The Editor, Sir:

Your newspaper of Saturday, May 10, 2008, Page C4, carried an item "Chamber lobbies to replicate Nat'l Hero's birthplace". Our heritage foundation was instrumental in having 32 Market Street, St Ann's Bay, accorded a national heritage site.

On the contrary, that a replica of the birthplace be entertained on the Seville La Nueva site (as members of the St Ann Chamber of Commerce are proposing) can cast the message of National Hero Marcus Garvey in a different light. Seville La Nueva demonstrates the atrocities of forced labour on the African population there. Forensic science, implemented by Professor Douglas Armstrong of Syracuse University, provided the evidence.

Marcus Garvey's ancestors resisted forced labour, collectively known as Maroons (Black Moses - The story of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association by E. David Cronon - The University of Wisconsin Press). His abode at 32 Market Street symbolises a free people.

There is a song "Ain't nothing like the real thing ..." by Marvin Gaye. Thirty-two Market Street ought to remain undiluted and the 'inner city' restored to its former glory.

I am, etc.,

DENNIS HIGGINS

Chairperson

St Ann Heritage Foundation

St Ann's Bay