"Sharleen, I'm assuming that the Jamaicans of which you speak so highly of are those Jamaicans that you have met that are immigrants to the US or Canada...am I right? Maybe the Jamaicans in Jamaica, many surrounded by poverty & hopelessness have somehow cracked under the pressure of it all & have lost their conscience (some, certainly not all). I mean look at how commonplace murder has become. "
JaJewel, I still have friends who never left Jamaica that I have known since I was a teenager and I still give them high regards, though many have not had the opportunity to give their children the benefits of a higher education, they have give their children great love and taught their kids the meaning of integrity and some have, at great expense and hardship to them have gotten their kids through to an Associates Degree (two years of college) with hopes of their kids gaining a job within the hotel industry in JA.
I'm in NY so of course we had the Shower Posse all around here in the 1980's. Lots of murders, just cold blooded murders. Some really horrible scenes were played out with a total disregard for life.
I totally understand what you are saying about some cracking under the pressure of poverty. I have some friends here whose fathers immigrated years and years and years ago, working two to three jobs and saving money to get their wife and kids here. I hear stories of their almost starvation state of living, having nothing sometimes but mango's to eat, or just akee and their great jubilation when FINALLY they got visa approval. And their shock and disbelief of their first New York winter when the temperatures got well below zero degrees with a wind chill of twenty below. Some of them have since been deported, most usually on their second ganja charge.
I am very proud of the accomplishments of some of my long term Jamaica friends who probably migrated here around 1979. Most of them have children who are lawyers, doctor's, or have various Master's Degrees. Through their hard work (the parent's) and their kids too! Some of them plan on retiring to Jamaica really soon, some of them would NEVER EVER retire in Jamaica. They know too many retirees in the community where they were born who went back home and were murdered within two months of their retirement. Most of these that I hear of seem to be in the Manchester area.