader Nanny became Jamaica’s first female national hero. Louis Farrakhan and Muhammad Ali of the NOI spoke at the national stadium as a demonstration of his support of Black advancement.
Declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) files of the 1970s show that Henry Kissinger, United States Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977 and National Security Advisor from 1969 to 1975, was upset that Manley’s policies were uplifting Blacks. Manley supported the liberation struggles against White rule in Africa. The MI-6 psychological profile of Manley requested by the US Government said he was “a naïve do-gooder but he was certainly not a communist”. Therefore, the CIA’s sabotage of Manley’s government, leading to his defeat in the 1980 General Election, had to do more with race than ideology.
Religion, leadership and racial identity
Seaga became PM in 1980 and was strategically close to Kumina practitioner Queenie and religious leader and globally renown intuitive artist Malichi “Kapo” Reynolds, relationships which benefitted him politically. However, Seaga banned Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam from speaking at mass meetings in the 1980s as his message of Black unity could have possibly isolated some Blacks from Seaga. Farrakhan visited privately.
Many Blacks were euphoric when Nelson Mandela visited in 1991 on the invitation of PM Michael Manley. After Manley resigned as PM in 1992, the PNP said it was Black man time now and framed P.J. Patterson as the fresh prince to delegitimize Seaga. Selector Dukie Hamilton regularly introduced Patterson at PNP campaign meetings with Nina Simone’s iconic Young Gifted and Black. Patterson, at one meeting, told the crowd that if he came into the crowd, he would be indistinguishable. Patterson also renamed (blackened) national symbols, built Emancipation Park, reinstated Emancipation Day as a national holiday and empowered the Black managerial class.
The PNP, unlike the JLP in the 1980s, allowed the popular Farrakhan to officially visit in 2006, 2011, and 2012 for the independence celebrations, and 2014 for the Million-Man March anniversary. He also attended Michael Manley and Dudley Thompson’s funerals.
Seaga at a JLP meeting during the 2002 General Election campaign, symbolically placed PNP scandals in a black scandal (plastic) bag to attack Patterson. This backfired as the Black intelligentsia and public commentators said that Seaga was racist because he twinned Blackness and scandals in his speech. Shearer, in support of Seaga, inflamed the situation by stating that progress in Jamaica had not occurred under the Black man’s rule.
Politicians continued using African leaders as racial identity symbols. Simpson-Miller invited Thabo Mbeki of South Africa in 2012. Holness invited Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya in 2019. Holness visited Namibia in 2018. He also honored President Medina of the Dominican Republic (DR) with the Order of Excellence in 2017. The PNP criticized Holness because some 229,000 Haitians were deported and voluntarily left the DR between 2015-2017 because of Medina’s anti-Haitian animus.
Popularity and race
Mark Golding, a White Jew, was elected to lead the PNP in 2020. The JLP’s Nigel Clark called Golding Backra Massa (slave master) in Parliament. Golding subsequently faced racial attacks from the JLP’s Everald Warmington and Juliet Cuthbert during the November 2024 by-elections. The JLP received a lot of criticism for this position and the Private Sector Organization asked the JLP to apologize to no avail. The race card, as an old staple of politics, is more likely to work for the PM and his party when they are popular like Patterson and the PNP were in the 1990s. Race will not work now for Holness and the JLP because they are unpopular based on recent polls. Golding’s greatest political asset is his Black wife who should campaign with him.
Christopher A.D. Charles Ph.D. is a Professor of Political and Social Psychology at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
