‘I am not fighting our culture’ - Radio personality blasted for views on carnival

In an effort to share her opinion about the inappropriateness of Jamaica’s carnival celebrations, radio personality Ramona Samuels posted comments under The Gleaner’s Instagram post about Xodus Carnival’s band launch.

She expressed: “Time to boycott carnival once and for all! This oversexualised daytime activity is not for children,” which was countered by other social media users, who said that Samuels was fighting against local culture.

Samuels, creative director of the Excuse Me Driver initiative, which was originally developed out of a need to spread awareness about protecting the youth against lewd music in public spaces, argued that carnival was not part of Jamaica’s culture.

In her comment, she also stated, “Jamaica needs to end this nasty culture of soca as well as clean up ‘our culture’ dancehall. Not a good look on our minors, no way at all.”

Speaking to The Gleaner, Samuels reiterated that carnival was brought here from Trinidad.

“Byron Lee fell in love with it and saw it as a way to bring the people together for one day of fun, no crime, no fuss, and back then it was family oriented. But it has developed and grown into an oversexualised activity,” she said.

Responsible censorship

Through the Excuse Me Driver initiative launched in August 2019, she has been educating the public about employing responsible censorship which not only includes where and when explicit music is played but the activities to which we are exposing children.

It has received the support of entertainers such as Anthony Cruz, Shane O, Gyptian and Stacy Xpressionz, sharing the message to play the clean versions of hard-core music even if it is their own, especially in the presence of the youth.

“I don’t want a person to think I am fighting something that is enjoyable, nor am I fighting our culture because I, too, am a lover of music and I play Jamaican music, reggae and some dancehall on the radio. But I am just saying some things are not appropriate for daytime family activity anymore; and we are not only affecting our youth but we infringe on others with the big loud music passing by with revellers carrying on in the most sexual way,” she said.

She opined that the revelling in carnival is “sex without the act of sex”.

“Really and truly, my concern is the disregard of people and lack of respect. This is how it all started, from I asked one driver to turn off the explicit music in a taxi for which I was paying for the service so that my daughter would not have to hear it, and it was not until after disrespecting me that he decided to turn it off,” she said.

Samuels anticipates that the platform will continue to gain support so that she can continue to shed light on the issues as a means to demonstrate that there is urgency to clean up the culture.

“The word ‘driver’ is now a broad, umbrella term speaking to all adults, promoters, businessmen and women, teachers, and the list goes on. We are in control because we are the leaders, and when children see us playing derogatory music and acting in a certain manner, they mimic our behaviours. It is not morally acceptable and a line needs to be drawn,” she said.

stephanie.lyew@gleanerjm.com