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Trenchtown is a neighbourhood located in Kingston, the capital and largest city of Jamaica. It gets its name from a large open-trenched sewer that runs through the neighborhood. The majority of the residents here live in squalor and infant mortality is rampant.
History
Trenchtown was originally built as a housing project in West Kingston, replacing squatter camps that were destroyed by Hurricane Charlie in 1951. Many who came from rural Jamaica to find work settled there as it was a desirable location.
Most of the new development was one- or two-story concrete buildings, built around a central courtyard with communal cooking facilities and a standpipe for water. Due to lack of funds no sewage system was planned for Trenchtown. Before the hurricane, the squatter camps had emerged around Kingston’s landfill and had become the home of one of Kingston’s Rastafarian communities. The neighborhood became unstable and dangerous from the early 1970s onwards. Two major rival Jamaican political parties — the People’s National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party, had emerged in Kingston and enforced code that ensured only their party’s supporters had access to jobs and services. They sponsored "dons" to enforce their authority in the so-called "garrison communities" and shot any opponents with guns. Trenchtown was controlled by the PNP, which put it at war with neighboring Rima, a JLP stronghold. The road connecting the two became the front-line in an all-out war. After a while the "dons" outgrew their masters and turned to drug trafficking and extortion, and Trenchtown, like other parts of downtown Kingston, was carved up into warring gang territories.
Community projects such as The Trenchtown Reading Association * setup in 1993 and The Trenchtown Development Association setup in 1996 were formed to increase literacy and encourage government spending in the area. Things have been getting better recently and the murder rate in west Kingston has more than halved in the past four years.
Trivia
- Famous Jamaicans who lived in this area include Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer as well as numerous other Reggae musicians.
- Bob Marley and the Wailers dedicated a song to the neighbourhood of the same name, titled "Trenchtown Rock".
- Marley's song No Woman, No Cry also makes a reference to it.
- Trenchtown is also mentioned in many songs by the band Sublime.
References
- Trenchtown: A Spiritual Powerpoint by Eddie Brannan
Further reading
Voir Trenchtown et mourir, by Helene Lee, 2004, Flammarion, France, ISBN 2080684051
"Trenchtown"