THE EDITOR, Sir:
It is understandable the anxiety that Jamaicans in the USA and those involved with tourism are expressing due to the publicity given to the recent sniper killings. Poor nations and minorities are easily maligned when a member of their group commits a horrific crime.
Blacks in the USA are also anxious due to the high profile given to criminal activities involving blacks. They know that this will be followed by police harassment.
I had firsthand experience with this kind of focus when my friend from Calabar High School, Colin Ferguson, killed six people on the Long Island Railroad. I was told by other friends not to let anyone know that I am associated with him in any way. I wanted to go to the jail to speak to him, but was told that this was not a good idea.
Americans tend to generalise when describing other people. Some think that all Jamaicans smoke ganja and are violent. I work in a field that sees the other side of America each day and I do not conclude that all Americans are like the people I work with.
This other side of America is the side that most Jamaicans do not see or hear. I list below some of the things that happen in the other America, the America, which is pure American not contaminated by immigrants. This account is the description of some recent reasons why children are placed in the foster care system in New York City:
Mother left child - whereabouts unknown.
Child removed from home because of mother's drug use and violent behaviour.
Mother abandons child with home-maker and never returned.
Child fondled by stepfather; when mother found out she shot stepfather.
Baby born with positive test for cocaine.
Mother failed to pick up children from school bus - mother's whereabouts unknown.
Mother hit child in store then shoplifted, fled store and left child behind.
These are just a few of the incidents that take place each day in the United States. The world does not condemn all Americans as child abusers and worthless parents. We expect the same from the American media and people, towards weaker nations like Jamaica.
I am etc,
DENNIS FRANCIS
Poughkeepsie, NY
Via Go-Jamaica
