Celebrating with Usain Bolt…a/k/a Lightning Bolt
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I read Rogge’s comments, like most of us here at home and abroad have. We have also been hearing other voices making reference to Lightning Bolt’s
celebration when he first struck gold along with setting ablaze the world record in a flame that will be burning for a very long time to come. I am compelled
to share my thoughts on the matter.
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> Bolt has made Jamaica, his parents, the Diaspora and the world proud of his tremendous achievement. Great performances like these are seen once
in a lifetime. Unfortunately, Jesse Owens, who Rogge referred to, had to perform during the bitter era of Legal Segregation and the then status quo of
institutional racism. Owens had to behave like a ‘good nigger’ and keep his joy and excitement quiet. He dare not showed how happy or pleased he was,
with himself – after-all, ‘a good nigger’ was submissive and should know his place.
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> But we have ‘Bolted’ from that era a long time ago. We have ‘chanted down Babylon’ and we will do it at least ‘one more time’. We have been
emancipating ourselves from mental slavery. ‘What a Bam Bam’ now that we are free from the shackles of physical and emotional restraints
notwithstanding some challenges yet to be overcome. No one of European ancestry, nor anyone for that matter, has the right to tell a man who
performs under the banner of pride and sacrifices of his entire country & ancestors, to restrain his celebration. Bolt’s celebration therefore can be
seen as a microcosm of the carnival-like and emotionally graphic display of elation that people in our part of the world display in moments like these -
because we know what it means to struggle and overcome against overwhelming odds.
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Rogge needs to be educated. We just don’t tap our hands and say ‘Jolly good show, mate’ nor ‘What a Splendid chap’. No. We knock pot covers;
we jump in the streets and shout with black, gold and green (and red) rhythms of reggae-muffin beats; we ‘no linga’ when it comes to giving things
our all; we don’t remain ‘downpressed’ in ditches, because we know how to get out of depressed spaces by doing the ‘gully creepa’; we ‘willy bounce’
from adversities; We have one love, one heart of Afro-Asian-Euro-, or whatever other mix or skin tones we have - we share the Jamaican spirit and
can ‘whacky dip’ or ‘bogle’ our way any where throughout the world to to the top; our journalists remain neutral & professional, but lose their voices in
honest exuberance; we beat our chests and punch the air with our fists - we are overjoyed - and who better to ‘tek’ [that] ‘to de world’ at this time,
but the man of the moment who deserves all accolades - Bolt!, along with Powell, Williams, Frater, Frazer, Wignal, Simpson, Campbell-Brown and all who
sport the black gold and green with pride. No wonder ninety odd thousand voices fill the Bird’s Nest singing ‘happy birthday to Bolt’, who is ‘giving it to
dem’. And now they all will REMEMBER the national anthem of Jamaica. I wonder if Rogge has taken note of American Athletes’ mode of celebration in
the past, when they were winning these events?
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> When I think of comments from individuals who have much to learn about the magic of the Jamaican experience, I may just have to ‘fan dem off’.
But what I will say to Rogge in the meantime is, join the line mate and ‘Welcome to Jamrock’!
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> Omar C. Frith
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> O.C Frith
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> Now …. is the most crucial moment in time. In fact, Now, is the only moment of certainty, in time. (Omar Frith)
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BLACK MAN NUH RAMP WHEN “WE GIVING IT TO DEM”!!!
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