Jamaica’s Moral MajorityMay No Longer Exist

Jamaica is at a dan­ger­ous cross­roads. The moral foun­da­tion that once guid­ed our nation — a belief in God, coun­try, and the rule of law — is under relent­less attack by an insur­gency of law­less­ness. The coun­try was once shaped by a dis­ci­plined, hard­work­ing class of peo­ple — teach­ers, police offi­cers, doc­tors, cler­gy, and lead­ers — who instilled in their chil­dren a respect for author­i­ty and the laws that uphold our civ­i­liza­tion. These indi­vid­u­als, large­ly from rur­al and sub­ur­ban areas, believed in earn­ing an hon­est liv­ing, build­ing com­mu­ni­ties, and pro­tect­ing the integri­ty of the nation.

Yet, in stark con­trast, an oppos­ing force has emerged, root­ed in the urban sprawl of Kingston, St. Andrew, Montego Bay, and beyond. These areas, plagued by squat­ting, are breed­ing grounds for crime and law­less­ness, made pos­si­ble by cor­rupt politi­cians who pass leg­is­la­tion that enables land theft and crim­i­nal­i­ty. This group, con­di­tioned to believe that the gov­ern­ment owes them a liv­ing, has no respect for the rule of law. When hand­outs do not arrive, they resort to crime — vio­lent, ruth­less crime — to take what they want.

Even those who escape the depths of pover­ty and earn aca­d­e­m­ic suc­cess often car­ry with them a deep-seat­ed resent­ment for the nation’s laws. They may have degrees and let­ters behind their names, but their minds remain shack­led by the anti-estab­lish­ment rhetoric that fuels dis­or­der. Rather than advo­cat­ing for law and order, they become its most vocal crit­ics, using their plat­forms to under­mine nation­al stability.

Nowhere is this cul­tur­al decay more evi­dent than in the so-called “artistes” who emerge from the ghet­tos. Their so-called music is noth­ing more than a tox­ic, hate-fueled mantra that glo­ri­fies mur­der, law­less­ness, and anti-police sen­ti­ment. This pro­pa­gan­da drowns out the voic­es of the silent, law-abid­ing major­i­ty, who have remained pas­sive for far too long.

The ques­tion we must ask our­selves is this: Does the moral major­i­ty still exist? Or have they been over­run by a cul­ture that nor­mal­izes crim­i­nal­i­ty, demo­nizes law enforce­ment, and hand­cuffs the very peo­ple sworn to pro­tect us?

Police offi­cers, the last line of defense between civ­i­liza­tion and anar­chy, are rou­tine­ly assault­ed, obstruct­ed, and ridiculed while car­ry­ing out their law­ful duties. And yet, for decades, the Jamaican Parliament has refused to pass laws that would make it a felony to hin­der or obstruct police offi­cers in the exe­cu­tion of their duties. Instead of back­ing law enforce­ment, our politi­cians have cow­ered in the face of crim­i­nal agi­ta­tors and human rights activists who have twist­ed jus­tice into an unrec­og­niz­able, crim­i­nal-friend­ly ideology.

The result? A soci­ety where crim­i­nals believe they have a right to resist arrest. Where police offi­cers are forced to use greater lev­els of force just to uphold the law. Where women — who ben­e­fit from the pro­ceeds of crim­i­nal activ­i­ties — act as the front­line of law­less­ness, scream­ing and incit­ing mobs to attack offi­cers who are mere­ly doing their jobs.

The police force, already stretched thin, is left to fend for itself against an embold­ened crim­i­nal class and a par­a­lyzed leg­is­la­ture too incom­pe­tent or too afraid to act. Meanwhile, a cor­rupt judi­cia­ry con­tin­ues to hand down laugh­ably lenient sen­tences, embold­en­ing crim­i­nals even further.

Jamaica is at war with itself. The moral, law-abid­ing major­i­ty must decide whether they will stand up and reclaim their coun­try, or if they will remain silent and allow the law­less, crim­i­nal-friend­ly sub­cul­ture to ful­ly take over.

One thing is clear: the time for inac­tion is over. If Jamaica is to sur­vive, deci­sive action must be tak­en to restore order, pro­tect our police, and elim­i­nate the grow­ing can­cer of law­less­ness before it con­sumes the nation entirely.