As part of Jamaica’s 50th Anniversary celebration, I was asked by Gleaner in 2012, “Why does Jamaica need to unite as we move into the next 50 years?”
This was my response, “It was the 19th century American poet and songwriter, George Pope Morris who coined the phrase “United we stand, divided we fall”. “Even the weak become strong when they are united”, Johann Friedrich Von Schiller also carved. Many others have written of the wisdom of unity and the folly of disunity and its negative outcomes, from the breakup of the Federation in the 1950s, to the disputes surrounding the colours of the national flag and our 50th Independence anniversary celebrations, much to the chagrin of our Diaspora on whose remittances we so heavily rely, and the international community whose respect for our institutions and processes are critical for our credibility. We cannot afford to continue on the same destructive path; we have to re-commit to a united Jamaica as we move into the next half century.
