By the time you finish reading this column, Jamaicans will be done breaking the speed of light on the Olympic track. For almost fifty years, this little dot in the Caribbean Sea has made an indelible mark on the world stage in the fields of music, athletics, academia, and international diplomacy, among others. Jamaica has made these contributions in extraordinary part through the export of its people to the farthest corners of the Earth, in particular to the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States of America.
This year, Jamaica grows up to claim 50 years of independence. This is far from being middle aged in the context of global maturity. For decades, Jamaicans have traveled the world for various migratory reasons, including involuntary servitude, provision of labor, pursuit of higher education, or family unity. Whatever the reason, our footprints leave cultural fossils in every nook and cranny of communities worldwide. Our personalities are undeniably present and full of impact.
As a diaspora, Jamaica is at the forefront in forging an experiment to marshal the talents and resources of Jamaican nationals and persons of Jamaican descent for the greater good of Jamaica, but also for the betterment of the local communities where Jamaicans have resided for decades. Every facet of our society, at home and abroad, is impacted in some manner through the diaspora experience – health, education, national security, environment, tourism, arts & culture, disaster preparedness, and trade and investment, among others. The diaspora experience is one that embodies an emotional tug of war between the land of birth or heritage and the land of adoption.
In the context of the United States, Jamaicans have inserted their cultural influences primarily in communities and neighborhoods in the states of New York, Florida, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Texas, Georgia, California, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Today, we are conservatively well over 1.5 million strong in the United States, and growing. This bodes well for the next generation of Jamaican-Americans who can boast of holding homage to the heritage of two of the world’s most recognizable and powerful country brands: America and Jamaica.
Both of these brands will have toiled for supremacy on the Olympic track, with even one of the American stars Sanya Richards-Ross, bearing Jamaican blood flowing through her veins. The Olympic track and field finals and the Penn Relays are two ground zero venues for the clash of global personalities. It is all in great fun and rivalry.
America is essentially a diaspora nation, usurping the DNA of the world’s cultures. Jamaica is part of this history. As such, it is critical that every Jamaican-American, young and old, have a better understanding of the extension of their population, culture, heritage, and resources in their acclimation and assimilation into the American fabric. Jamaicans will not be able to make an effective contribution to the American landscape without having an intimate self understanding.
After 50 years of independence and migration, the time has come for the self-realization that America is here to stay and Jamaica is only a plane ride away. For many, the security of one, two, or three jobs to sustain the family has transcended into sending the kids to a higher level of education and moving the Jamaican community to trans-generational success. This individual success, however, does not translate into community success. Unlike immigrant communities from Cuba or Israel, the Jamaican entrepreneurial success story has not fully manifested itself into civic activism and political benefit. Given one more generation, this is likely to change in the next episode of 50 years.
For every family that migrates overseas, we must ensure that we nurture an environment and infrastructure that ensures their successful and productive acclimation. If there are more viable and sustainable families, businesses and organizations, it will bode well for Jamaica and Jamaican-American communities at many levels. Diaspora development is more than maintaining remittance flows, it is about building relationships across generations.
Besides being the fastest nation on Earth, Jamaica has a bounty of talents to offer America and the rest of the world. This conversation of diaspora development is bigger than any political party, private sector agenda or self interest. It is about the future of a nation for the next 50 years. If we move closer to perfecting this diaspora experiment, we will bestow a host of lessons to the world. We are one family and nation estimated at over five million strong worldwide. If you wink, you may miss our success in 9.58 seconds or less and before you know it, you will be transported to the year 2062, 100 years later.
On this day of August 6th, we celebrate 50 years of the Black, Green & Gold with a birthday greeting from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and look forward to the next 50 years of lightning success on and off the track.
Marlon A. Hill is a Miami attorney with the law firm of Delancy Hill, P.A. and the immediate past Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board member for the Southern United States.