Between the ages of 13 and 16, In Living Color, the early 90’s sketch comedy show, gave me insight into my West Indian heritage.
“What do you mean you only have one job?! I have 15 jobs, you lazy lima bean!”
This from the mouth of Papa Hedley (played by a mustachioed Damon Wayans), the patriarch of “the “hardest-working West Indian family.” He and the rest of the Hedleys appeared on a sketch called “Hey Mon,” which showed all the family members in action, each juggling several jobs.
In one of the sketches, Papa Hedley reprimands his son for only having a few jobs.
“Four job? Let me tell you something, young Rasta boy. When I was your age I was a maintenance man, a carpenter, a cab driver, a cook, a hospital orderly, a security guard, a tour guide, a fish cleaner and an Amway distributor all in the same day. I almost didn’t even have time to make you, boy!”
I loved every second of it, even though the actors’ accents were about as fake as a dreadlock wig. But at the time, I couldn’t tell the difference between real and fake accents, because I didn’t have much first-hand West Indian experience to draw from.
My dad is from Antigua, mom from Jamaica, but aside from a short trip to Jamaica at the age of 7, and another visit for the funeral of my maternal grandparents at 15, the most consistent example of my parents West Indian heritage was the periodic playing of their “Hot Hot Hot” record on weekend afternoons.
(Note: Coincidentally, the song was written by a Monserrat musician, Arrow, not an Antiguan or Jamaican).
Living in Virginia Beach didn’t help my West Indian knowledge either, because that meant we were a long drive away from relatives in New York City, and a long flight from the grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts in the Caribbean.
To my parents credit though, from time to time, they did regale my sister and I with bits of Jamaican Patois and Antiguan dialect like it was a little magic trick (Us: ”Wow…say it again, say it again!”), told us all about the islands, had relatives visit every few years, and made dishes from their home countries. But living in U.S. with American friends, neighbors and drenched in American ways, I always felt like my family’s West Indian-ness was in the background.
Then, came “Hey Mon.”
The sketch suggested that West Indians in America tended to have many jobs, and worked very hard. It was a revelation for me. An insight that went deeper than Reggae music and dreadlocks. It was about the culture, so it gave me a quality about my heritage that I could hold on to and feel proud of: we’re hard workers. I didn’t have anything or anyone to prove any differently, so I just accepted the observation as truth.
Fast forward to this summer during my month staying in Jamaica. My 82 year-old Jamaican uncle confirmed that it’s all true.
Several years ago, when he lived in Florida, this is what his days looked like: Early in the morning he would work as a janitor, cleaning the floors of an office building. Then later in the morning he would work as a crossing guard for a local school. After lunch, he would do steel and woodwork for a construction company. And to end the day, he would work as the night-time cook at a nursing home.
Four jobs! In Living Color was right. But he wasn’t the only multiple-jobber in the family. His 25 year-old grandson, my cousin, has a similar story.
A few years ago, when he was going to college in Florida, he was a car detailer, a valet, an I.T. specialist, and he also had another job (but I can’t remember what it was right now). And this was all while taking a full course load in college!
Talk about work ethic. I was extremely impressed – and proud to be part of such a hardworking lot.
In fact, even before my uncle went to Florida and had four jobs, he had once been an orange picker in Florida, and then owned a restaurant for a few years, a small grocery store after that, and on the side, he always did a little bit of construction work (which he called “cabinetry”).
He just didn’t stop. Like a serial entrepreneur, if one thing didn’t work, he regrouped and tried something else.
As my 25 year-old cousin says, “Do what you can, until you can do what you want.” And he’s doing just that as he works at a Jamaican dolphin park tourist attraction, while figuring out which of his business ideas he wants to pursue next.
Similar things can be said about my cousin’s stepfather, too. He has quite a few skills of his own. He was a bus driver, a welder, chef at an Arts institute, and a metalworker. Problem is, many of the things he does aren’t in demand right now, so he does small jobs here and there, while looking for something a little more long-term.
He’s smart and eager, so I think it’s just a matter of time before he finds something steady. After all, he perfectly embodies the Hedley’s mantra: “Gotta get to work!”
Check out some of these In Living Color “Hey Mon” sketches:
-Hey Mon – Restaurant episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opq8YCkFV9s
-Hey Mon – Airline episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpu5_3qk4KM
-Hey Mon – Hospital episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-QdhtmvowM
-Hey Mon – “At home” episode (starts around the 7:30 mark): www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c9wc3viswc
