Honoring the Country of Jamaica On the Occasion of Its 42nd Independence Day

HONORING THE COUNTRY OF JAMAICA ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 42ND INDEPENDENCE DAY -- (Extensions of Remarks - July 22, 2004)

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the country of Jamaica and to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of its Independence.

The history and traditions of the Jamaican people are knitted tightly within America's cultural fabric. Jamaica's influence is particularly apparent in Black and Brown communities throughout the United States, where the sounds, smells, tastes, and mores of Jamaica have found a second home. From Brooklyn to Baltimore to the Bay Area, Jamaicans and Jamaican-Americans have made their mark as successful, knowledgeable, and hard-working ambassadors of both a vibrant culture and an impassioned commitment to social change.

The Jamaican spirit is vibrantly shown by the two men who perhaps did the most to set the country on a path towards independence. Following the 1938 labor unrest, William Alexander Bustamante, founder of the Jamaican Trade Workers and Tradesmen Union JTWTU 3 years earlier, captured the hearts and minds of workers made furious by British indifference and oppression. Bustamante emerged from the strikes as the leading spokesperson for working class interests in Jamaica. By leveraging the power of the JTWTU to create the Bustamante Industrial Trade Unions, Bustamante formally inaugurated Jamaica's worker's movement, which was the primary piston in the engine of Jamaica's independence campaign.

While Bustamante organized the masses in the streets, Norman W. Manley, an Oxford-trained lawyer, Rhodes scholar, and humanist intellectual, laid the groundwork for the theory behind the independence movement's action. On September 18, 1938 Manley inaugurated the People's National Party PNP, which was guided by the principles of equality of opportunity and the need for a welfare state. Manley established a broad network in both urban areas and rural parishes, and built support for progressive public policy across wide swaths of Jamaican society.

Although Bustamante eventually founded the Jamaican Labor Party, a political rival of the PNP, the two men, both visionary nationalists and advocates of fundamental social change, worked towards the singular goal of freedom for Jamaica's people. Their efforts as alternating Premiers led to constitutional amendments which strengthened Jamaican self-governance and gradually eroded British control the island. This period, known as "constitutional decolonization," ushered in the great day of Jamaica's independence, August 6, 1962.

But Jamaica's independence is not just marked by a date. It is carried instead in the bosom of emissaries of peace and justice, Jamaicans who have sown seeds of their particularly fiery brand of liberty across the world.

Thus we cannot tell the tale of American liberation movements without mentioning with highest regard the great Jamaican-American leader Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and champion of oppressed people of African descent across the globe.

And the very marrow of the anti-war, Black Power, and anti-colonialist movements of the late 1960s, 70s, and 80s was the inspirational and haunting melodies of Bob Marley, perhaps the most important figure in 20th century music. Marley elevated music beyond the level of an art form and made it instead an earthly embodiment of spiritual truths, melodious wisdom which transcended daily problems and cut to the heart of man's most pressing struggles. Even today, the music of Bob Marley articulates the groanings of people's movements throughout the world, unceasing in its cry for peace and freedom.

The list could go on: 'Granny Nanny,' the revolutionary maroon who fiercely and successfully battled the British throughout the 18th century; General Colin Powell, our national hero; Claude McKay, the great poet and inspiration for the Harlem Renaissance; Dudley Thompson, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Grace Jones, Harry Belafonte, and many, many others. These Jamaicans and Jamaican-Americans have had an enormous impact on American history and culture, cutting their own paths across the world and touching the lives of millions of Americans.

On this special occasion, I hold that Independence Day is not simply a 24-hour period in Jamaica; it is, instead, a way of life. And it is my hope that we in the United States, with our economic policies and diplomatic relations, encourage the spirit of self-determination and independence in Jamaica, assisting Jamaica's people as they work for the economic and social freedom that they so sorely deserve.