This post is long overdue.  

On October 2, at 4:00 p.m. all over Jamaica  we gathered in civic duty to pay our respects for our departed Head of State Queen Elizabeth II and to pray for our new King. 

We affirmed the status quo, of our poor political and social systems instead of using these services to encourage a better Jamaica.  

Many stand on the side of ‘good’ schooling, money, and social standing.  We berate the monarchy for not helping us, for not apologizing for slavery, for not doing enough in 1962. We clamour for reparation and say more should be done.  Yet what have we done as Christians?  What are we doing as political leaders and ordinary citizens for a better society and a better quality of life all round? What are we doing to respond to human need, to transform injustice and to challenge violence? 

We are no different from ‘Queeny’, as we pay lip service to those in need.  But we are not bound by the same oaths and laws as the monarchy who do nothing except on the recommendation of her Prime Minister. Yet we choose to for the most part have our verandah speeches and we are all sympathetic, but there is no action. We prefer to watch the crime rate spiral out of control and employ security guards to protect us. We want no national programme that may (operative word) inconvenience us in the short term, but which will help solve our problems in the long term. 

As church we have the network and ability to be different, but we lack the will. Church was born out of being different. In my own denomination, for members of the Anglican Communion, Thomas Cranmer- Prayer Book writer, and others died because they dared to be different.  Bogle, Sharpe, Nanny and the Maroons (who I believe the British samfied), Gordon, Bedward, and Garvey, dared to be different and affected people’s lives positively. The self-serving platitudes of the Church and those with political influence do little to stand up for our oppressed people and/or living without dignity.  

Our people remain landless, forced to live in informal settlements. 19.3% live in poverty (STATIN 2017) 

Sixty years after independence illiterate persons still graduate from high school, and we boast an 87% literacy rate instead of 90 and over like some of our Caribbean relatives. Our educational system is segregationist: all schools do not have access to the same resources they require to do well. Some children will never be able to attend some schools, in the same way, if you live in a certain locale you can’t have certain jobs.  We still have schools on shift; whole communities with no access to internet and children expected to use it.  Children still go to ‘grung’ (agricultural fields) on Fridays instead of school, and in many rural schools, only half of the children attend during the last week of term. 

We have a serious problem with sexual predators and incest, yet no treatment. In a highly sexed society good moral standards are not being maintained. It is just sex, and not our business when a man gets involved with a child under 17. 

The indiscipline in our society is second to nowhere else as far as I am concerned.  Our drivers do not observe the road code.  

Queen Elizabeth II has died! Long live the King.  Our nation deliberates becoming a republic. May we recognize that changing our status makes no difference if we do not change our attitude to nation building.  It is an opportune time for us to set our face to a better Jamaica as Jesus did towards Jerusalem in Luke 9:51 Our task has always been and more so now to work at fixing our problems making sacrifices and providing our citizens with the ability to live their best lives “so that Jamaica may under God increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity” and advance the whole human race.  

#Queeny, #Civicpride, #nationalpride,