THE EDITOR, Sir:
Rebellion or Redemption! It seems the Caribbean Blacks are still seething about the episode of the US and British blacks asking whites to leave the conference room during the get together in Barbados. What is the big deal here?The white groups have left us out of their debates for centuries. Are the Caribbean blacks so forgetful, or they are just too wishy-washy to understand that some blacks may prefer doing this by themselves? And what is so wrong with asking these people to leave? We may need some privacy; if it's even just to whisper to the spirits of our ancestors. It doesn't have to be a racial decision, although the conference is about racism. It may be just an inner spiritual walk; a way of saying, the group that oppressed us should not play a pivotal role this time in our decision.
Perhaps the discussion was very intense, and there could have been angry descriptions about historical events. Remember the Roots film, how much anger it generated, especially in the schools? Did blacks play any part in the final decisions of who gets what for the Jewish and the Japanese during these groups' reparation discussions? If not then why do we have to always succumb to other groups meddling in our discussions?
We can expect blacks from different regions to act very differently. We are not monolithic. And please don't talk about exclusion, because the British had practised that to its fullest in Jamaica. Remember their vagrancy laws? How about the white private beaches? Were any of those in Barbados? Are there any private beaches in Jamaica, and is that illegal? Is this exclusion?
It seems it is only exclusion whenever blacks try going their own way. So similar to whenever groups of blacks try voicing their opinions, it is considered as 'having an attitude' whereas the paler skin's disagreement is just a 'meeting of the minds.' The US blacks have gone through their Dred Scott trials, their Missouri Compromise, and also their Supreme Court Justice telling them that the black man has nothing that the White man should respect, and also that the US was not founded with the blackman in mind!
Then in England we have the James Somerset trial, which gave us some breathing room. Yes, I know, irrespective of these setbacks among the white groups; there were always other white helpers like: Granville Sharpe, Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce and the American stalwart, James Brown.
All blacks should give these wonderful souls credit. They did excellent jobs for our freedom, which cannot be said for the cruel African chieftains, and the present-day numerous house slaves type representatives, who seem to populate our island nations and their governments.
I am, etc.,
S. EGROEG REKLAW
trdhome@yahoo.com
Via Go-Jamaica
