THE EDITOR, Sir:
WHAT HAPPENED on London's subways and streets on July 7 was wickedness, pure and simple. I stand with decent people everywhere in condemning this inexcusable act of terror.
But, as Jamaicans, we do not want to claim Germaine Lindsey any more than Pakistan would want to claim the other three.
The ethnic/national roots of the suspects do not explain the reasons for their acts. Brutality knows no particular ancestry. Lindsey was only five months old, it is reported, when his family brought him to England from Jamaica. He was raised in Britain, attended British schools, was immersed in British life. We struggle to understand the motivation behind the crime he is accused of, but we know deep down that the circumstances of his birth had nothing to do with it. Why then, even before he had been positively identified, did newspapers and T.V. harp on his Jamaican origin? No sir, this tragic young man was British through and through.
We'll have to accept that, even as we cry for the people on those trains who were from all over the world, going about their business, part of the cosmopolitan buzz which makes London, and Britain what it is.
Think of the irony: If, instead of blowing up a train, he had made a scientific breakthrough, or medalled at the Olympics, would he be 'Jamaican-born' Germaine Lindsey?
I am, etc.,
KEVIN YOUNG
kyoung@tvsa.com
Atlanta, GA
Via Go-Jamaica
