Adults Need to Rekindle Relationships with Younger Generation – Portmore Mayor

Mayor of Portmore, Keith Hinds is calling on adults in that municipality and the wider Jamaica, to rekindle relationships with the youth as one way of preserving culture.
He told JIS News, that it was time to begin investing in young people, and finding a way to get to them involved in the ‘Jamaican way’.
The Mayor pointed to 2008 Olympic Games triple Gold medalist, World Record holder Usain Bolt, dancing the popular Jamaican dances in Beijing, China after winning his events and the uneasiness of some Jamaicans with him displaying this aspect of the culture.
“Persons thought that he was out of order… not so. This is his culture, he felt good and he was doing it on the world stage. Our young people are interested in sport and music. We have to find a way, our local authorities, Members of Parliament and central Government, to get to our young people and we have to do it the Jamaican way,” he told JIS News.
The Portmore Mayor noted that when it was the era of ‘ska’ or ‘mash potato’, teens then behaved just as enthusiastically. “You can’t now because they are doing the ‘nuh linga’ or the ‘gully creeper’, you feel that he is a different person from you. It’s just a different age group, you have to engage him and allow him to enjoy the culture that is a part of his heritage,” the Mayor added.
He pointed out that in order to preserve the future, Jamaicans have to be careful not to kill the emergence, growth and development of the island’s culture.