THE EDITOR, Sir:
I HAVE known Dr. Alfred Sangster for many years and hold him in high esteem as a person of unimpeachable integrity and commitment, but I am concerned about the way in which he has chosen to express a particular point that he has made in recent articles.
The last sentence of his article in The Gleaner, April 29, 2001, reads "The point that I was trying to make was that many of the placard bearers who protest against the police are bogus." In the context of this article it was not made clear which particular placard bearers he was referring to or in what way they might be considered bogus.
In fact the one example he appears to give to support his claim is of a man who is disturbed by the death of his brother at the hands of the police in the ambiguous circumstances of the Braeton killings. The young brother apparently had a criminal record, which presumably did not include a capital crime; were I in the position of that man, I think I might also find that I had lost confidence in the police, who had, in whatever circumstances, deprived my brother of the right to a trial, if indeed there were any charges against him.
If Dr. Sangster has specific knowledge of the hidden agendas of those who are calling for an enquiry into the deaths in Braeton, I think that he should, in the interests of transparency and full disclosure, indicate what it is that he knows and who he knows it about. Great harm is constantly being done within our troubled community by vague blanket accusations of this sort made by Dr. Sangster. I am sure that he does not intend any such harm, and I hope he will clarify his position.
Like Dr. Sangster, I wish to declare my interest; I am a member of Jamaicans for Justice and I took part in the protest outside the Ministry of National Security and Justice. All I am concerned about is the integrity and reputation of the JCF and their ability to fight crime within the limits of the law and internationally accepted standards of human rights.
I am etc.,
JOY LUMSDEN
E-mail:
joylumsden@go-jamaica.com
Kingston 6
Via Go-Jamaica
