By Din Duggan:

"If it falls to our luck to be street sweepers, sweep the streets, like Raphael painted pictures, like Michelangelo carved marble, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, and like Beethoven composed music. Sweep the streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth would have to pause and say: 'Here lived a great street sweeper.'"

- Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr, June 20, 1965, Kingston, Jamaica

Jamaicans often quip that no matter what we do, we tend to do it better than anyone else. Just take a look at Usain Bolt and Veronica Campbell-Brown tearing up tracks across the world, or the countless melodies of artistes from Shaggy to Sean Paul imprinted on the minds of people everywhere, and the veracity of that statement becomes readily apparent.

The rolls and registers of medical schools and law schools in colleges and universities across America and the UK reflect a disproportionately large number of students of Jamaican heritage.

It's no surprise that of the mere handful of black billionaires in the history of the world, one - Michael Lee-Chin - is a Jamaican, or that a Jamaican - Gordon 'Butch' Stewart - revolutionised the resort hotel experience.

But we've taken Dr King's directive to more perverse levels, extending our prowess beyond business and entertainment to more nefarious activities. Christopher 'Dudus' Coke was among the world's most notorious drug lords. David Smith directed one of the largest Ponzi schemes on earth. And 'Capone', from Third World Cop, was quite possibly the coldest crime fighter ever.

Visiting Trinidad

On January 12, Caribbean Airlines flight BW459 touched down in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. On-board were scores of passengers, mostly Jamaicans. After disembarking then clearing steely-faced immigration officers, weary travellers confronted the same choice that countless airline passengers face each day: take the green channel (no goods to declare) or the red channel (goods to declare).

I was among the passengers on this flight, and having decided against bringing down a crocus bag filled with bun and cheese, patties, and Julie mangoes to higgle on the streets of Port-of-Spain, I chose to proceed to the green channel with my one carry-on bag.

The customs officer, of course, decided that I represented a potential threat to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and thus sent me to the X-ray scanners and search tables for additional security screening.

Having grown accustomed to 'random' security screenings and understanding that these inconveniences are simply part of travel, I was completely unfazed. That is, until I realised that behind me, every single Jamaican was being subjected to the same treatment. I was appalled.

I thought: How could these people, with their skyrocketing crime rate, deep social discord between Indo-Trinidadians and Afro-Trinidadians, corrupt politics, and more corrupt business industry, have the nerve to act as though it was some grand luxury for me and my compatriots to visit their drab country?

If a flight was immediately returning to Kingston, and if I didn't have business to attend to, I might have turned around and left that place, right then and there.

Eliminating Prejudice

Prejudice can be defined as 'unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group'. In Port-of-Spain, a single, misguided customs officer placed me in a line that evolved from the unreasonable impression that Jamaicans are all like Dudus or Vybz Kartel. In my ire - and despite my many friendships with Trinis - I was willing to dismiss Trinidad as a country not worth knowing. I'm glad I didn't.

I met some of the warmest, most gracious people in Trinidad. My hosts were amazingly generous and welcoming. In eating shark and bake and 'doubles' on the Savannah, drinking rum downtown at Jenny's, and watching steel bands at Phase 2, it grew clear that the ties that bind us as West Indians far outweigh the rifts that divide us - we must reinforce these bonds through freer markets and more equitable trade arrangements.

Of course, Jamaicans will continue facing prejudice at airports in Trinidad and elsewhere. But I believe in a 'Jamaican exceptionalism': an ability to dominate any activity we conscientiously attempt. It is up to our policymakers to generate responsible strategies to direct this enormous Jamaican talent towards areas such as science and technology, arts and entertainment, and business and industry. It is through distinction in these areas - rather than crassness and criminality - that we will change common misperceptions and unleash on the world the true spirit of Jamaica.

Din Duggan is an attorney working as a consultant with a global legal search firm. Email him at columns@gleanerjm.com or dinduggan@gmail.com, or view his past columns at facebook.com/dinduggan and twitter.com/YoungDuggan

January 18, 2012

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Caribbean Blog International