'Black' ­ an unfortunate designation for terror

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I REFER to Ian Boyne's article in the Sunday Gleaner September 16, 2001 entitled: "Making sense of terrorism" and I take personal offence to his allusion to last Tuesday's terrorist activities on the US as "Black Tuesday". In the article there were at least two references to the events as "Black Tuesday".

Being a black person of Jamaican nationality which is considered black, I cannot help feeling personally assaulted by Mr. Boyne's comparison of Tuesday's events with my racial and ethnic origin. The term 'black' is politically, sociologically, and racially acceptable and correct to describe people of African heritage. And language is very symbolic and powerful. At a time like this when the world is reeling form the events of Tuesday September 11, to be so insensitive as to use the word "Black" to describe the events of that day, is inexcusable. To equate "Black" with one of the most heinous crimes in modern history is to serve black people worldwide with a most detestable injustice as despicable as the terrorist attack on the US.

And why aren't journalists using epithets like "Arab Tuesday", "bin Laden Tuesday", "Zionist Tuesday", "Yellow Tuesday", "Caucasian Tuesday", "Aryan Tuesday"? I am a loyal reader of The Gleaner and it is my newspaper of choice in Jamaica but I will refuse to buy it if it continues to use the word "Black" as a synonym for evil which it appears to do time and time again.

I was heartened by your choice of the Letter of the Day on Thursday September 13, 2001: "Glimpse into true human evil" which addressed the terrorist acts and contained the following comment: "Some describe this catastrophe as a black day; I ask fellow journalists to shy away from this phrase, as to use the word black as a symbol of misfortune is no longer politically correct". I am very surprised that a journalist of Mr. Boyne's stature should be so insensitive to use the word "black" in this way and I am sure his peers in the Caribbean, the US and indeed around the world have lost some respect for him or at best have not taken kindly to his symbolic use of the word "black".

Mr Editor, you and Mr. Boyne may see nothing wrong with it and may feel comfortable with it but there are a whole lot of black people in the world including all the African nations and the US black population who entirely reject the use of the word thus and we can no longer disregard the feelings of such a vast number of people.

I am etc.,

JOY JOHNSON

joyejohnson@hotmail.com

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