Politics of games and thrones

BULLYING AND bullies are now affirmed internationally. It is shocking to see the world of politics. If the goal of winning is being served, anything goes!

Traditional Republicans must feel as if they are in the twilight zone as their party tailspins into MAGA oblivion. The leader promotes the things that good parents would never countenance in their childrearing practices.

When Donald Trump and his father were accused of breaching the Fair Housing Act for discriminating against minorities trying to rent, the Trumps simply settled with the Department of Justice re housing discrimination charges. Of course, they never admitted wrong. Interestingly, they were later accused by the Department of Justice, for again discriminating.

Who remembers that a black player was removed from a table at Trump Plaza Hotel, after a wealthy player made the request?

In 2011 when an African American won The Apprentice, Trump noted on Fox News that it was an indication that, “I am the least racist person there is.”

When he announced his candidacy in 2015, the world was shocked when he also said that Mexico was sending rapists and criminals across the border. The xenophobia has continued to this day.

When the falsely accused Central Park Five eventually got out of the unjust sentencing and time spent in prison, Trump who had advocated for their imprisonment, simply condemned the settlement and declared that they were no “angels” although they were exonerated by DNA evidence.

Those who vote are always faced with a moral choice. Those who lead the political process and their many followers also make moral choices. When Trump turns up on the platform with Laura Loomer, an extremist, he is making a moral statement.

What might one think of Trump if he turned up with someone who entertains in these words by Vybz Kartel’s lyrics from Kill Dem?:

Kuff kaff kweff

Bwoy a choke inna blood

Body stiff like it a float inna flood

Don’t come inna Waterford with a slug

Gaza rise the rifle weh soak inna mud

When me a war, ‘member say noweh no deh far

“Glock inna me jansport, me dress up inna khaki

Like me still go a Calabar

Program your gyal, me follow her

When she go pick up your little boy

Like Scarface with the bomb, me drive behind her

Him never do it, but me no care who inna the car

Kill dem all and done

Kill dem all and done

Tall rifle, all handgun

Bwoy life a done

Body dead ‘pon the ….ing grung

Mother bawl out

Kill dem off and done

Face drop off ‘pon grung

Gunshot chop off one lung

Bwoy life a done

Body dead ‘pon the ….ing grung”

May we not fool ourselves. He has every right to attend any public event put on by any political party. Is it okay though for those from wider civil society inclusive of the Church to raise questions? Are the concerns raised in some quarters reasonable? Would your position be constant regardless of whose political stage accommodates the agent of a particular message or value system?

It is my prayer and my hope that the Church will remain a bastion for truth, morality, and the best ethical processes for our society at a time when many have departed from the traditional underpinnings of justice and truth. The world has seen how the Republican party has lost its soul to MAGA Republican extremists and the cult of personality. This reality did not creep upon the party. We all saw it coming. Sadly, too many by their silence have been complicit in the demise of what was.

In Jamaica, we need a healthy People’s National Party and a healthy Jamaica Labour Party. They are our political institutions. It is therefore important that we examine them, critique them, challenge them, and hold them accountable for all that impacts nation building and whatever would be best for our people.

We live in a country where bullying is yet to be addressed as a challenging epidemic. The material is valued above the person. We are not concerned about those who are ‘othered’ and those who are targeted because of a perceived weakness. Character building is yet to become a national interest in our school curriculum and culture. Given these many concerns, political institutions ought of necessity to advance the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There should be an active, living, functional and celebrated position against violence in all its manifestations. There should never be any doubt about a zero-tolerance approach to gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, family violence, state violence and so on.

As we move deeper into Jamaica’s silly season, we will need voices that speak for accountability, good governance, and justice for all. We too will pray in words from the CPWI - Book of Common Prayer: “O Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth … To the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet, and to all in administrative authority, grant wisdom and grace in the exercise of their duties … And finally, teach our people to rely on your strength and to accept their responsibilities to their fellow citizens, that they may elect trustworthy leaders and make wise decisions for the well-being of our society, that we may serve you faithfully in our generation and honour your holy Name. For yours is the Kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”