We are all human

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Having read columnist Keith Noel's piece in The Gleaner on Thursday, February 9, 2012 on Rastafari's legacy in Jamaica, it brought me back to discussions I had with my friends on September 11, 2011 while I commemorated the death of Steven Biko at the hands of the apartheid regime.

Both my light-skinned and dark-skinned friends felt that we as black people should get over the past and move on. They also could not fathom the need for black leaders in white-dominated societies. One even went as far as pointing out that there are no white leaders.

I mentioned a group of prominent white leaders: Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, Rhodes and even George W. Bush. I had it explained to me that those were only leaders who were white.

It took me back to the concept wherein only Europeans had royalty and all else were just tribal chiefs or ethnic group leaders, never kings and/or emperors. Where Africans have tribal conflicts, while Europe had national and world wars!

"So as a prelude, whites must be made to realise that they are only human, not superior. Same with blacks. They must be made to realise that they are also human, not inferior." - Steven Biko

ANDRE D. BROOKS

andre.dominic.brooks@gmail.com