Why Jamaicans Are Locked Out Of Most Of Our Beaches?

By Michael Spence

Michael Spence

Jamaica is 4,444 square miles with about 635 miles of coastline. That’s 2.7 million acres, including 1,080,000 acres of designated Crown lands. But access is the problem. Some coastline is rugged and unreachable. Other stretches are locked up as marine reserves, hotels, resorts, and private homes and, yes, are controlled by gangs.

Then some internal migrants and squatters have also claimed space. We’re even seeing violence tied to it. Some of the murders in Negril are linked to beach turf wars and extortion.

The math is stark: Jamaicans have unimpeded access to only about 3.5 miles of our roughly 430 miles of beach. I was in the small island of Barbados for some time and noticed something. Every inch of their beach is open to everyone. Why can’t we do that here?. Don't say too uncivilized, undisciplined, or criminal-minded.

In the "land of wood and water," we have about 50 so-called "public beaches." Where? Meanwhile, people are bawling for water every drought season. We mass-import wood into hardware stores across the island.

Only 15% of Jamaicans can swim well enough to save themselves. If a massive flood hit us, 2.55 million people could drown. That’s not just a social issue. That’s national security. Swimming needs to be added to the curriculum in every school immediately.  

Beach access needs to be written in as a guaranteed right of passage. If we can’t do that, and if 2% of the population owns 95% of Jamaica and a third of the population is squatting, then what independence are we really talking about?

Maybe we should stop dancing and shouting about emancipation and independence until it’s real.

And to add insult to injury, talk of becoming a republic will only further entrench the exclusion, the widening gap, and the marginalization of Jamaicans in their own country. Jamaica still needs to be decolonized. We still need mental emancipation, not exclusion.

So when will Independence become even a "Beach Jamaica" reality?

Michael Spence

Michael Spence is a graduate of Cornwall College and the University of the West Indies. He is a trained teacher, a sociologist, and a writer for Bark Di Trute.

Micspen2@hotmail.com 

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