Recently, many were consumed by the circumstances of the seven-year-old Jamaican pupil, who was prevented from attending the school of her choice, because her hairstyle takes the form of dreadlocks. One of the more angry retorts I heard was that the pupil might have been better off, represented by a couple of constitutional bush lawyers from yonder mountains.
I really do not believe that their case management was that far off the mark. Their main failure may have been, an inability to mitigate the fact that, sections of the Jamaican jurisprudence, are yet to graduate from, the early post-independence paradigm relating to rights. Indeed, it seems apparent that the Jamaican justices who heard the case, are yet to achieve a level of judicial maturity, which embraces a modern set of rights, values held sacred by more advanced jurisprudence.
Having said that, the trial attorneys, may have committed serious and unforced errors, by an apparent failure to recognize that, schools have a responsibility to make rules governing their operations. So, in their pleadings before the court, her attorneys, may have succeeded in casting themselves in the likeness of naive legal anarchists.
In a “take-off” from one of George Orwell’s most famous observations, all lawyers may be equal but some are definitely more equal than others.
Perhaps if they can adjust the handle of their arguments; enhance their human rights focus and approach the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty’s Privy Council; They will repair some badly-damaged reputations while restoring some confidence in the Jamaican judicial system. All be it through the back door.
I agree with the Jamaican justices that the political class needs to get off the fence, on the matter of dreadlocks, and legislate to protect freedom of this powerful (internationally-acclaimed) Jamaican cultural refinement and propagation. Especially since they (the Jamaican justices) do not have the ovarian or testicular fortitude to rule in favor of dreadlocks.
Walk good until next time.
Arvel Grant, Political and Current Affairs analyst. Authorized for publication.