The Editor, Sir:

I read Xavier Newton-Bryant's letter titled 'Blacks, not whites, should apologise for slavery', and I am deeply disturbed by the lack of historical rigour as well as the narrow characterisation of Africans, slavery, and the slave trade.

Tony Blair was not alive when the slave trade was taking place or any other European alive today. This is a common argument put forward by those who wish to minimise the fact they are benefiting from slavery. The financial benefits from slavery are still evident among some who inherit 'old money'. The psychological benefit maintains 'white privilege' (Privilege, Power, And Difference second edition, Alan G. Johnson).

Newton-Bryant postulates that "slavery, human exploitation, torture, brutality, savagery, and genocide" are reality of African life from the dawn of African 'civilisation'. I wonder if Newton-Bryant is aware that these terms can also be used to describe the holocaust which was carried out by people of European descent. Some of these terms, can also be applied to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), and more importantly, some of these terms can be applied to present-day racism.

The horrors

Newton-Bryant indicates that he is excited that his foreparents were put on ships to the so-called "modern world". I have studied Africa and the slave trade extensively, and have never seen a single scholar who compared the horrors of the Middle Passage to a Disney Cruise line. I think a close reading of Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa maybe helpful in your understanding of early African history, as well as Africa's contribution to Western scholars' construction of knowledge.

It is clear that Newton-Bryant is a privileged Jamaican. Have you seen Damian Marley's Welcome to Jamrock or read Ian Boynes' response to that song? You probably should. Then you will realise that as Jamaicans we may not be contending with these diseases, but the disease of poverty continues to plague the majority of the people in our land. Or are you one those who believe that despite evidence to the contrary, the poor should be blamed for their lot in life?

It is not my intention to minimise the role of Africans in the slave trade. My concern is that Newton-Bryant is presenting lopsided scholarship as facts. As someone who was raised in a postcolonial society that is still suffering from the remnants of slavery and colonisation, I feel like I have been 'sold out' by Newton-Bryant.

I am, etc.,

WINSOME CHUNNU

Jamaican in Ohio

Via Go-Jamaica