The iconoclastic Wilmot Perkins

Chris Burns

Monday, February 13, 2012

"Good morning Mr Perkins, I am happy to be on your programme, Sir", a caller once said. To that, Motty impishly replied, "So what you want me to do, give you a prize?" But whether one loved him or hated him, Wilmot Perkins was by far one of Jamaica's most gifted and knowledgeable journalists. Whatever the medium of communication, Motty delivered with incisive panache and enviable competence. He held steadfastly to the things he believed in and defended them without compromise, and it made it hard not to like Motty.

And though paradoxical in his reasoning at times, as he would curiously and gleefully revel in and espouse the virtues of traditionalism such as his views that "slavery was a good thing", Wilmot Perkins' journalistic style and world view made him an iconoclast. There were no doubts as to where he stood politically and philosophically, in terms of his economic orientation, but he remained principled in his positions on the way forward for Jamaica and it offended both political parties in a good way. Motty loved Jamaica even though he stridently eschewed the backward thinking of its political class.

He loved controversy, he was irascible, probing, absorbing, analytical, mostly fair, but fearless. Motty was always willing to be the voice of the voiceless; and whatever it was in his personal life that caused him to become such a fierce advocate for justice and equality, his indefatigable fight for justice and fundamental fairness earned him the respect and admiration only few will ever earn. He was front and centre with Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) in the Agana Barrett case. Agana Barrett, a 21-year-old carpenter of Grants Pen Road, was one of three men who died from a lack of oxygen in an overcrowded cell at the Constant Spring Police Station in October 1992.

As I recall, it was sometime in the mid-1990s, after my return from England and after accepting a job at the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Florida that I first spoke with Mr Perkins. On my desk was a little radio with its dial preset to WAVS 1170 AM - a mostly Jamaican-brokered Caribbean Radio Station in Ft Lauderdale. One morning, the host, Winston Barnes, announced that Wilmot Perkins would be on live to take calls and he encouraged listeners to call in.

Motty started off the segment with an atypical soliloquy, as though he was on stage. But as I listened to him rant and rave and throw cold water on just about every idea his callers put forward, I became annoyed by his punishingly sardonic view of things. How could this man be taken seriously, when his sole purpose appeared to be to demolish everything, without proposing any ameliorative solutions to the myriad problems he so derisively described as being terribly benighted? I asked myself.

Then I had a sudden flashback to an assessment of Motty's intellectual reasoning that I had heard during my pre-teen years. Some journalist, I think it was the inimitable Peter Abrahams, had described Motty's frequent invectives and thoroughgoing contrarian penchant as reflective of a stubborn bout of "intellectual biliousness". Motty's performance during that programme confirmed some truth in the journalist's prior assessment, but my feelings were short-lived. I called Mutty to offer a suggestion on how Jamaica could enact an effective "gun buyback" programme as a way of reducing the number of illegal weapons on the streets. He listened then asked: "Caller, why do you think that hungry-belly men, whose guns are their sole means of subsistence, would trade them in below market price in the name of patriotism?" He then suggested that the initiative would never work because the criminals would just keep buying or stealing guns for resale.

He was as unpersuaded by my proposal as I was of his opposition to the suggestion. However, I responded thus, "Okay then, Mr Perkins; tell me what you would suggest for the near term." Motty's Santa "Claus-ish" laughter gave way to his most predictable response, "economic development". He then proceeded to abbreviate and paraphrase one of Karl Marx's many statements on historical materialism that says in part: "In order for human beings to survive and continue existence from generation to generation, it is necessary for them to produce and reproduce the material requirements of life...and organise to produce their means of subsistence..."

Inherent in Motty's thinking was the belief that so long as people were working, producing, safe, and were prosperous, the less inclined they would be to commit crimes and the lower the demand for illegal guns would be. Then when I insisted that economic development does not occur in a vacuum or overnight, Mr Perkins mischievously remarked, "Oh, I follow you, I see that you did not graduate from the intellectual ghetto, we both believe in economic production." Motty admired the Singaporean model of success under Lee Kuan Yew and lamented how Jamaica had languished despite having more natural resources than Singapore.

Motty was not perfect, far from it. He had a disgusting habit of "twisting" people's words and then presenting the amended versions as original statements. PJ Patterson was his favourite target. Luckily for Motty, though, he got away with a lot of it because of his impeccable command of the English language and his brilliant understanding of the Jamaica Constitution, libel and common law. He once told his listeners that "every Jamaican should read the constitution and understand it, as well as understanding its limitations".

Unfortunately, he made many enemies, all in the game of being a master contrarian. Some of his views were too impractical and extreme, when practicality and moderation were reasonable alternatives. For although his interpretation of world and historical events were often slanted, he also possessed a reservoir of knowledge and was never shy to share what he knew. Still, not a day went by without his listeners learning something from him. His life and work touched many lives positively, because he forced us to think. We say, "Good evening and goodbye, Motty, may your soul rest in peace, even as you listen to the voice of the people."

Burnscg@aol.com

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COMMENTS (16)

Peter Lawrence
2/15/2012

Mutty loved controversy; he stirred it up in life, and the public now honours him by stirring it up after his demise. The alternative, to just forget him and move on, is one I somehow do not think he would prefer. Of course controversy can be made out of even this speculation, as different views come forward,hahahaha. Now, is this controversial? I once read a column Mutty wrote , about a "prank" in school. At one Xmas a Janitor was given a cigar in which was placed a big squib as a "surprise"

John Christian
2/14/2012

I love these rants about mutty and so would he...he is dead..and u are all trying to analyse and explain him...mutty would have responded...ha ...ha...ha...ha...feeble minds

howie J
2/14/2012

Mutty Perkins often talked about Willy Lynch, but Willy Lynch was not a real person. Willy’s letter is a hoax. Many of the words in the letter came about only in the 20th century. One of those words is “foolproof”.

2/14/2012

It does appear that it is Chris Burns that is twisting words and taking them out of context.

2/14/2012

Chris Burn, when you write a column of a little over 1000 words and among those words are, panache, paradoxical, eschewed, irascible, indefatigable, soliloquy, contrarian, penchant, what is yoiur target audience. Not the ordinary man in the street I am sure. What is you goal by using such language, is it to announce to all "Yes, I have arrived, I am educated and better than you all". Did they not teach you in college that simplicity is the essence of effective communication.

howie J
2/14/2012

If Mutty had such good command of the English language, why not use his art of persuasion to advice governments in a respectable manner? The man was full of hate and disdain for the Jamaican people. I listened to Mutty politicized the events surrounding the death of Willy Haggard. He believed it was an attempt by PJ to go into Tivoli. After 3 weeks of fighting in Rose Town and Jungle, the war eventually spread to Tivoli and nobody could convince Mutty that the police were there because of drugs and guns. He believed that the PNP was out to get the well behaved Dudus.

a c
2/13/2012

Mr.. Perkins never said that "slavery was a good thing". He said that we as individuals would not be here, living where we live, looking the way we do, if it were not for the slave trade. So our very existence would not have occurred if not for slavery! We should each be happy that we exist and make the best of our existence. That is the point that he was making. One needs to listen carefully and understand what is said, another of Mutty's lessons.

Peter Lawrence
2/13/2012

Slavery is not a "nation building project". Slaveowners only abandon the flesh peddling business when the cost exceeds the financial returns of holding human assets. What ex-slaves "got" were patches of rocky hillside to scratch 'a food' whereas the planters got twenty million pounds as "compensation" for loss due to emancipation. And even then the rocky patches etc were paid for by countless lives and misery. NOTHING , even genocide, could ensure profit as the more killed, the less produced.

Tajai Grant
2/13/2012

@nervous investor - Motty is the shortening of Wilmot. Wilmot Motty Perkins is simply a legend, the best of his time, before and beyond. Perkins and Burns shld not be written on the same paper, it just doesn't match.

Dr David Hall
2/13/2012

Mr. Burns, your aritcle is nicely balanced and fair. As you asserted, NO one is perfect and Motty had his faults like all of us. I do not see why people want to paint him as a diety. Perkins was bright, but he had many views on things that were dark. He did say "Slavery was a good thing". He also lamented the terrible aspects of its aftermath especially on our thinking. Motty was not entirely objective either-he tried to be fair and balanced. Those bloggers below should read the article again

a c
2/13/2012

Peter Lawrence
2/13/2012

Many men of great accomplishments often have aspects of disappointing "blindsides" which , to me, negates much of their vaunted brilliance. I happened to talk to him once or twice and found him to be a decent man one-on-one, but to me he was a at heart traditionalist, though a brilliant reasoner. Mutty was an anglophile, plain and simple and just vented the dominant views of this claswhat alienated me was that statement proposing that slavery was a good thing because we got a "state" out of it.

Ras Benji
2/13/2012

Good Column Chris. However 1 small point of dis-agreement. You accuse Mutty of taking the statement of others, twisting and reshaping them, and representing them as original. I think you have been affected by the same malady, in saying Mutty viewed " slavery as a good thing". What he said was not that slavery was a good thing, but that there is the obvious good consequence of the slave trade, in the inheritance of this beautiful island.
If you respect his objectivity, use some of it.
Peace!

Clare Forrester
2/13/2012

Nicely balanced tribute.

nervous investor
2/13/2012

Burns, you seem to be a very sad Spinner of the Orange Tribe. Mutty was almost always spot on in depicting people's mindsets by his use of those people's own words. BTW - I seem to recollect getting my spelling of Mutty with a "u" from a column that Mutty used to write decades ago called "Mutterings from Afar". I have no clue where the spelling with an "o" came from though it seems to be the most used in the media - perhaps I can hear echoes of Mutty's trademark laughter - unimportant.

sunset unuversr
2/13/2012

Chairs Burns I think you would of loved to have had Mr Perkins popularity for being a man of integrity, which I find severely absent in a lot of "educated"Jamaican men over a certain age. I have listen to Mr Perkins for year's and have never heard speak to caller's the way you suggested in your opening segment.
Mr Perkins was not liked by some purely because he could not be bought, unlike you and many like you - Jamaica would be in a better position and have more respect world wide if we're more people like him in all spheres of life

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The iconoclastic Wilmot Perkins