Why is Portia saying this?

[Karl]

Cooper wrote her article in isolation. I have no idea if she made it up or heard it. You actually posted it on sept. 6.

As I said, this is an excerpt from portia's conference speech, which is on the PNP wewbsite. Feel free to go there and read it, as it is a bit long to post here. I actually took the time to read it to judge if the media reports were justifiable or not:

"Comrades I want to take a moment and speak on one of the most offensive things in their campaign - they regarded Comrade Patterson as a gardener despite his distinguished career as a lawyer and me as a maid. "

As I said before, I am not aware that this was ever a part of the JLP campaign!!!! First I am hearing about it and would love to hear what people in Jamaica have to say about this. It is afterall an inflammatory charge. Explosive actually!

...and, did Portia use such 'thoughts' earlier than Carolyn Cooper's article and or was such sentiments expressed in like manner or 'near guh suh manner' and when?

...and, where such sentiments expressed 'on the streets' and when?

The answer to those questions will help to frame the context within which Portia spoke!

[Gamma]

who said it and where did they say it? was it jlp campaign strategy or something overheard at a tea party?!

it makes a difference based on how it comes across from the speech. if it was indeed a jlp campaign then there should be an immediate public apology and retraction.

if not then there is another issue which is just as concerning and that issue is portia's declaration. this should not be left here. either way damning statements were made and ther has to be some accountability somewhere.

[Willi]

Yet Cooper's article and Portia's speech addressed the real problems of 'class warfare' and zeroed in on the factual. many are the Jamaicans who look down on the 'maids' and 'the yardboys'.

It appears to me that those attitudes that have so many of my fellow Jamaicans 'looking down their noses' at the 'maid' and 'yardboy' was at the heart of many of rthe JLP's ads...and contributed to Portia's and the PNP's defeat.

That looking down at our people I have had to comment on as the comments came thick and fast from many here who supported the JLP. Maudib, I think had some classic answers to my comments on the "looking down their noses".

We are all from slavery...some try to act as if it did not exist and try to give credence to their 'looking down their noses' by claiming we should not look back...we should not have an appreciation of from 'whence we came' and an understanding of root causes for, for example, a Portia Simpson-Miller's "doe-nt draw mi tung" ...and "I will not...(something) dirty, slimy....(whatever)"...much better they say to lie on the achievements of the as they said, "did nothing PNP"...and, make silly promises about "changing (economic) course" .

It is not even 1 day since the entire naming of Ministers and Senators and the new JLP Government are back-tracking so damn fast from some of their statements that it is as like a freight train coming down the tracks!

Let me make it clear:

What I want to know is simple. Was this a part of the JLP campaign or not??

That is the direct quote from Portia!

[Willi]

Thinking is one thing.

Portia said it was a part of their campaign. That is my point. I find that exteremely hard to believe.

[Mosiah]

Willi, yuh really think that Carolyn is the only one who is thinking this way?

[Karl]

As I said before, I am not aware that this was ever a part of the JLP campaign!!!! First I am hearing about it and would love to hear what people in Jamaica have to say about this. It is afterall an inflammatory charge. Explosive actually!

Yet Cooper's article and Portia's speech addressed the real problems of 'class warfare' and zeroed in on the factual. many are the Jamaicans who look down on the 'maids' and 'the yardboys'.

It appears to me that those attitudes that have so many of my fellow Jamaicans 'looking down their noses' at the 'maid' and 'yardboy' was at the heart of many of rthe JLP's ads...and contributed to Portia's and the PNP's defeat.

That looking down at our people I have had to comment on as the comments came thick and fast from many here who supported the JLP. Maudib, I think had some classic answers to my comments on the "looking down their noses".

We are all from slavery...some try to act as if it did not exist and try to give credence to their 'looking down their noses' by claiming we should not look back...we should not have an appreciation of from 'whence we came' and an understanding of root causes for, for example, a Portia Simpson-Miller's "doe-nt draw mi tung" ...and "I will not...(something) dirty, slimy....(whatever)"...much better they say to lie on the achievements of the as they said, "did nothing PNP"...and, make silly promises about "changing (economic) course" .

It is not even 1 day since the entire naming of Ministers and Senators and the new JLP Government are back-tracking so damn fast from some of their statements that it is as like a freight train coming down the tracks!

[Willi]

What is wrong with Portia using what, based on Carolyn Cooper's statements is 'word on the streets'?

In any case it would be interesting to know when Portia first used such statements and or similar statements. Your article neither shows original source from which Carolyn Cooper's and or former PM Simpson-Miller's words came. Your post, however, suggests that the basis for the quote are sources or is a source that pre-date Carolyn Cooper's and or Portia's utterances.

Cooper wrote her article in isolation. I have no idea if she made it up or heard it. You actually posted it on sept. 6.

As I said, this is an excerpt from portia's conference speech, which is on the PNP wewbsite. Feel free to go there and read it, as it is a bit long to post here. I actually took the time to read it to judge if the media reports were justifiable or not:

"Comrades I want to take a moment and speak on one of the most offensive things in their campaign - they regarded Comrade Patterson as a gardener despite his distinguished career as a lawyer and me as a maid. "

As I said before, I am not aware that this was ever a part of the JLP campaign!!!! First I am hearing about it and would love to hear what people in Jamaica have to say about this. It is afterall an inflammatory charge. Explosive actually!

[Karl]

What is wrong with Portia using what, based on Carolyn Cooper's statements is 'word on the streets'?

In any case it would be interesting to know when Portia first used such statements and or similar statements. Your article neither shows original source from which Carolyn Cooper's and or former PM Simpson-Miller's words came. Your post, however, suggests that the basis for the quote are sources or is a source that pre-date Carolyn Cooper's and or Portia's utterances.

[Willi]

As far as I know, it was Carolyn Cooper who wrote this theoretical charge against "uptown people". Now Portia ia claiming it was said on the campaign trail or otherwise in campaign utterances!!!

Here is an except from Portia's conference speech:
"
Comrades I want to take a moment and speak on one of the most offensive things in their campaign - they regarded Comrade Patterson as a gardener despite his distinguished career as a lawyer and me as a maid.

You know why it is most offensive, is that they considered both of those positions to be demeaning tasks. What I resent about it is that the PNP ended the days of maids and had given respect to housekeepers, with established associations representing their rights. That to all of us the gardener and the housekeeper are important persons, they have critical jobs to do.

Comrades, there is nothing wrong with being a ‘servant'. One of the things I recognized when I was Prime Minister is that I was a Servant Leader of our country and its citizens and not their Master."


Here is the article from the Herald:


Michael Manley, the Yard Boy and the Maid

By Carolyn Cooper

“Michael Manley give the Prime Minister work to the yard boy and the yard boy give it to the maid.” Don’t let the language fool you. That’s ‘uptown’ Jamaica speaking. The rise of black, working-class Jamaicans to the highest levels of leadership in this country is not a welcome development for some backward types. In their view, poor black people should know their proper place: in domestic service. PJ and Sister P will forever be seen as ‘yard boy’ and ‘maid’, no matter how much “most honourable” is put in front of them name.

And let me make it quite clear that I’m not ‘dissing’ ‘yard boys’ and ‘maids’ when I analyse the way in which our two working-class, black prime ministers are viewed in some conservative quarters. I understand that ‘yard boy’ and ‘maid’ are intended as insults by the monied class, who seem to believe that when they buy an employee’s time, they are also buying your soul. But they need to understand that the job you do does not define your identity.

Many helpers and gardeners have other lives that their employers know nothing about. They are pastors, deacons, choristers, social workers, bankers, parents, counsellors, administrators, mechanics, teachers, obeah men and women, entrepreneurs and on and on and on.

I know a helper who has a legal taxi on the road. But she continues to do domestic work because it suits her. She works for $2,500 a day, three days a week. That comes up to $387,000 per year, plus holiday bonus. It can put a lot of gas in her car. And it’s much more than what some office workers make.

I value the efficient services of a talented gardener, John Thomas, who has worked with me for some 20 years. We have never had a falling out. Once, when I tried to give him instructions, he airily told me, “I don’t know nothing bout your work and you don’t know nothing bout my work. So mek mi do my work.” I was firmly put in my place and all I could do was laugh in agreement.

John is one of the most intelligent people I know, capable of finding solutions to problems beyond his presumed area of expertise. He says he would have liked to be a lawyer if he had drawn a different card early in life. But when I hear him say “me just love my work,” I tell him that not many lawyers can say that with conviction.

I’ve been equally blessed with an intelligent helper, Joyce Walters, who does not have to be given instructions. She knows what needs to be done and just goes about her business. She is particularly good at washing, starching and ironing my linen clothes. And I don’t mean spray starch, but boiled starch. Joyce does a far better job than any dry cleaning establishment I know, local or foreign.

And she has mastered the art of washing with gloves. Like many a man who claims that condoms reduce sensitivity, she used to believe that gloves would make washing difficult. She now uses gloves to wash her own clothes. I haven’t been able to persuade her as yet that she can sit down and iron, but I’m still trying.

o I have maximum respect for all those gardeners and helpers who make life so much easier for those of us who simply don’t have the time to do our own domestic work and gardening. But I must contest the class prejudice that makes some ‘privileged’ Jamaicans feel that certain class a people mek fi do certain class a work an yard boy and maid must not bright up demself and presume that dem can manage prime minister work.

Class prejudice is at the heart of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) ads attacking Sister P. And class prejudice was at the heart of those offensive PNP presidential campaign ads attacking Sister P. Class prejudice cuts across party lines. So does gender prejudice. If you’re working-class and female, it’s double jeopardy.

Incidentally, those people who say they’ve lost respect for Sister P because she didn’t immediately evict from her Cabinet, her out of order rivals in the PNP presidential race, just don’t understand politics. In this case, the sweetest revenge is having your detractors acknowledge you as Prime Minister. It’s much better than getting rid of them. That’s why I think KD Knight resigned. He couldn’t stomach the thought that “the P” was now the PM.

And those people who think KD shouldn’t have come out now in support of Sister P’s campaign, again, just don’t understand politics. You cannot carry malice in this business. You have to know how to flex. Despite KD’s fears that Sister P’s popularity wasn’t enough to pull the party together and guarantee victory at the polls, it is clear that he was wrong. Sister P has demonstrated her capacity to lead her party with authority.

Aspiring Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, clearly would not think that he fits the “yard boy” profile. He is the self-proclaimed driver. He’s in charge, not doing anybody’s dirty work. But I can’t help wondering who is driving the driver. Who is bankrolling the JLP advertising campaign? Is it the same class of people who contemptuously dismiss “yard boys” and “maids” as their social inferiors?

Golding should remember that there’s another pertinent meaning for “driver”. The Dictionary of Jamaican English tells us that a driver is “the man, himself usually a slave, in charge of a gang of slaves”. So who is this (slave) driver really working for? The inheritors of the blood money of plantation slavery?

In his recent post-Dean ad, Golding, in full prime ministerial mode, talked about the resilience of the Jamaican people. But he used the third person, not the first. “They”. Not “we”. Golding distanced himself from the very people he aspired to drive. His language betrayed him.

When the “yard boys” and “maids” go to vote tomorrow, they will decide who can really manage the Prime Minister work. And the children and grandchildren of “yard boys” and “maids” who have now made it into the “respectable” professions have not all forgotten our roots. Many lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects, professors, bankers etcetera, still remember the pain of exclusion: “Nutten black no good”. Old story time.

Many of us will vote in honour of our parents and grandparents – the “yard boys” and “maids” who have made our own success possible. Respect due!
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