Media ought to be sympathetic to Haitians

THE EDITOR, Sir:

The recent arrival of a new set of Haitian refugees on our shores has reawakened latent suspicion and contempt for our next-door neighbours.

Dusk masks and latex gloves were how we greeted those that are hardly indistinguishable from our own people, desperately in search of opportunities not available to them in their homeland.

Many of us have never stopped to think of the forces that could compel someone to board a rickety wooden vessel packed with strange faces, sometimes with young children aboard, destined for 'anywhere but here'.

Ignorance is to blame for much of the hostility some of us mete out to Haitians, since our insulation is largely caused by a lack of education, but what excuse is applicable to those that ought to know better?

Several Jamaican media houses insist on referring to the Haitian 'boat people' whenever there is news of the discovery of refugees. I have never heard anthropological evidence for a race of people domicile to a boat, so clearly this lazy and unfortunate moniker is merely a vulgar attempt at an attention-grabbing headline. It is a dehumanising, insulting, and disgraceful description that should be rejected by news editors the moment they see it.

For a people as sensitive as we are about how we are often reduced to one-dimensional caricatures by foreigners, one would think we would be equally as defensive of the human dignity of our brothers and sisters.

Those that know better should do better, and it is time that the media lead by example in demonstrating compassion and resisting the urge to pander to base instincts of prejudice.

BRIAN-PAUL WELSH

brianpaul.welsh@gmail.com