THE SPIRITUAL SCARS OF BUCK BREAKING

HOW THE PAST STILL AFFECTS JAMAICAN MANHOOD TODAY

The transatlantic slave trade was one of the darkest chapters in human history. It wasn’t just about free labor or ownership of bodies—it was also about psychological and spiritual destruction. One of the most brutal and hidden practices during this time was called buck breaking. This was the act of taking enslaved African men—strong, proud, and rebellious—and humiliating them through public sodomy. Jamaica was known as the main location where this took place. Enslavers would single out the strongest men and violate them in front of their families and communities. The goal wasn’t just physical control. It was to kill the warrior spirit inside of them.

Imagine what it does to a man’s soul to be stripped of his dignity in such a way. In front of women. In front of children. He goes from being a leader to a warning sign. The message was clear: if you rise up, this is your fate. This was used to break the will of the enslaved. But the pain and shame didn’t stop with that one man. It spread through his bloodline. This wasn’t just physical abuse—it was spiritual warfare. It targeted identity, pride, and the very core of masculinity.

Many of us never learned this in school. I didn’t know about it for years. But once I did, so much started to make sense. In my opinion, the spiritual damage caused by buck breaking was passed down through generations. It didn’t just die with the original victims. It carried through the blood, through the DNA, and into the mindset of many Jamaican men today. They may not know where this deep, inner pain comes from, but it’s there. It hides behind bravado. It speaks in anger. It shows up in broken relationships and confused identities.

This may be why, in my experience, so many Jamaican men go out of their way to prove that they are men. “Be a man,” “Don’t challenge me,” “I’m not weak”—we’ve all heard it. Some of them are more aggressive than they need to be. Some are scared to show emotion. Others lash out at anything that seems like weakness. Why? Because deep inside, there’s a wound they can’t name. It was never stitched up. It was passed down, still bleeding, from generation to generation. And now, it continues to confuse and torment.

There is also, in my observation, a heavy tension when it comes to homosexuality. Many Jamaican men speak out against it loudly and strongly. But at the same time, I’ve known too many young boys on the island who were touched and violated as children. These things are not often talked about openly. Shame keeps them quiet. But behind closed doors, it’s real. I believe that the silence and shame surrounding male sexual trauma is part of the spiritual damage left by buck breaking. You cannot go through such horrors as a people and expect it to have no effect down the line.

Now, fast forward to today. Look at how many Jamaican men are in pain. How many are angry, distant, or constantly on edge? How many struggle with identity or manhood? Some may act tough and proud, but inside, they are still trying to prove something. That is not by accident. That is a direct result of what was done to our ancestors. This generational trauma was designed to confuse us about what it means to be a man. And because it was never healed, it lives on—quiet but powerful.

We must understand that trauma is not just emotional or mental. It is also spiritual. When a man is broken on the inside, his energy changes. His blood carries memory. His children inherit more than just his features—they inherit his pain. And if we don’t talk about it, if we don’t face it, we’ll keep repeating it. We’ll keep hurting one another. We’ll keep passing down silence, shame, and confusion instead of healing and clarity.

This is not about attacking Jamaican men. This is about healing. This is about facing the root of the issue. You cannot heal what you will not face. And you cannot build strong families and strong communities if the men are still broken in spirit. We must go back and name what happened. We must talk about the violence, the abuse, and the humiliation that our ancestors endured. Only then can we begin to free ourselves from the chains that still bind us today.

I believe that part of the reason for the hidden homosexuality among some Jamaican men is because they are still dealing with spiritual confusion. They may not know where it comes from. It may not even be their fault. But it’s there. And when something is in your spirit, your energy, and your history, it needs more than silence to go away. It needs light. It needs truth. It needs healing. And it needs us, as a people, to stop pretending that everything is fine when it’s not.

We must create spaces for our men to speak. To be honest. To cry if they need to. To unpack the pain they’ve carried for too long. That does not make them weak—it makes them brave. The strength of a man is not in how well he hides his wounds but in how willing he is to heal them. This is not just a fight for individual men. This is a fight for our future. Because when the men are healed, the families are stronger. The children grow up safer. The women feel more protected. The nation rises.

It is time to break the silence. Time to expose the root of the spiritual damage that came through buck breaking. Time to stop the shame. This is the truth. And it’s not meant to blame—it’s meant to explain. And in explaining, we take our power back. We reconnect with our manhood not as something to prove, but something to reclaim. Not with anger, but with understanding. That’s how we begin to rebuild what was stolen from us.