Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.
by Ian A. Marshall
As I observe certain things daily in society, I often wonder if the average individual is aware of the experiences we partake in or if they are all wound up or programmed and plugged in to some proverbial matrix, destined to be like drones and reproduce the things I see. Let me clarify.
I watch as a society that calls itself an educated one and has a high literacy rate, force all its challenged students into institutions without resources to deal with the many environmental, academic, social, emotional and psychological problems that they face and at the end of their tenure in such places, pretend that we are surprised that these young individuals exhibit antisocial behaviour that manifests in self-hate, robbing, murders, bodily harm, suicides and disrespect for the ones that placed them there.
I watch as supposedly intelligent people tinker with the system that produces these aberrants, talk about “reform” and are prepared to just regurgitate nonsense like colonial duppies, rather than transform a system that is plainly vampiric, outdated, hateful, prejudicial and injurious to Black Barbadians in this modern age.
I watch as so-called sane people walk around dressed in masks, suits, stockings, wigs, jackets, ties, gowns and make-up, in sweltering heat, who drive expensive vehicles and live in exclusive, sometimes gated communities, “defend,” prosecute, incarcerate and profit from the dysfunctional behaviour of these individuals, all the while pointing out that they came from seven institutions that were created and maintained by them.
I watch as people refuse to cultivate the land that is around them to feed themselves real food but prefer instead to buy artificial processed junk that comes from outside and sold in institutions for profit, that is wholesomely pernicious to the bodies and minds of African Barbadians.
I watch as so-called “medical personnel,” fabricate, miseducate and distort reality, either knowingly or unknowingly, promoting palates of death, whilst our people die from preventable food driven illnesses.
I watch as Black women of all shapes and sizes shave off their eyebrows that God gave them and straighten the hair also that God gave them and instead paint on synthetic rubbish and wear their hair processed or with wigs, whilst enduring severe burns and trauma to their bodies all in the name of fashion and beauty.
I watch as big Black men sit at rum shops and on the so-called “blocks” and bars for a large part of their lives drinking and smoking substances that people of another complexion created for them but do not themselves use, yet we wonder why our birth rate has dropped and our non-communicable diseases are spiraling uncontrollably.
I watch as our so-called “leaders” increasingly alienate themselves from the people they promise and claim to serve through stupid class distinctions and by stealing their birthrights and giving them to others for profit and material gain. I watch and observe the deep schizophrenia afflicting our people and hope, that like the hero in the matrix, we can be all freed soon from our severe thrombosis.
