Saturday, December 8, 2018

Buju Banton Returns to Jamaica


As a Jamaican living outside of the island, I can say I fully appreciate what it feels like fi come a yuh yaad, and I thought about that joy as I saw the images of Buju Banton arriving at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston last night. Nutten nuh better dan that at that moment. Suh welcome home breda Buju. Guh a beach. Enjoy it. Enjoy the love of your people who freely give it.



As I read some of the posts, I must admit that I get the complexity of the feelings. I too harbor some conflict when I think of the impact of drugs on our communities. But Buju didn't start this, the reality is that it is systemic, and he got pulled in.

In my own reflection, I've been thinking that folks like me who have a strong development agenda ought to be more aggressive about educating our creatives and others who have come into some money about better investment options. There is no guarantee that many will listen, but our failure is in not trying. Usain Bolt has ventured into the restaurant business and now real estate, for example. Outside of entertainment events, there are also options to invest in hotel and travel, agro-processing, transportation, light manufacturing, media, tech, and offering business financing/funding through the right partners. I can only list these few examples here, but the truth is that there are lots of options that can be pushed and our entertainers and other creatives must be courted by us to prevent devils on airplanes to take down some of our promise. Might we be failing some of our prodigies is not an unreasonable question? This could have been a very different story if Jamaicans could get out of our own way and past our boxed up prejudices, indeed the full has never been told.



Buju was a big part of the soundtrack of my growing up in Jamaica. At one point, it felt like he was releasing a new tune every week - and they were all good. Knowing what I now know about Jamaican music I can truly appreciate how lucky I am to have had that front seat from yaad.

At this point, I'll give Buju the benefit of any doubt I have because he has paid a price far greater than many of us will ever pay for our indiscretions. And who among us is without a few? Life is not an easy road.




I'm heartened by the demonstration of a kind of family love by some of my fellow Jamaicans, where members of the family know that a son might have done wrong, but yet they still reach into their hearts and welcome him home regardless, because ultimately a still yuh family and your humanity cannot bear to see them suffer. I eagerly await hearing and seeing the outcome of this experience from Buju himself in his music and his deeds.

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