THE EDITOR, Madam:
I UNDERSTAND fully what Colin Henry went through. On one occasion, my wife and I, plus another black woman, were similarly detained for searching and questioning, while the other passengers, all white, were waved ceremoniously through. You see, the three of us were the only non-whites aboard that plane.
Then a year later, I was travelling alone, and happened to be the only black on board the plane. The plane had been late in leaving our embarkation point and consequently had arrived late at our destination. Once again we alight from the plane and because of the late hour everything went smoothly up to the point when we had to pass through customs. I alone was ordered to be questioned and have my luggage searched, while my fellow passengers went through without being asked to undergo what I was experiencing.
Now here comes the rub. What I described above happened to me in Montego Bay airport in 1998 and 1999. This was not South Africa where I was born or New Zealand where Colin Henry was racially accosted. This happened in a country supposedly ruled by black Jamaicans who supported South Africa during their struggle for liberty and freedom.
I reiterate that I am a black South African married to a Jamaican woman. We reside in Canada but spend a lot of our retirement time in Jamaica. It is my experience and consequently my belief now that white visitors to your country get special treatment when they set foot on your soil, and in many cases customs and other airport officials stand in awe of them. Now this is not true of all, but the general tendency is there.
New Zealand and all other Commonwealth countries are racist, even by their own admission as those dealing with Colin Henry so blatantly stated. The fact that some Maoris (aboriginal New Zealanders) have been selected to play rugby for their country is a meaningless gesture of racial equality. The plight of the Maoris is legend. They have been and continue to be oppressed, repressed and are for the most part landless.
I sympathise with Colin Henry and hope he will pursue the matter for an unqualified apology from the New Zealand government, and that the Jamaican authorities do the same here to see that black visitors are as welcome as whites to Jamaica.
I am etc.,
TOM DICKENS
E-mail: boz@escape.ca
11164-1 Snow Street,
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada, R3T2M4
Via Go-Jamaica
