Pens, Grandmothers, and Friendship: A Jamaica Reflection

This author reflects on her experience as a white American visiting Seville Heritage Park (St Ann’s, Jamaica) with the TWP. She looks back on her deep and lasting friendship with the late Barbara Omolade, an African American, who reminded her that white guilt does not serve anyone. The author argues that guilt without attentiveness corrupts, shuts us down, separates us even further from one another, while her friendship with Barbara, and their roles as grandmothers, taught her that goodness comes from an enduring friendship that didn’t flinch from differences, difficult histories, or straight-forward conversations, held together by their love for God and for each other.