PicoBlog

Growing up in Jamaica, I never really understood the notion of Jamaica being a Third World country. When I left for America in 2015 for college, I remember hearing that I was referred to as a 'minority' in America. Hearing this made me feel inferior, but I did not see myself as inferior while growing up in Jamaica. Though we had our issues with colorism and social class prejudices, I had never felt as though I was being systematically oppressed—not like American blacks expressed, at least. I recognize now that my young mind could not understand just how dark the realities were surrounding being black, and furthermore, being from a 'Third World Country.' As this feeling of inferiority began to envelop my mind, I pondered the question: “Am I inferior because of my race and country of origin?”

Before I jump into 'My 5 Reasons Jamaica is a Third World Country,' let's define 'Third World Country.'

Third World Country” was a phrase coined during the Cold War (1945-1990s) to describe countries that had low socio-economic realities, which resulted in high poverty rates, low levels of education, poor infrastructure, improper sanitation, and limited access to health care.

There were four categories: First World, Second World, Third World, and Fourth World. Nowadays, many consider these categories to be outdated and find the term ‘Third World Country’ to be offensive. The preferred term is ‘Developing Countries.’

When Jamaica gained ‘Independence’ in 1962, many believed that this meant Jamaica was its own sovereign nation, under the leadership of Jamaican authorities. However, what many fail to understand is that Jamaica’s independence was more of a partnership with the British. Until recently, the Head of State, or Queen of Jamaica, was the late Elizabeth II—yes, not a native Jamaican woman, but a British colonizing queen. This role of ‘Head of State’ was passed to her son, Charles III, upon her death in October 2022, making him the ‘King of Jamaica.’

What this all means is that, although the British relinquished their hold on Jamaica in terms of slavery and colonialism, they maintained their ties to the country and its people through political partnerships, contracts, and agreements.

Presently, in 2023, it is said that the Jamaican government has scheduled a referendum for 2024 to decide whether or not Jamaica should cut ties with the British.

Marlene Malahoo Forte, Jamaica’s Minister for Legal and Constitutional Affairs, said in an interview with Sky News: “Time has come. Jamaica in Jamaican hands. Time to say goodbye.”

Jamaica’s tie to the British means that, for decades, our country’s realities and societal goals have been shaped by and attached to the standards of the British. In many ways, I think this is one of the foundational reasons why we, as a country, are still ‘third world.’ As a country, we are trying to measure up to the ideals of a people/nation who are not akin to us. Their ways, their practices, their products, their infrastructures are not fit for our island, yet we try so hard to adopt their ways of doing things. This results in a country and people who are out of place in their own birth space and disconnected from the lands and root ancestral practices meant to upkeep the sacredness and naturalness of the land and its people.

This isn’t a commonly listed reason for why Jamaica is a Third World country, but from my perspective, it is another foundational reason why we have maintained Third World realities as a country and a Third World consciousness as a people. Our people have been disconnected from their root and ancestral ways of being and locked into a slave consciousness that keeps them operating in ways that reinforce our ‘Third World realities.’

Our people have forgotten the sacredness of our ancestry and root spaces. In truth, many of us have no clue where our roots lie here in Jamaica. Our standards are aligned with the British’s.

What would Jamaica be like if our people and ruling authorities maintained their connections to root spiritual practices and honored the land in alignment with the ways of our pre-colonization ancestors?

What would birth look like? What would our people’s health be like? What would home, family, and community look like if we, the people of Jamaica, and specifically Black people of Jamaica—descendants of the enslaved—reclaimed our root practices and ancestral ways of being?

While there is nothing wrong with choosing to adopt the ways of another country to improve our societal infrastructures, completely modeling and building society according to the standards of those who once colonized us and treated us as inferiors would only serve to further reinforce our lack of spiritual sovereignty as a people. These colonizers have succeeded in keeping us in a mindset of inferiority, as many Jamaicans view the British’s ways as superior to our own.

This is another reason that may not commonly make the list of why Jamaica is a Third World country, but based on my own experiences, I feel it is fit to mention. I truly believe this aligns with why we are Third World, both socio-politically and psycho-spiritually.

To birth in one’s sovereignty as a mother means to be able to choose and have control over how one brings a child into this world, and to have the right to take full responsibility for the outcome of that birth without being persecuted by the laws of the system.

To birth primally means to birth utilizing one’s own physiological capabilities, designed by God, without the aid of the modern hospital system and its resources.

Let it be known that it is well understood not all mothers will be able to birth without the aid of the medical system, but some mothers are indeed able to. Mothers who are able and desire to birth their children using only their God-given physiological abilities, and without man-made interventions, should have this choice lawfully.

As of now, in 2023, Jamaica has no laws to protect or support mothers who choose to birth outside the modern hospital system. Free-birth—birth that happens outside of the system without medical assistance and is completely controlled by the mother—is essentially seen as illegal in Jamaica.

While I object to this being seen as illegal, I do understand why the government may not or cannot trust a mother’s word that she will be able to birth her children primally and take charge of her birth experience.

There are two reasons that come to mind:

1) The high levels of illiteracy among our people, especially those coming from rural and low socioeconomic backgrounds.

2) The lack of suitable healthcare providers and resources for primal birthing.

Our state of being ‘Third World’ is not only reflected in our country’s socio-economic structures but also in the state of our people’s consciousness. While natural birthing is not new to Jamaica—as many rural people, including my grandmother, birthed in this way—this primal method of birthing is disapproved of by the government and medical practitioners due to the conditions of the environment and households where many Jamaican children are born. Often, and unfortunately, Jamaican children are born into impoverished, broken, and abuse-ridden households. Thus, the safest place to guarantee the successful delivery of a child, on a general scale, is seen as a public or private hospital.

However, I must add that there are many off-grid spaces in Jamaica where mothers are birthing outside of the system and have reclaimed their sense of sovereignty. These community spaces are usually nestled in the hillsides of Jamaica, away from the structures of modern living, and inhabited by people who have maintained their connection to their ancestral practices and turned their backs on the colonizer’s ways of living.

Still, the fact that there are no laws and infrastructures to support mothers who may want to birth primally does make Jamaica a ‘Third World Country.’ A country that takes away the rights of mothers is a country that has no trust in, and respect for, mothers. In essence, the country itself has fallen, for the mother is the portal into life, and if she is not upheld, the country has no foundation. Mothers are, spiritually, the shamans that usher the souls into the earth that make up society. Mothers must be upheld and empowered by their countries of origin and throughout the world. Until Jamaica upholds and respects mothers, we will continue to be ‘Third World.’

It's interesting that Jamaica is notoriously known for its tourist attractions yet is also considered one of the poorest countries in North America. Some may agree with this notion, while others will disagree.

In my eyes, however, the imbalance in wealth distribution and biases present in the job sphere here in Jamaica contribute to why Jamaica maintains the label of a ‘Third World Country’ and is classed as one of the ‘poorest countries’. These biases, present within our working industries and societies, and rooted in colorism and classism, greatly influence our country’s socio-economic state.

Jamaica is a segregated country, though the island’s motto is ‘Out of Many One People’. This saying basically expresses that Jamaica is a country filled with people from all races and cultures living as one. Yet, the reality is that one's skin complexion, bloodline of origin, and socio-economic origins are some of the key factors that determine how much ease one will have in navigating Jamaica and whether or not one will experience the harsh realities that make Jamaica a ‘Third World country’. In layman's terms, your status, wealth, race, and bloodline of origin all determine how good or bad Jamaica’s socio-economy will seem to you.

There are those in Jamaica who enjoy the luxury of being born into families that can afford a college education, to support the younger generations of the bloodline financially, can afford to eat multiple nourishing meals daily, and have a clean, safe home and environment. Then there are those who were birthed into bloodlines with high levels of illiteracy, lack of education and opportunities to go to good schools, lack of resources and wealth, an inability to do certain jobs, and/or a lack of access to these jobs that may bring in high incomes, and lack of necessary survival resources and skillsets, lack of community and support, and surrounded by violence and pollution.

Jamaica needs resources that support the education of our people in practices and with knowledge that align with their natural interests and skillsets. However, we have a caste-like society that determines that some jobs/careers are more valuable than others because they appear more ‘lavish’ and are systematically set to bring in higher incomes than the average job. It is assumed that if someone wants to be a farmer or builder or plumber, for example, that they are less than someone who desires to be a doctor or businessman. This should not be so, as not everyone is born with the same purpose within their bloodlines and societies. Resources must be available to support development in one’s preferred career field, and it should be taught within our homes, schools, and societies that all careers are worthy. This would help youths make their career choices based on natural interests rather than driven by the pressure to choose careers based on potential income.

Much of our socio-economic imbalances here in Jamaica are due to the state of life for those who fall on the lowest level of the socioeconomic ladder and their inability to find meaningful work that aligns with their skillsets (if they managed to build any) and pays them enough to sustain themselves and their families. Many are not able to afford the schooling that may allow them to work higher-paying jobs, which many of their peers coming from more financially privileged families have access to. Additionally, there are the color and class biases that may still cause one to be rejected in higher-paying career fields if one originates from a low socioeconomic area or bloodline.

Even though, as of April 2023, it was noted that Jamaica’s unemployment rate had reached an all-time low of 4.5% since our country’s independence in 1962, I still stand by my reasons surrounding the working industries and realities. Though more and more of the younger generation are gaining access to jobs that would not have been available in Jamaica for the elder generations, especially in relation to the virtual world, there are certain skillsets, knowledge, and resources that are required to work said job, and there are still so many young Jamaicans who lack these resources, skills, knowledge, and support necessary to learn how to properly capitalize on these virtual and modern job opportunities in a sustainable manner.

Lastly, I want to tie this all up with the number one reason why I think Jamaica has been stuck in a Third World category, if not politically, then definitely psycho-spiritually. It is not merely the fault of our governments or the fact that the British have maintained their rule over us in covert ways.

It truly boils down to the consciousness of our Black people and the complacency and lack of fight present in response to societal changes that have been made throughout time, changes that do not truly honor us as Black Jamaicans coming from the low socio-economic realities of our once-enslaved bloodlines.

This complacency present among many Black Jamaicans who say they yearn for better but do not know how to gain better is rooted in lack of knowledge or ignorance.

Hosea 4:6 states, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children."

Our people have been mentally and physically rooted in realities that colonization manifested for us. So many Jamaicans coming from low socio-economic realities only have access to knowledge that has been censored by colonial authorities and stripped of any trace of our truths as Black people. These cycles of Black pain and oppression have left an energy of oppression that keeps cycling throughout Black bloodlines, despite no longer being lawfully enslaved. This is known as intergenerational trauma and karma. Our Black bloodlines’ mentalities, shaped by colonization and slavery, have created thought patterns, habits, and beliefs that have trickled down the generations, keeping descendants trapped in automatically repeating cycles of poverty, self-sabotage, fear, mental and emotional stuntedness, and segregation within our homes and families. There are hardly, or perhaps no longer, any villages within bloodlines to work together to raise up a child and build up the young mind of one birthed into the harsh realities of their bloodlines that echo their pasts of colonization and enslavement. There also seems to be a disconnect from and understanding of The Most High God from a Black empowered state of being. Our understanding of God is rooted in the perspectives of our colonizers.

The traumas of slavery have affected our people to this day and have influenced how complacent our people are in response to societal infrastructures that have been created around us, infrastructures that do not serve to empower the mind, body, or soul of Black people—the descendants of the chattel slaves that built Jamaica. The Black Jamaican’s lack of self-love, obsession with British standards of living, low spiritual state influenced by religious indoctrinations, obsession with attaining and maintaining material possessions at any cost, disregard for holistic health, and addiction to feeding his/her cravings for the imported products not native to our lands, and oftentimes not good for the melanated (Black) body are among the many reasons why we remain in our ‘Third World’ category as a country: because the heart of our country—Black people—whose ancestral blood, sweat, and tears built this country, are stuck in mental and physical matrices of trauma habits.

In order to truly remove our label as a ‘third world country,’ we, as a people, must first raise our consciousness. The work must begin within. We must reclaim our soul sovereignty as Black people and rise from the low socioeconomic realities cast upon our once-enslaved bloodlines. This can only happen through an understanding and love of ourselves as Black people, rooted in a relationship with The Most High God and Mother Nature. We must make conscious shifts in our mindsets and slowly work towards better daily lifestyle habits. We must take accountability for our life’s trajectory. We must choose to see ourselves as sovereign Children of God—created with all the gifts and talents we need within us and having access to the spiritual support needed to change our lives and create realities not rooted in the standards of the British, but rather nourished by the ways of our primordial ancestors.

Jamaica might be classified as a third world country due to its present state of poverty and pain, rooted in the wounds left upon our people by the harsh experiences of colonization and slavery, but we can rise as a people—and as a country.

Third world realities manifest due to the ‘third world’ consciousness that has been rooted in our people. But, with God as our guide, we can rise..

Thank you for taking the time to read. I welcome your, respectful, thoughts and feedback.

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