Mark Wignall: Jamaica has long become a scary place

Jamaica has long become a scary place.

1. This morning I park outside an ATM at Chancery Street in Meadowbrook. I have a hard working Jamaican (ducoman) in the passenger seat.
2. As I exit, the ducoman has opened his door and a young man passing between the tight space between parked cars says to him, ‘Pussy, if yu did mek di door touch mi, mi ram mi ratchet inna yu.’
3. The ducoman (in his 50s) responds and says to him, ‘Di door neva touch yu mi youth. What wrong wid yu?’ The young man is opening and closing the ratchet knife and says, out of the blue, ‘Mi a PNP, yu tink mi fraid fi kill yu bway!’ And he is in an area controlled by the JLP.
4. I loudly implore the ducoman to back off and say to him, ‘Don’t push no fucking fight on my time.’ The young man turns out to be a ‘ductor’ on a small bus.
5. Half an hour later I am at a gas station in front of 100 Lane. As the female attendant finishes she hails up a friend with, ‘Batty bway. Gwey, yu a JLP!’ And that is a friendly greeting.
6. I swear I no longer recognize this country. To survive we are all forced to bristle like the lowest of animals.
7. This is not politics. This is many of our people sinking into an abyss of ignorance and violence and seemingly believing it is quite OK.

Posted By Mark Wignall on Facebook