'Brown man' foolishness
Columnist Dawn Ritch is an enigma. Her column on Sunday was a classic example of writing a whole column without saying anything with sense. Describing Obama as being an impostor is so stupid. Does she know the meaning of the word imposter? She is so taken up with this brown man foolishness in Jamaica that she cannot accept Obama as a black man.
Dawn, in America, you are either white or you are black, there is no in between foolishness about brown. The only exceptions are the Mexicans who are referred to as brown. So cut out your rubbish about Obama being an impostor - he is a genuine black man by their definition just like Tiger Woods and the American blacks accept them as such - black men. Get real and cut out your Jamaican foolishness about brown man. You obviously remain a colonialist, please come on into the 21st century.
- Roy Wilson, roywilson1@cwjamaica.com
Dancehall scholarship
Ian Boyne has brought to light the lack of probing scholarship in the area of dancehall.
More research is really needed on dancehall and reggae from varying paradigms, on varying themes and being applied to varying units of analysis. However, what a heck of a thing it would be if people did ideographic research and broad general multifaceted research, and some of the findings indicate that even at the unit analysis level of troubled males or inner-city people, dancehall's impact on things such as crime and a decline self worth or a predisposition to violence turns out be minimal.
Dancehall is truly controversial, Dr Donna Hope always posits; kudos to Mr Boyne for penning the excellent article on the state of dancehall and the academic attention it has been receiving.
- Kevin Keegan, carlstonelives@hotmail.com, Via Go-Jamaica
Hang the innocent?
In the state of Texas, less than five years ago, a man was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. He had representation by a state-appointed attorney.
When it was over, it became quite obvious that the fellow did not receive the best of legal service. In answering those who suggested his defence work was less than judicious, the lawyer said he knew the fellow to be a bad man who had done a lot of bad things in the past. And under normal circumstances he should have been executed a long time ago. He said he was comfortable if he is executed this time.
I see from your article in The Sunday Gleaner that in attempting to clean up the crime in Jamaica, many people out there would not care too much if a few innocent people got hanged. On a personal note I would say if they were bad people then we could think of it as a pre-emptive act. I am not sure where this would lead us, or where it could end, but let's not worry about where it will end at this time. Let's make a start.
- Cleveland Perry, cleveland_s@hotmail.com
