THE EDITOR, Sir:
The recent call by the Broadcasting Commission on the British Broadcasting Corporation to apologise for what the Broadcasting Commission classified as offensive material is selective, to say the least.
What about the numerous other songs which promote and advocate gun violence? These seem to escape not only the Commission, but also community organisations and civil society as a whole.
Just one example: there is the song with the theme "Chatty Chatty Mouth" which is aired on the popular radio. In it a popular singer inveighs against and threatens, the "informer" who reports to the police that the (singer) has a gun as a "Everybody know seh/Ah so the ghetto run/Fe defend you self/You have fe have a little gun."
We speak with forked tongues when we allow such ideas to thrive under the label of artistic freedom while at the same time officially calling on women and children to stop sheltering gunmen, condemn our young men for their learned proclivity to violence and chant that we want the best for our children - rich and poor alike.
I am, etc
JACQUELINE SAMUELS-
BROWN
Attorney-at-law
Barry Street, Kingston
