Mark Golding, president of the People’s National Party (PNP), expresses disappointment that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leadership has not condemned the racial remarks made against him by some of its members.
The opposition leader stated, “I am very disappointed in the leadership of the Jamaican Labour party that they tacitly encourage this kind of behavior because to me it indicates a lack of principle on their part.”
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Parliamentary Members of the Government Due to his race and skin color, the opposition leader has been the victim of a racially motivated onslaught spearheaded by Juliet Cuthbert Flynn and Everald Warmington.
Warmington claimed that a white guy should never hold the position of prime minister of Jamaica during a recent political gathering.
Warmington remarked, “We are descendants of the slaves. We nuh want nuh descendant of slave master come rule us again.”
“It’s better my dog bite me, than the white man dog bite me,” he noted.
During the 81st annual meeting of the JLP on November 24, 2024, Cuthbert Flynn used her platform to call Golding “Markie British,” saying that he is “a man who believes in holding chains around the around the neck of black people,” and that “him a tek picture a hold chain round man neck, the Rastaman neck.”
She referred to a picture of Golding captured in a quick skit at a PNP political gathering. In the picture, Golding is seen symbolically releasing a Rastafarian from bondage by holding a chain around his neck.
Cuthbert Flynn, however, did not give the picture any background information to its true definition.
But speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Golding reiterated that he is a proud Jamaican.
“I am a born Jamaican, I didn’t choose my skin colour – I am loyal Jamaican, a patriotic Jamaican and I am giving of myself to serve the people of Jamaica,” Golding noted.
He characterized the JLP members’ racist assaults as desperate.
“In a sense, I am flattered that all they can really attack me on is the color of my skin,” he noted.
The PNP leader, Mark Golding stated, “I don’t think any political leader has faced what I have been facing in this regard and it is because they see that the tide is turned against them, and the people of Jamaica are fed up with them – the dishonesty, the lack of integrity, and a government that pursues policies that don’t benefit people in a direct way, so people have loss hope, people want change.”
Golding is also worried about the potential effects on Jamaica’s reputation across the world of these racist comments made by government officials. Most so for a country that represents diversity among its people and is often referred to as a “melting pot” describing the different ethnicities in the population. The political trigger pulled by the two members of the JLP body goes against the country’s motto which states, “Out of Many one People”.
“Jamaica is part of the family of nations, we live in a world that is very connected, and other countries, other races of people are looking on and saying how it is that the Government of Jamaica is allowing a junior minister or a former minister, two MPs, to be using racial taunts and slurs as a source of attacking a political opponent – it’s very bad form and it’s unfortunate for Jamaica and it really needs to stop,” he concluded in his statement.
