Those of you who are faithful readers will remember a couple weeks ago when I told you about the game that had been played on Griga?s Justin Gonzales. This was a man I didn?t know, had never met, but the ingredients in the recipe were classic. In Belize, if you are black and you get too big, if you manage to beat the rules they have in place to keep you in your place, then they just have to tear you down, without the genteel hocus pocus and bull s?. Straight like that. Justin had gotten too big. So they just tore him down, to the ground.

In the game I saw on Tuesday night, I saw where they did not give Erwin X Jones his respect. This is how the white man does it. He will castrate you psychologically right in front of your eyes. He will have somebody else receive the credit you know you deserve, and the way the scene will be packaged, you will not be able to say anything. All you will be able to do, is to shake your head. Shake your head in wonderment and resignation.

I?m almost 30 years older than Erwin, which is to say, I?m from a different generation. I first got to know him after the UBAD Educational Foundation (UEF) was organized in March/April of 1996. I was never an Erwin Jones fan, and I guess it was because he never gave me my respect. From what I could see, he was listening to Olatunji a lot, and then he became a prot?g? of Dickie Bradley?s. When it was that Erwin became a committed disciple of Minister Louis Farrakhan?s Nation of Islam, I really can?t say. A few years ago, then, Erwin Jones became Erwin X Jones.

When I was a young man in the streets of Belize City around 1971, 1972, there was a PUP leader who made it impossible for you not to like him. His name was George Dakers. Remember now, we UBAD were young studs who were saying and doing everything we could to challenge the older black men who were part of the PUP power structure. We called them Uncle Toms and other insulting names, but Dakers always smiled at us, almost benevolently.

The UBAD office was on Euphrates Avenue, no. 46, in those days, and in the evenings during the week, Dakers, who was a baker, would deliver bread to grocery shops on the street. It got to be a regular thing where I ?hustled? him a loaf of bread, bought some sausage from ?Salva,? and washed that down with an orange Fanta. That was tea.

George Dakers was the mayor of Belize City for years. If he was not the mayor in 1971, 1972, then he was the deputy mayor. For sure. I liked that old man a lot. You couldn?t get him angry no matter what you said or did. And yet, he and I were stone political enemies. In fact, he was considered the leader of the PUP slate which defeated NIP/UBAD in the December 1971 Belize City Council elections.

I remembered George Dakers on Wednesday morning because he gave me an example of how an older black leader could be cool when younger ones tried to bother him. Younger leaders will always think they are the baddest things on the block; they will think that older leaders were born old and feeble; they will disrespect just to disrespect.

I?m not saying that Erwin disrespected. He and Mose are cool. I?m saying he and I were never in a groove. But Erwin is doing solid work in the black community. He?s on the ground, Jack. Erwin is real. I can?t stand by and watch the system treat him as if he is invisible, and not say anything to let you know what the truth is.

The fact of the matter is that because Erwin is a Farrakhan follower, ?they? will never give him his dues. That will be left up to us, the people. And that is what a real black leader must understand. If your people are oppressed, it means they are not in a position to give you honors and titles. ?Respectable? society will always ?diss? you.

Religion is, to my mind, what works for a man/woman spiritually. His Nation of Islam religion works for Erwin. His religion gives him inspiration and strength. I don?t believe in Erwin X Jones? religion. I have my own religion. It?s called information.

I want Erwin to know, and I?m saying it publicly. We in the community know the work you are doing, and we appreciate it big time. We don?t need any multinational billionaires to come here and tell us who is real in Belize. We know. We are the people.

All power to the people.