Sunday, March 27, 2011

Guhway jamaicans!!

Just keep sending us your dancehall music but try an and keep wunnah bajanman-stealing women outta we country alright. - signed the bajan public


I'm sure some of you have heard about the claims by a Jamaican national last week who said she was "finger raped" by immigration officers while attempting to enter Barbados

Lawd ave mercy!

Well look I should tread lightly on this one cause on the one hand I feel more Jamaicans duz read this blog than bajans (and for that I thank unna) and on the other hand I duz gotta guh thru bajan immigration too and I aint wanta get unfair ya kno.

Anyways I'm pretty sure that when most bajans heard about this incident before nationalistic fervor took over their first thoughts were something along the lines of "man dem igrant immigration people duz do bare foolishness ya kno!" Tell me that aint true? So to my Jamaican friends please doan get aggravated and try to tek this out on random bajans cause we feel wunnah pain over this an in general we like wunnah an aint got nuh problems ya hear. (see I doing mi best fa diplomacy, PM Stuart send mi an ambassadorship nuh). Looka I will even try my best not to mock Kartel for his whole bleaching thing for an entire week. Wunnah really know how hard that is to do?

For years there have been allegations that other Caribbean nationals, particularly from reports Guyanese, have been picked on by Barbados immigration authorities. Why? I'm not really sure. Possibly something to do with perceptions real or fake about the intentions of these Caribbean nationals. Now I ain't going tell ya all Caribbean nationals that come to Barbados come in with noble purposes the same way I cant tell ya that all bajans have noble purposes. Is just a fact of life, some people gine be good some gine be bad. Same with visitors to your country. Some going obey the law, some going be bringing in drugs or trying to enter ya country an lie to stay on there while the majority will be nice citizens with no evil intent. Same wid immigration officers too right? A so it goes!

An here is news for the Caribbean nationals who complain about their treatment in Barbados. We bajans (an I mean real real bajans not just people like me living in away) duz get unfair by immigration in Barbados sometimes too ya know.

But as far as Immigration authorities go, I ain't gine say that the bajan wuns more igrant dan any others across the world either. Cause in my dealings at airports and border crossings I realize that most immigration people realize they have a certain amount of power over you and they dont feel a way about using it. That is why anytime I got to go through any immigration scenarios I duz try to be at my most humble and pleasant. Yes sir, Good marnin, how ya keeping, Thank you, I pulling out all them sorta words to deal wid dese fellas and looking most contrite too.

Man I remember one incident a few years after 9/11, when things was cruel and security tight, watching an immigration officer carry on an verbally abuse a family with a young baby bad bad bad cause they had the audacity to have a baby fingernail clippers in the carry-on bag with the baby things. Like dey was gine stick up the plane an hol hostages while holding an infant in one hand an a dull baby nail clippers in the other. chupse! That is how cruel some a dese immigration people duz be.

By the way in case any immigration people reading this when I say igrant an cruel I mean this in the nicest possible way officers. I ain't really looking to get skin up next time I travelling, I love wunnah bad ya kno. Plus to be realistic, the job of immigration officer isn't an easy one so I give wunnah some leeway. Ya have people trying to be conniving and sneak illegal things into ya country or trying to come in commit crimes or to stay illegally etc and you have to weed out the bad apples. That's your duty to your country. Cant be easy at all.

That said if the allegations of abuse above are true, they really cant be taken lightly, definitely not a laughing matter so heads have to roll and something has to be done.

Interestingly enough though there was a bit of a bruhaha over placing cameras in the customs area at Grantley Adams International airport a few years ago. Now customs is not immigration (subtle difference) but are there cameras in the immigration area at GAIA? Just a query cause if they were we could possibly clear up this abuse allegation easier.

Mind you the Barbados government has stated it has investigated and the allegations are false. So I hope that will be the end of that and we can go back to the normal inter-island relationship where the average Jamaican think all bajans are gay and the average bajan think all Jamaicans are drug dealers. Whoops! Did I say that? My bad! (dammit I was so close to that Ambassadorship too!)

Anyways I dun I not even dealing with the claim that the Jamaican lady say that the immigration officer tell her "All you (expletive) Jamaicans come here to do is either steal people's man or bring drugs here," Sounds like someone was bitter so I will leave that one for later but eh eh is how nuh Jamaican women nuh come to steal mi way yet? What I doan look tiefable? Ya want mi wear a sign?

ps: if I suddenly disappear allya know is either immigration, angry Jamaicans or my wife who read that last paragraph that should be suspect in my disappearance.

4 comments:

Mad Bull said...

Good post, Jdid. Is true, there are wicked immigration peopl everywhere!

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

That Observer news item has made me furious. I admire her for going to the press, for telling everyone.

I'm afraid of immigration people everywhere. They need psychological testing before they're given that job, or to be properly trained.

chrome said...

As Richie Spice sings on the song when the plane land, "mek up me mind to face de immigration". When I travel back to Nigeria I have no idea what to expect at the other end, leaves me tense.

If the claims prove to be right the book must be thrown at these people.

What's goody @Mad Bull

de henry girl said...

Jdid- you are too funny. Don't stop writing- we just don't always leave comments.

I was born in Canada to Bajan parents. When my parents returned home to live when I was 5 the immigration ppl in B'dos told them- you can stay- she (meaning little ole 5 year old me) have to go back in 3 weeks. My mother told them, "you know where I live, come fuh she nuh" They igrant too bad.