By Lolita Long, New York EditorNEW YORK:
The Weekly Gleaner was deluged yesterday with phone calls from main-stream media and persons who wanted to verify information sweeping like wildfire around the country and the world that the Washington area snipers were Jamaican nationals.
Media houses such as MSNBC and ABC, wanted reactions from The Gleaner.
"This could be the opportunity to appear on national television to answer questions and to promote your paper," said an ABC News representative.
One international photography company was willing to pay "any money" for exclusive pictures from The Gleaner. He persisted, calling several times, in his attempt to get pictures.
Several creditable news sources reported that the alleged snipers both had Jamaican connections but, as the day progressed, only one turned out to have Jamaican connections.
The young man, John Lee Malvo, was said to be a Jamaican, while his counterpart, John Allen Muhammad, 42, was reportedly from Antigua.
Concerned Jamaicans were worried that this latest incident would stir up anti-Jamaican sentiments once again to the level of the Colin Ferguson incident, several years ago. Then, Ferguson, a Jamaican national, went berserk during rush hour on the Long Island Railroad, shooting several passengers. Several persons died in that shooting and others were injured. Ferguson later represented himself in the courts and was eventually sentenced to life in prison.
"We really don't need this negative thrust in the news just now, not now when we are trying to keep our tourism alive," said one tourism official who requested anonymity.
Only last week, Bruce Nobles, newly appointed Air Jamaica president and chief operating officer, expressed concern about Caribbean-Jamaican tourism, especially in light of recent international events, like the threat of war, the creeping US economy, the fluctuating stock market, and increasing cost of security.
An appeal went out to the immigrant community in Washington, D.C., to assist in nabbing the snipers, and the assurance given by the Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, two days ago, that their status would be regularised if they came forward. Now that the situation is under control, sentiments ran high that the immigrant community, especially Jamaicans, would once again be under the spotlight.
"I just have a suspicion that the immigration noose is going to be tightened further," said a worried woman, who said she was a student at Brooklyn College, NY.
The Gleaner tried to get a comment from Immigration and Naturalisation Service representative, Mark Thorn, but he was said to be out of office.
