Strident war against racism
Published:Saturday | December 21, 2013 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I respond to an article penned by your columnist/contributor Orville Higgins and published in the November 1, 2013 issue of The Gleaner.
It is one thing to be thought of as a fool; it is quite another when by your own ignorance and obvious lack of exposure, Orville Higgins, that you confirm it.
The scourge of racism has been with us for centuries, and regardless of how some of us try to pretend away this issue, it is humankind's greatest tragedy.
Racism is not just about a psychosis, a psychological reaction because one racial group seeks to denigrate another by an expression. In fact, it is more than that. Attitudes are formed over time and manifest themselves in behaviours covertly or overtly practised.
Racism is fundamentally a white-black phenomenon where whites generally feel that blacks are less than human. The thinking broadened over time to one where all other races were deemed as inferior by whites. This behaviour has been skilfully transferred by one generation to the next over centuries, and despite the economic advances made by blacks, such gains still do not translate into a softening or change of attitude.
Completely divided
In fact, here in the United States of America, we see the treatment meted out to Barack Obama (the country's first black president) as the American society is now completely divided and the Klan completely unmasking itself, with whites openly calling for his assassination.
There is a war that has to be declared against racism where, as the poet Bob Marley puts it, "Until the philosophy that holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned ... totally destroyed, there will be WAR."
There is a WAR going on, Orville Higgins, a war against ignorance - the kind of ignorance that allows for the perpetuation of the redeepening of the roots that nurture racism.
Blacks everywhere must take a stand against this scourge, and those of us with access to media and airtime need to be on the right side of this fight.
Orville Higgins, you need to learn that for despite all your media exposure, the attitude you display in the above-mentioned article serves only to show that you are indeed a complete Dunce.
RICHARD BLACKFORD
Florida, USA