Out of many, one people
published: Tuesday | August 5, 2003

Garth Rattray

THERE WAS some pretty ugly journalistic jousting going on between two of our columnists recently. They crossed pens over the colour of our skin, or was it our race? When I used to apply to various universities I always wrote "human" in the box provided for "race" to dispel any confusion.

The article of contention was "The White Man's Burden" by Dawn Ritch. It proposed that the "black" people of the world seem incapable of governing themselves civilly. It went on to state that it is the brown-skinned, Chinese or "white" (often females) of Jamaica who are forthright enough to stand up for the needs and rights of the "black" people even as the latter engage in (apparently inherited) self-destructive behaviour.

Neither combatant mentioned that our country was built and is maintained by hundreds of thousands of dedicated, self-sacrificing, industrious, "black" Jamaicans working without acclaim. Perhaps the misconception that only the "high-coloured" try to improve our lot lies in the fact that on a whole, compared to the average Jamaican, they enjoy a better education and an outward appearance which allows them to command respect from our brainwashed, self-denigrating populace. Being colour-blind, I never saw those mentioned in the piece, Dr. Carolyn Gomes, Diana McCaulay or Sonita Abrahams as being anything but concerned Jamaican women.

The piece triggered a maelstrom of comments, insults, responses and counter-responses. Other writers were caught in the crossfire when Mr. Melville Cooke made the statement, "We have far more wussies than writers". Innocent "black" folk were pulled to the bottom of the crab barrel with the Ritch line, "Nobody wants to feel that they're at the bottom of the scale or the pile, so the best defence is to make everybody else as black as possible". Mr. Cooke called Miss Ritch a "creature" and he came dangerously close to referring to her as a senior female canine when he wrote, "The bottom line is, you cannot teach an old Ritch new tricks". Even the French were caught up in the melee when Mr. Cooke invited Miss Ritch to perform a menage a trois with the Code Noir! Their exchange only proves that focusing on skin tone is inane.

I am extremely proud of my colour and my African heritage but I take strong exception to the term Negro (black) race. People with African blood are members of the only race to be officially designated by a so-called colour instead of their region of origin. According to the Mirriam-Webster dictionary the word "Negro" is sometimes offensive and dates from 1555. The etymology is Spanish or Portuguese, from Negro black, from Latin nigr-, Niger. "Black" has other connotations, all negative I might add, like: serious, dark, rage, hostile, sinister, evil, angry, sullen, dirty, soiled, swarthy, wicked, grim, distorted and grotesque. On the other hand the word "white" is associated with noble words like: silvery, innocent, favourable, fortunate, upright, fairness, snowy, passionate and purity. For these reasons alone I have always proposed that the words, "Black" and "Negro" never be used to describe anyone.

This whole skin colour thing is absurd. Race and appearance are not synonymous. To further complicate matters, there is no actual "black and no "white" race. And if we are talking about colour then technically neither "black" nor "white" qualify. In today's intermixed world, there are fewer pure breed humans around than ever before. Besides, from a biologic standpoint, being pure bred is a liability, mixing the races produces hybrid vigour (brings out the best of each breed). People wrongly persist in associating race almost exclusively with skin tone. Race is also characterised by eye colour, hair colour and texture, stature, nose shape, lips, ears and body hair.

There is little relationship between skin colour and our overall genetic make-up. The seemingly infinite variations in our outward appearance are not important enough to divide human beings into separate races. Today, race and colour have little scientific merit. It's a shame that after 41 years of independence they still represent the manifestation of social stratification and therefore acceptability or rejection. When will we truly be "Out of many, one people"?

Dr. Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.

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