THE EDITOR, Sir:
TO THE anonymous Returning Resident who wrote the piece "Appreciating White Nations" in The Gleaner of March 27, 2002, I certainly cannot blame you for keeping your identity a secret. Perhaps it would be wise for you to return to wherever you came from as it is safe to say that you are a fervent proselyte of First-World colonial and imperialistic propaganda.
Have you ever considered the history of the development of modern western civilisations, specifically "great white nations"? Did it ever occur to you that the wealth and prominence of most, if not all of these nations including Britain and the USA were generated by the enslavement of millions of Africans? Did it ever occur to you that the invasion of Africa by Europeans and the subsequent draconian imposition of European ideals and systems are probably the main reasons that a number of (not all) African countries are (and I quote) "bankrupt, corrupt and strife-torn"? I daresay we learnt corruption very well from our former colonial masters who stole or now control African resources all the while in the name of spreading Christianity on the 'Dark Continent.' The rest of us don't need to appreciate great white nations; you need to appreciate Black History. Space does not permit me to enlighten you.
Many countries in Africa had an advanced culture and organised and structured societies long before any European first set foot there.
The same hands that you claim are helping us now are the same ones that put us in chains and subjected our forefathers to the horror of the Middle Passage (do you even know what that is?).
Sorry, Returning Resident, but I will never be grateful to any 'great white nation' for building their countries from the blood, bondage, murder and enslavement of Black people. 'Great white nations' through systematic colonisation and imperialism altered the entire course of world history, the effects of which are still very much manifested in our lives today.
I am etc.,
CAMILLE A. ROYES
camroye@hotmail.com
Via Go-Jamaica.
Mona
Kingston 6
