Anyone who has lived in or extensively traveled around Jamaica knows about discrimination of many types that occur all the time there. From a "tribal" societies in mother Africa to the "garrison" politics, Jamaica is fractured along many fault lines. Be it PNP vs JLP or Waterhouse vs Seaview etc. the fractures only multiply and get wider from there.
"Blakkas", "Brownings" bleaching etc., color along with the socio-economic level (ghetto vs "uptown": "country" vs "town") all give further reasons to discrimate.
The problems have no real world solutions expecially from a tourist standpoint. We can only witness and comment on what we see but that is only the tip of the iceberg of what is really happening. I was married to a Jamaican woman and lived in what is called "ghetto" (Seaview Gardens) so I had a chance to live it and get a little better perspective of the problem but have never understood exactly why Jamaicans seemed to want to hold their boots to someones neck in their dealings with each other.
They say not to discuss religion or politics....well I can certainly understand that logic after living in both PNP and JLP areas. I would think that discrimination is also difficult to discuss. It is hard to have a productive discussion when so many points of view are biased towards being the discriminated one or siding with the discriminators.
A friend said, "One trip to Jamaica will open your eyes and too many trips will shut them"
Peace and Guidance
