THE EDITOR, Sir:I SAY this to freelancer Melville Cooke about his September 12, 2002 column "Memories of Sept. 11, 1977."
First, no matter how evil they might be, the dehumanising label "pigs" should never be applied to humans -- for it usually reveals, unwittingly, the very soul of the labeller.
Second, Stephen Biko's 1977 murder received world-wide coverage and condemnation; South Africa was already in the news via the equally well publicised Soweto uprisings.
Third, torture there most likely was, but Stephen Biko was clearly not brutalised in the graphic manner imagined in your column because the medical reports would have so attested.
Visit the South African Truth and Reconciliation web site at www.doj.gov.za/trc, with links to other sites.
I typed 'Stephen Biko' on the Internet because I was curious to know whether it was a fluke or normal for an article, ostensibly devoted to his memory 25 years after death, to contain such poisonously graphic imagination of how he died -- 2830 items appeared, and that was too much to review.
I instead reviewed some current South African newspaper commentary and, without your graphic imagination and hate-saturated language, they reflected on the anniversary and noted Biko's many personal sacrifices and contributions in the struggle against apartheid -- visit www.doj.gov.za/trc and check out the newspapers links. There is a Stephen Biko foundation, and there are national functions in his memory.
In one commentary I noted that Biko said "The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed," and I asked myself what could be your state of mind in sharing your graphic imagination with readers. The world knows Stephen Biko died in police captivity -- what I don't know is why you gave leeway to your imagination on the pages of The Gleaner.
Clearly, Jamaicans do not have a greater claim to the memory of Biko's possibly agonising death than South Africans. Of far greater worth would be your excerpting some of Biko's statements, noting their bravery in the South Africa of that day and how they gave international legitimacy to the struggle for decency in that land. Even Biko's death was another nail on the coffin of Apartheid -- that coffin is now buried.
You have mastered well the vocabulary and images of savagery, and you press that upon Jamaicans, while the South Africans have through their Truth and Reconciliation forum noted Biko's death and moved on. The South Africans are emancipated.
I am also a Jamaican, and I find your equating remembrance of Stephen Biko's death with those who died in the USA mass murder on September 11, 2001 extremely repugnant; no comparison can be made. By the way, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu led the remembrance ceremony for the September 11 victims in Washington, D.C. . Rip your heart out.
I am etc.,
GARETH W. STEWART
garethws@att.net
29 Broadway
New York, N.Y.
Via Go-Jamaica
