Letter: Foxy Brown only looks at Grenada's social problems from a domestic level
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| Published on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 |
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Dear Sir:
It happens again, as Foxy Brown continues to blame the former NNP government for all the social and political problems within the state of Grenada. Brown is claiming that thirteen years rule of the NNP regime is responsible for the social and political problems affecting the male population in Carriacou and Petite Martinique, which is an offshore parish of Grenada. While Brown tries to spread such political propaganda and bias, he/she forgets to look at the present behaviour of young males from a global perspective.
In one of Foxy Brown’s past letters to Caribbean Net News, he/she condemned Grenada education as a failure, and blames it entirely on the past NNP regime. Brown claims to be an educator to justify his/her argument in a follow up letter. Therefore, it should be very important for Brown as to have a better idea of the social problem young males are faced with, in terms of the present trend life style and high dropout rates in high school, in countries such as Britain, Canada and the United States. Presently, in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the provincial government, with the help of senior educators are planning to change the school system of education, so that boys will become better academic achievers, due to the high percentage of dropout’s rate among males in high schools, while girls are better performers.
The Toronto Public School Board Educators have recognised that boys and girls don’t learn the same way in, due to the fact that girls tend to perform academically better at an earlier age than boys in high school. And the provincial Premier Dalton McGuinty supports the educator’s idea of creating an all boys school system, in order for boys to remain in school and graduate. The problem with Foxy Brown and many other Caribbean educators is they don’t think out of the box, in order to find solutions to the problem. They tend to accept the model system that they were raised within, and by so doing, they make lots of false suggestions to solve the problem. Caribbean educators are culturally backward in terms of addressing the issue of gender socialisation, and the role of male and female within society.
Brown talks about young males criminal behaviour such as drug use, and domestic violence, as though such deviate immoral values were never a problem within the Grenadian society in the past. And even though I agree with Brown that such immoral values are serious social problems, I don’t think that the unacceptable behaviour started with this generation of young males. As a matter of fact, I think domestic violence is a bad custom that affects women and children in the entire Caribbean region for centuries, and it was even worst in the past fifty years or so.
Brown went on to the blame the former NNP regime of failure to trained young men in carpenter and mason skills. He/she accuses the NNP of creating a culture of unskilled construction labourers, which is a fallacy. Traditionally, the average young men in Grenada and the other English Speaking Caribbean islands learn construction skills by starting to work as labourers and helpers, and during that period of timework they develop the working skills as experienced trades men. I think Brown is fully aware of that trend, because the majority of young men who make their livelihood in the construction industry never attended any trade schools to learn the art of building infrastructures.
As for the leisure and pleasure of young males in the State of Grenada, it is a traditional behaviour, where young males get together and drink, cook, play sports and “lime’ on the block and in rum shops, where they discuss from sports to politics. So it is unfair for Brown to blame thirteen years on the former NNP government for such a cultural behaviour. It only takes basic common sense to understand why young men in Carriacou and Petite Martinique and the other Caribbean islands participate in this sort of free life style culture. And the basic factor of such culture is the luxury of warm tropical Caribbean weather, where there is not need for indoor activities to a large extent.
Foxy Brown talks about the decline in the ship building industry in Carriacou and Petite Martinique, but it seems as though Brown is blind to the fact that the owner of the cargo ships ‘Alexia’, and those who own the ferry service ‘Osprey’ are from Carriacou and Petite Martinique, but they bought their boats in foreign countries, rather than purchasing locally built ships from the local ship builders. Thirty years ago, the Alexia boats were locally built ship, but it seems as though the owners are now interested in buying steel boats from foreign companies for economic reasons. So I think it is more important for Foxy Brown to promote the idea that ship builders in Carriacou and Petite Martinique should team up with foreign companies that build steel boat to enhance the local industry. It is possible for such a business venture, because there is a historical connection between some ship builders in Carriacou and ship builders in Scotland.
In conclusion, although Foxy Brown has touched on some important social and political issues that are of great concern and need to be addressed, I think that Brown is playing politics, and by so doing, he/she is making some foolish mistakes in the discourse. Sometimes, it is better for a writer to address social issues without trying to politicise it, when there is no need to such a senseless thing. I personally believe that Brown is not paying attention to what is happening globally, in a changing world, where things are done differently than in the past. And due to that factor, he/she looks at the problems within the Grenadian society from a domestic level, while there are other factors externally that create the negatives.
I wonder how Brown will react, if some Grenadians say that all gun crimes committed in the country are because Grenada had a revolutionary government, and being as the revolution was created by arm force, Grenadians learned to shoot each other. And if some Grenadians start saying that Gairy’s Mongoose gang is responsibile for all forms of police brutality, what will Brown say about that?
Hudson George
Toronto, Ontario
Canada | | | | Reads : 750 | | | |
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