Belizean

Duh Soh, Nuh Like Duh Soh by Fayemarie Anderson Carter

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It is a sunny morning in the Jewel and children all over are rushing to school. Some stop at the Chineyman shop to buy haadtimes and sweets or pencils and erasers. Others dawdle on corners waiting for their friends to catch up so they can walk the rest of the way together. On the junction of Fortification and Judgement Streets, passersby can hear the screeching of a frustrated Dodes as she hustles the children out the door. 

“Marion! Marion! Get your little sister and get your bottoms out of here NOW!” screamed Dodes.

“But MOOOOM! She is so slow dis morning and she will make me late. Can’t you take her?” asked Marion.

“Marion, if you backansa mi one mo time, ah wa wahm you lee rass fi be suh rude,” responds a very visibly angry Dodes.

Bernie hails the children from her perch trying to distract them and Dodes from escalating and also to signal to Dodes that the neighbours are hearing everything.

“Morning, Marion, Lyndsey. You bettah run a little to catch up on time, girls. You only have 20 minutes. Hold her hand Lyndsey and don’t give Marion any trouble ok? See you dis evening girls. Maybe you come visit me and I’ll have some treats fuh yu ok?” said Bernie kindly.

She didn’t deal with this in the morning at all. Their driver took her children to school and she had time then to chat with Dodes over a cup of tea before she had to go to the factory. The bus passed by their street around 8:45 am. She was the last one the company driver picked up. She was close to the highway and it was only five miles to the factory. They usually made it with about six minutes to spare, just enough for a last bathroom run before she clocked in at 9:00 on the dot.

Dodes looked especially flustered as she sidled next to Bernie. “Aye, gial. Sumtimes, deya pickney just tek it outta mi. My day staat at 5 in the mawning. By di time da damn bus come? Ah ready fi lay down again.” Dodes sighed heavily.

“Come Dodes. Ah have yu tea ready fi yu. Ah cud call Maisy and have her bring us some fresh tortillas if you want, with some dutch cheese? guava jelly?”

“Thanks, Bernie. Ah mek breakfast fi di pickney but den dey staat fight and of course, ah nevah finish mines.” Bernie calls to her housekeeper, Maisy and instructs her to bring Dodes some breakfast.

“Now Dodes. Tell mi whe happen. All ah heah da lata railin up and screamin. Who do what now?”

“Well da Marion and Darnell again. Ah nevah know what wa set off Marion these days. Shi so quiet and moody and her mouth di staat to sting.” Dodes looks up at her friend with tears glistening in her eyes. “Sometimes, I wonder if ah mek a mistake kicking her daddy out. Ah mean at least he would be here now fi help me.”

“Dodes. Nuh duh dat tuh yuself gial. You did what you felt was best at the time. He was cheating on you and withholding money and spending it on the other women. How you know anything would be better or even different now? 10 years later? Maybe you guys would be fighting so much, it would be worse. And then he has five more children pan top. What if he mi have dey while he mideh wid u still? How u miwa deal wid dat? And what bout Melanie and Lyndsey? They wouldn’t be here now, would they?

Dodes smiled weakly and shook her head. “Anyways, suh Darnell have dis habit fuh nuh duh his chores and den po Marion end up di hafi do dem bc by di time I get home, da time fi Darnell duh ih homework. You know he nuh as smaat as di girls and so he tek twice as long fi duh anyting. Suh Marion decide dat she wa staat get back afta Darnell and stop wash ih clothes and shi di hide dey anda di bed stuck up all in between di bodes dem. I di look fi days everywhere befo ah finally find dey. Darnell di wear di same unifahm fi neahly a week now. Ah haftu di wash it da nite and heng it inna di bathroom. Suh dis mawnin, Marion squirt tootpaste pan di shirt and po Darnell had to goh da school wid a wet shirt cause ah had to rinse out di spot. And we use Close Up cause da di cheapest and da rass red. So po Darnell shut gat dis pink lookin stain crass and crass it. Aye.”

Bernie is laughing now as she imagines Marion doing this to her brother. “But Dodes, gial. Why yu nuh mek Darnell wash ih own cothes fi tru? He di get big unuh? Even lee Melanie wash clothes with Marion pan Saturday.’

“Really? Ah nevah know she midi actually wash di clothes. Ah know dey go dungstayz tugeddah but ah mi tink shi just di kip Marion company,’ said Dodes. “Ah feel like sumtimes my life jus outta control Bernie. Ah feel like day in and day out, ah just work and work and work and fi what? Ah di lose mi pickney. Sumtimes di look whe Marion give me, ah wah slap ah but den ah jus wah dissapear eena wah hole. Dah like shi hate mi. Anyway,” Dodes chewed a piece of her tortilla and swallowed before continuing,” Ah di try explain tuh Marion dat even doh Darnell wrong fi nuh duh ih chores and ih nuh wash ih own clothes and she hafi end up di duh it, shi just as wrong for hiding his clothes and ruining his shirt. Shi tell me how whe she do nuh as bad as whe hi duh and plus top, he get everything fuh duh absolutely nutting and shi get nutting fi duh absolutely everything. When dey wah lawn dat in di meantime, di two ah dey di mek it haad pan me! Ah just di try mek a life fuh all a wi you know? and ih feel like nuh mattah whe ah try duh, ah ciant get head and all dey duh dah fight di mek it woss!”

Dodes starts to smile. “Sound like friggin UDP and PUP huh? ‘you tief’ ‘no yu tief!’ Dodes moves from side to side changing her voice to represent each side.

“well, at least ah nuh as teifah as u!”

“Who seh so? wi still nuh know how much yu tief! At least when we tief, we pass it on to the people! Ask evibadi whe get turkey and ham fi krismus. At least dat da sumting!”

“Ha! what people? fi u people? O wait! da nuh even fi we people! Da di bloody alien whe uno just hurry friggin give citizenship!”

“Well when election time cum, u always drag out alla your votahs dem, even di one whe dead fuh 20 yeahs! At least ah nevah tek money fram Ashcroft fu mi campaign! Go google da shit! Ih deh ret deh pan wikipedia! And a bet dah only di million whe uno cop tu! Who knows how much ih reaaaaaalllly give uno!”

“Well look pan kettle di cuss pat! Who u fi seh jack shit? You represent di man den tun rung and sue ah??? Conflict of interest much? u lucky u nuh dead! You sure hitman nuh deh afta u?”

At this Dodes looked squarely at her friend,” Meanwhile me and you di get busup like pinata, right Bernie? Ah mean really? Put puss eena bag which one cum out fus? And dey one pa tv! O my lord!” Dodes puts her hands on her hips and imitates the tv personalities they all knew so well. ” I know my party nuh perfect but that is in the past! We are talking about this government today! They promise to do bettah and they haven’t! They are just as corrupt so out they must go!'” At this, Dodes cut her eye and sucked her teeth. “Da stupid di tawk but nuh stupid di listen. Ah mean who dey di fool? How I supposed to vote dem back in when demi worse and dey di actually agree da demi worse?? Soh dis govament tief tuh suh let’s vote een di one whe tiefarah! My goodness!”

By this time Bernie is laughing heartily. She loved it when Dodes got funny. “Aye, Dodes. Stop! U wah mek ah drop off ah disya wiyah. Hmmmmm.” She catches her breath. “Dodes. Dodes! Di bus di cum! Go lock u doh hurry!”

Dodes flies off to lock her door before the bus stops on her street.

“See you latah, Berns! whooohooo!” waved Dodes.

“Bye Dodes! See u latah fi tea!” waved back Bernie.

Dodes seemed in much higher spirits as she made her way to work. Another day, another win against unemployment and poverty. She made a silent promise that she wouldn’t lose her focus and determination even when her children questioned her actions. She needed to talk to Marion. She couldn’t stand the thought of losing her best ally, her best friend in this world. If she only knew that is exactly why Marion resents her.

Daily Dingleberry 01-19-12

/ Twocanview LLC / 3 Comments

Miss me???? I took a break yesterday for BLACKOUT day in support of Wikipedia 🙂 So back to business!

People! Why are we still aligning with any party? I see people fervently accuse both parties of the same crime/misconduct while acknowledging that they “know” that their party isn’t perfect and that they do it too blah blah blah. OMG really??? So, do as I say but not as I do??? Scratching my head. Reminds me of those commercials where the kids are in a room and one gets a toy car and the other gets  one gets a real car for no good reason, just because, even though they both opened the same account at the same bank. This is just beyond ridiculous. We all make deposits into the same bank. We all try to follow the rules and provide for our children. We are all concerned about the same future: OUR FUTURE. YOU who got the fancy car, don’t shut your mouth because you got something from the government. You will get the same shitty end of the stick as the one who didn’t get the fancy car. Fire the bank. Don’t put your money there. Want for you neighbour what you would like for yourself because one day, you will be the kid getting the toy car. Don’t give ANYBODY the power to play with your money, your citizenship, your laws, your FUTURE.

OWN YOURSELF.

You deserve all that is fair and good and LAWFUL. It is the friggin LEAST we can expect from the people we hired. YES WE HIRE OUR POLITICIANS. So if they are breaking the law, being unethical, FIRE THEY ASS. Red and Blue mek purple….who like get bruise up? You like da black eye? how bout da bruk hand? Cripple foot? Before you get brain damage too, pull your head out of your ass! Make peace with my piece, lovers 😉

Corruption is as Corruption does – By: Aria Lightfoot

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“Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country. “Karl Kraus

Am I the only person who is dumbfounded by our level of corruption and how open and acceptable it has become? The new political proposal seems to resonate a message of “Never mind that we are corrupted, the other party is even worse than us“ .The major political parties are shameless and pathetic in their nonchalant attitude towards corruption. Yesterday, I read where someone tried to justify the measurement of corruption based on a dollar amount. I have read citizens justifying their choice of party saying that “their party is not as corrupted, or better the devil you know, or lesser of two evils.”

It signals to me that the apathy and sickness of corruption has invaded every crevice of society, even the thinking of the average citizen. (whatever citizenship means these days) We are in desperate need of a cure. The parties in Belize have successful convinced the Belizean population that corruption is inevitable therefore accept it; additionally the parties have seemingly surrendered to this conclusion by not addressing the issue of corruption as a national crisis. Recently, polls have been suggesting or attempting to convince the Belizean population that Belizeans do not care about corruption. I am not convinced.

My hope is that Belizeans begin demanding accountability for the rape of their taxes at the pleasure of elected officials and the disgraceful undermining of our citizenship for votes. I may be inclined to believe that corruption must be legal right? It must be! It is openly discussed, and admitted by our politicians; they justify or exempt their behavior based on the corruption of the other party. The last two Prime Ministers of Belize are prominent attorneys and senior members of the Bar Association, so there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that corruption MUST be legal. As a citizen, my instinctive approach is to raise hell and demand laws to offset this blatant and discouraging behavior of our elected officials.

So I decided to take a trip through The Laws of Belize Criminal Code 101, to see if laws exist to offset this corruptive environment, before I clumsily climbed on my rostrum. I didn’t expect to see any anti corruption laws. I mean our parties are operating on the premise of less corrupted. Additionally, an international journalist correlated our corruption to poverty ( http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/16/tale-of-two-small-countries ). So if we all know corruption is the problem and it has become so ostentatious that even an international observer can see it and was compelled to write about it, I figured if I could advocate for strong laws, maybe it would deter our politicians and public officers from such contemptuous and scandalous behavior. Right?

I was stupefied and confused by the laws I found in our criminal code. Turns out that corruption is illegal in Belize and in some instances punishable by imprisonment of up to ten (10) years. Surely these major political parties don’t know this? But why wouldn’t they? They are dominated by prominent and senior attorneys of the Bar Association of Belize. They have been the Legislature for the past 30 years and they have in fact written these laws themselves. So now my anguish grows and my anger rises…not only are politicians blatantly corrupted, they have no regard for our laws in Belize. Winning elections and governing in Belize have become an official pillage on the tax payers money at the pleasure of the ruling party.

The Criminal code 101 of the Laws of Belize Section 139 (1) defines Theft as “ a person who by ANY deception [(can be defined as misleading, deceit, cheating, circumvention)] dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another [tax payers] with the intention of permanently depriving the other [tax payer] of it.” Theft does not mention the dollar amount, because a thief is a thief! If he steals one dollar he will surely steal a million dollars.

The Criminal Code which can be located at http://www.belizelaw.org/lawadmin/ also specifically targets corruption of public officers and also targets those who corrupts public officers and voters (see Sec 139-146, 155-158, 296-) . Take a personal tour, my Belizean people and see how many laws are broken by the voters, public officers, politicians and bar members in Belize. We are all partners in this moral, social and legal decline in Belize. Obviously calling on the Attorney General, Minister of Police, Commissioner of Police and Director of Public Prosecution to investigate and prosecute our politicians and government officials is a monumental waste of time, especially since they serve at the pleasure of the government of the day. So what happens when we have laws that are not enforced, rabid corruption and no political will to address it? Justice can never be achieved in a country that selectively enforces laws and the culture of lawlessness will continue to corrode our jewel until we say NO MORE!

 My mom use to tell me, corruption begins with the first act and with each act you begin to convince yourself that such behavior is acceptable and eventually you are so corrupted you can no longer identify it. The parents who allows their children to walk into their homes with items they didn’t purchase for that child is contributing to corruption. The public officer who accepts money for services the tax payer is paying for, is contributing to corruption, the voter who accepts money in exchange for votes is contributing to corruption. The politician who uses his office for pecuniary gain is contributing to corruption. The judiciary that discriminately distributes justice is contributing to corruption. The entire moral fabric of our country is deteriorating. The dollar amount does not make corruption Belize…Corruption is our deplorable deeds and our omission to address it and our attempt to justify it.

What is your citizenship worth? – by: Aria Lightfoot

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Citizenship means I am part of a country; it means I am co-captain of its future; it means I am a component of a blueprint;   I belong;   my future and past are interconnected. As a citizen, I can vote, agitate, engage, arouse, examine, and change the Constitution and legal framework of my country.  It means that that Belize is me and I am Belize.

Every election season, politicians corrupt my citizenship for cheap votes.  They “Belizeanize” hundreds and in some cases thousands of immigrants who share little or no historical, cultural or social similarity to me.  They give away my impact as voter and further diminish my citizenship, so that immigrant citizens of Guatemala, a country that still claims ownership of Belize, can recreate the blueprint of Belize.  Politicians of both parties have been guilty of the genocide of the Belizean people by systematically changing the cultural, ethnical, religious and social composition of the country. They have treasonously discounted the real citizens’ will and undermined their voting power.

What are the ramifications?   

I am livid, outraged, insulted, dismayed to witness hundreds of immigrants lined up outside the immigration office waiting for their citizenship to be quickly processed before voters registration deadlines, a blatant erosion and devaluation  my citizenship.  Belize allows full rights as a citizen.  It means that the person who was allowed to circumvent the process for an X on Election Day, enjoy the same citizenship as I do. That new citizen can run for public office, even the office as high as the Prime Minister of Belize; demand the benefits of taxpaying citizens such as social security benefits; influence the outcome of an election. It translates into zero political accountability as politicians continue to ignore the concerns of real citizens for ballot box stuffers.   

Even more disconcerting is the long term effects.  How much longer do politicians think it will be before immigrants realize their voting power?  How much longer will it be before Guatemala will no longer need to claim us? Our politicians are handing over Belize vote stuffer by voter stuffer.  How much longer before these political fools realize that their own children will suffer the encumbrance of such short sightedness.

In the US, I will never be able to run for the presidency if I decide to apply for my citizenship because I will not be a born citizen. Even a born citizen cannot run for public office unless they reside in the US for a determined amount of time and twelve years to run for the Presidency.  The politicians cannot circumvent the citizenship process without a vote from Congress (a very open process).  Even Belizeans value gaining citizenship from the United States because they know the process is arduous. After all the other qualifications, the immigrant must pass a background check, citizenship test, endure an interview.    By the time you qualify for citizenship, the United States have indoctrinated the new citizens into the culture of being an American.    Belize has no such system.

Internationally, travelling as a Belizean is becoming a difficult and a harassing experience.  You know why?  Our politicians are giving away our citizenship because they have no value for Belizeans. Our citizenship can be bought for money or votes.  Have you tried getting a visa to visit the United States, Europe or Canada? The processes are becoming more intrusive, stricter, and costly to the average Belizean? In this post 911 era, Belize is like a prostitute, open for business for everyone with money or votes.  Politicians have eroded the significance of my citizenship. I call on this government and future government to secure my children’s future and stop perverting my citizenship and start making laws to bring back an atmosphere of integrity and value to being a Belizean.