In all o’ my years pon this sweet li’l rock, I have lived through many election campaigns and this ain’t the first time dat political parties have used music and/or musicians in duh campaigning, but I have never seen or heard suh much as duh got in this particular campaign.
I could remember the years of the loudspeaker, where a vehicle wid two men would drive up and down the road, and while one man driving by slow, slow, slow and looking ’bout, the other one use tuh be talking ’pon the loudspeaker.
In dem earlier times duh ain’t had nuh music at all – suh much so dat when evah the man take a break and stop talking, ya used tuh hear a whole lot o’ screeching and noise, what the music people does call feedback, until the man ready tuh talk again. But not so nowadays, boh. Technology has improved tremendously ’cause wherevah ya turn, ya does butt up pon some kinda vehicle wid a multitude o’ speakers strap on pon dem, blaring out the party songs.
I have tuh say, though, dat the recording studios like duh was running pon overtime fuh a long, long time ’cause lemmuh tell ya, nuh li’l bit o’ music ain’t get put out, hear? I could be wrong, but it sounds tuh me like evah single candidate like duh got duh own music and it ain’t got nothing tuh do wid the main song.
But ya see all this lot o’ music and revelry? I realize dat while the oldsters, semi-oldsters and not suh oldsters coming out fully equipped wid duh placards, umbrellas, coats, hats and chairs tuh listen tuh the issues and enjoy the music at the same time, it is the multitude o’ young people who does be out there in the party colours wid duh banners, jumping up and carrying on. But ya see all o’ dat? There is something dat is worrying tuh me.
Now while all these young people might not be of voting age, I wonder if they understand yet the importance of voting.
Ya see it is alright tuh see the sea o’ red or the glow of yellow, but after all the energy and excitement, are they going tuh vote? Do they understand the value of a vote? Do they know what it cost tuh be able tuh vote?
Do they know why duh should vote? Do they understand how important it is tuh vote? Do they know what the old people, especially women, had tuh go through in order tuh be able tuh vote?
Do they realize dat if duh doan vote duh ain’t got nuh kinda say in nutten and dat duh gotta shut up and tek whaevah and whoevah duh get?
I does talk tuh a lot o’ young people evah single day and it galls me when I hear dem saying dat dem ain’t voting fuh a boy; dat dem ain’t fattening up nuh politician pockets; dat nuhbody, none o’ dem politicians nevah do nutten fuh dem yet and dat dem ain’t really care who get in. You could imagine dat?
I hope dat these political candidates who got all these young people working fuh dem at these mass rallies, spending time tuh educate dem on the importance of voting. I hope dat dem ain’t taking it fuh granted dat the young people know or should know and just leaving dem tuh think dat it is another fete or bashment.
I hope the politicians would take a li’l time out from saying the same thing night after night tuh party faithfuls and yardfowls, who already got duh minds made up, tuh talk tuh the young people who only gine ’long wid what duh hearing other people saying ’bout politicians who dem duhselves ain’t know one thing ’bout.
I hope the politicians could pull duh minds away from the who do this or who ain’t do dat; who tief this or who squander dat; who is who friend and who got the policyholders of CLICO widout a cent today.
I hope dem could take a few minutes tuh sit back and watch the direction the young people going in and realize dat whoevah get intuh power, these is the very people, the young people, the new and different generation wid duh mindsets, dat dem got tuh deal wid.
All I asking ya’all tuh do is, instead o’ gine after the opponent jugular, tuh take a li’l time in this hectic campaign tuh make sure dat the young people understand what this whole exercise is all about, hear? If wunna doan do it, wunna gine be sorry later on, hear?
Wunna cahn say dat I, Mavis, ain’t warn wunna.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The New Orleans. She hasan opinion on everything.
