ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS you are taught as a young journalist is how to avoid offending the law courts by steering clear of matters that are in the process of being adjudicated.
In addition to not wishing to offend a judge or a magistrate, who at times can appear to attach a certain measure of capriciousness to the concept of contempt of court, a responsible journalist ought never to lose sight of the value of fairness to the parties in the interest of preserving a person’s right to a fair trial.
The development of social media, however, has clouded the entire issue, and in relation to one recent court matter that has apparently upset many Bajans I will jump in head first and run the risk of offending.
I refer to the matter of Jamaican Jahnoy Cassells, who was detained at the airport last week then ordered deported by the High Court. He claimed his reason for being here was to take part in another court case he had brought against the same Immigration Department as a result of spending two years in prison, without a trial, then being deported – having, according to him, committed no criminal act.
On the prior occasion, after entering the island legally as a tourist, he reported he went to the Immigration Department to seek a work permit but was instead detained and spent a considerable time in prison without trial, before being ejected from the country. He is suing Barbados for wrongful detention.
If he has a case, the court will decide. If he committed an offence, the court will decide. If he should be compensated, the court will decide. The men and women who preside over our court system are more than competent to judge such a routine matter – even if it takes forever to arrive at and deliver the judgement.
What upsets me, however, is the reaction of supposedly educated Barbadians who have filled Facebook and other social media sites with words of insult and illogic.
They suggest there are so many Jamaicans in prison here now for drug offences we should send the food bill to the Jamaica government; that we are playing too nice and giving up our sovereignty to the Caribbean Court of Justice; that Trinidadians treat Jamaicans worse than we do so what’s the problem; that we have made it too easy for Jamaicans to sue Barbados; that the Government of Barbados has the right to decide who it will give a work permit to – as if that is at issue.
Every once in a while we should stop shouting and let our thoughts and action be guided by one simple, ages old rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
I can’t read Cassells’ mind so I can’t speak to his motives, but if he believes an entity has done him wrong and he takes that entity to a court for a judgement what’s wrong with that? Does wrongdoing have a nationality?
Which one of us would want to be treated the way he alleges he was in Jamaica, or even worse New York, Miami, Toronto or London, then made to feel we have no right to challenge it in a legitimate court of law?
I must confess that I am one of those persons who find absolutely no pleasure in overseas travel anymore. Security requirements on the way out – take of your shoes, take off your belt, skin out your pockets, turn on your laptop, get in this line, no go in that line.
Then when you arrive in the next man’s country it is even worse. All the security hassle compounded by stoned-faced immigration officers whose disposition suggests they believe you plan to “run away” in their country; and customs officers who act as though every black man is a drugs dealer.
Come on people, a person’s nationality should not determine how we treat the individual. And even if some Jamaicans have sullied the reputation of their countrymen it does not mean we should treat them all as drug dealers and prostitutes.
Not every Bajan who has gone to Jamaica, St Vincent, Guyana, New York, London has been a saint. Do you think you should be mistreated because of their actions?
People, give the court a chance to decide on Cassells’ case. Are we only one people when the West Indies win the World T20 cup?
