Page 6 - The Maroon- Patricia Reid

1. Are the Maroons mentioned

Shalman Scott

Sunday, November 04, 2018

OCCASIONALLY when I make reference to the Jamaican Maroons in my writings, there are a few respondents,

some of whom parade as being of direct descendants to the Maroons and often, in an opaque manner, seem to

suggest that I am against the Maroons.

What poppycock! Perhaps these people do not know me well enough. Why would I be against a group of people who fought

against European enslavement to secure their “freedom”? If the story was that simple, I would be lacking in good judgement

to be against or be unsympathetic to the struggles of the Maroons and other people around the globe who were victims of

enslavement and subjugation by more powerful nations, tribes and races.

My outrage has always been about the manner in which the history of the Jamaican Maroons, oral and written, were casted

for the consumption of the other negro groupings in the society. The peace treaty of 1739 with the Leeward Maroons and

1740-41 with the Windward Maroons both have clauses in which the Maroons, having secured their “freedom”, agreed to

become policemen of the mountainous hinterland capturing runaway Negro slaves for a fee.