Dennis Minott | A ‘watch night’ pledge to welcome and do justice in 2024

We ponder at the close of an annual holy celebration the birth of a child. Not a child born posh in a stush place, but one nestled in an animal’s manger. Do note that a manger is a low, open container from which cows, horses, and other animals feed when indoors. Jesus was the child of an unmarried “baby madda”. Mary and her “gentleman” were fleeing for their lives soon after that first Christmas. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, entered the world shortly before he was targeted and became a displaced baby boy, toddling to seek refuge in Egypt from the VIP Herod’s murderous decree. It was cold in the Governorate of Bethlehem. As I write this, it is a forecast 47 degrees Fahrenheit in night-time Bethlehem and in daytime December 31 New York City and could rise to 54 degrees Fahrenheit on New Year’s night in Palestine. Even in north-eastern Egypt, it was a cold place, too. No wonder the Baby Jesus remained wrapped in swaddling clothes. Out o’ door, di place (Sinai) did cowl!!

They did not cross Sinai in the 70 minutes of comforts in a wide-bodied Emirates jetliner. They covered the arduous 620-mile desert journey by unpaved back road, possibly tucked away somewhere in or on an unheated cart. Their destination was the Nile Delta, where earlier, Jews had found refuge. Abba Joseph was also a dreamer in Egypt.

From the cold and sandy desert, Egypt welcomed poor baby boy Jesus and family, though ‘illegal’ refugees – Matthew 2:13–15. His halo was not yet formed.

This story echoes deeply in our present context, especially here in Jamaica. For as Joseph and Mary huddled in fear, so, too, do Haitian families today who cross the stormy waters of the shark-infested Windward Passage seeking safety, escaping homes ravaged by wretched poverty, terrorist gangsters, and dreadful disaster after dreadful disaster.

Jozèf ak Mawsi te ale nan Ejip avèk rèv.

They come in peace exhausted but with hope in their eyes, readily surrendering, begging for a chance to be safe among kith and kin and to taste a better life. They, too, want to escape deadly violence, to work, to build new lives and to be able to send back home “a little something” of their honest earnings via Western Union, Sèvis Finansye Fonkoze (SFF), and MoneyGram. Many are artistic or skilled people.

Are we, who celebrate the Refugee Child, turning a blind eye to these families with children weighing down their weakened arms, their rickety boats, and their trembling wombs? Are we deaf to the echoes of Herod’s cruelty amid the whispers of fear and prejudice in the Cabinet Room and around us? Have we forgotten the words of God from Exodus: “Do not mistreat or oppress the foreigner among you, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt”? (Exodus 23:9)

QUIET WORD ABOUT RIGHTEOUSNESS

Esteemed and beloved Governor General, on the eve of January 1, 2024, can you not say a quiet word about righteousness, wisdom, and compassion in the ears of those who govern how Jamaica is treating desperate refugees from Haiti? You used to counsel. You used to pray. Have you lost that noble will, conviction, and “testimony”(reputation) to protect, Sir?

Remember, brothers and sisters, that Jesus himself declared in Matthew’s Gospel, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40) Do we not deny Him when we deny our Haitian brothers and sisters a safe haven? Why can littler Trinidad and Tobago accept and humanely host 36,000+ Venezuelan refugees in less than five years, but much bigger Jamaica demeans the cream of our normally noble security forces by requiring them to stoop to the repeated refoulement of less than 200 desperate black people from the nearest and most populous CARICOM nation, Haiti, by night with new “sanitary napkins”, ... to quote the usually measured but of late, obligingly shallow and crass Jamaica Information Service?

Let us not deploy ships of war when the manger beckons us to build bridges. Let us not harden our hearts where Christ preached acceptance. Let us open our communities and our tribunals to those seeking refuge just as Joseph, Jesus, and Mary were welcomed in Egypt. We Jamaicans are neither Nazis nor racist white Apartheid Boers of a dismissed bygone South Africa. Jamaica spoke with a mighty and principled voice those days and up to the last few years. Hopefully, we will resolve to resist rule by puffed up all-party VIPs ...Vipers In Positions ... to betray the trust of poor black refugees and sneer at the law.

Here’s the thing: In helping a Haitian family, we offer sanctuary not just to them, but to the Christ child and perhaps even disguised angels among them. In sharing our resources, we echo the generosity of the Magi, The Three Wise Men, who brought gifts to the newborn King. In extending a hand of welcome, we fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah: “Open your doors to the homeless, and do not turn away the one who is in trouble.” (Isaiah 58:7). Our cousins are cowering and crying out of horrendous trouble.

This coming year must be a season of action. Let us be voices for justice, advocating for fair and humane treatment of our Haitian brothers and sisters and their children. Let us offer our skills and resources, working with organisations and institutions to support their needs. Let us build bridges of understanding, dispelling myths and biases with the light of truth and compassion.

Our leaders, particularly, must heed this call. As the Psalmist urges in verse 1 of Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man that sitteth not in the seat of the scornful.” Let not the halls of power be consumed by divisive rhetoric and disdain. Let our Cabinet, and all who govern, rise above and “kick weh” the scornful seat and lead with humility and compassion.

May their decisions, like ours, be constrained by the guiding principle of Matthew 25:40 – that in welcoming the stranger, we welcome Christ himself. Let us rediscover a Jamaica where every soul, regardless of origin, finds a haven in our collective embrace, a nation blessed not by walls and county-class fighting vessels but by bridges, guided not by scorn, but by the love and inclusivity prescribed for all seasons.

Believe me, Haitians and Trinis can cook for all seasons! Bissap, mauby, and sorrel are equally good stuff, especially with a dash of Angostura bitters.

May this be our “Watch Night” pledge to one another, to all of CARICOM, and to the world, eh Sister Elaine M.?

Kindly allow me to note that on December 31, 2022, I lost the second of my three best friends in this life and my research/teaching partner, the brilliant biochemist Cynthia Elaine Lewis. Along with her family, colleagues, and friends, I celebrate Cynthia’s life, foresight, integrity, and work. May she keep on baking, developing feeds, and discovering fuels and green fertilisers in the memories of all Jamaica.

Amen.

- Dennis Minott, PhD, is the CEO of A-QuEST-FAIR. He is a renewable energy specialist and worked in the oil and energy sector. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.