An apology of convenience

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I once read an article by British sports journalist Jonathan Agnew, in which he essentially stated that if Sir Garfield Sobers was batting at the Kensington Oval, Brian Charles Lara was batting at Sabina Park, and Lawrence Rowe was batting at the unheralded Emmet Park, Emmet Park is where he would submit cash or kind to be a spectator. I have seen similar sentiments in columns written by The Gleaner's own veteran sports journalist Tony Becca.

It is hard to believe that a cricket observer would eschew the chance of seeing the panache of a Sobers master class, or an array of Lara late cuts, straight drives and extra cover drives, in favour of just another passage of time.

So the Jamaica Cricket Association has decided to honour the man also known to cricket fans as 'Yagga' by naming a pavilion at Sabina Park after him.

Insincere words?

The apology of Rowe, the consummate creature of convenience, did not state or demonstrate an understanding of exactly why he would have not only offended Jamaicans and Africans all over, but critically insulted himself.

After leading the initial tour in 1982-83, at a time when apartheid was rampant in South Africa, Rowe repeated the dastardly deed in the 1983-1984 tour. What I did not get from what I call the Rowe Passage of Papal Convenience is an understanding that when he toured South Africa as an African descendant under the moniker of an honorary white, he essentially submitted his people to a psychological throwing in of the towel.

I did not get from the Rowe Passage of Papal Convenience that Lawrence Rowe appreciates - as in the case of the Maroons who entered into contractual arrangements with the oppressors - that by touring South Africa he would have said to the ruling cohort that your discrimination against, and slaughter of, South Africans was okay.

I did not get that Lawrence Rowe appreciates that the visible remnants of apartheid exist today in a way where original descendants of Africans are still exposed to inferior medical care in parts of South Africa, or where even the black waiter in a restaurant seems naturally minded to serve another complexion first, even though an African descendant might have placed the initial order.

While Rowe might have, and still appears to be playing to that gallery of apologists, his Papal Passage of Convenience was done for the wrong reason.

I would be minded to accept an apology which is driven by a genuine recognition of an error but not merely an 'Oh, I offended y'all, I sincerely regret this. Let the matter rest'.

ABKA FITZ-HENLEY

abkafitzhenley@yahoo.com