THE EDITOR, Sir:
PETER ESPEUT, sociologist and Gleaner columnist, shared with us, his observation or should I say, concern, that during his recent European tour he encountered business enterprises owned and operated by Chinese, Lebanese, and Indians, but rarely by a
person of African descent.
"All things being equal", muses the columnist, one would expect in any society a distribution of all occupations across all ethnicities in proportion to their numbers".
However, in reality, all is never equal. Further, it is not only in entrepreneurial matters that this situation is evident. It is also evident in nearly every field of human endeavour and accomplishment - in the sciences, in philosophy, in economics.
But to draw conclusions from this fact is to repeat the same line of reasoning followed by the ancients who believed that the Earth was flat because it looked that way to them.
I totally agree with Peter in the manner in which he disposed of genetics as a causal factor. This brings forcibly to mind the recent book Bell Curve in which the apparent backwardness of black people was attributed to genetic deficiencies.
This line of attack was comprehensively demolished by the subsequent work of real scientists on the genome which established that there is no basis for claiming that one race of people is naturally better endowed than another.
IMPORTANT FACTORS
Cultural and geographical factors are very important. The history and social circumstances of Africa never gave rise to or supported developments such as the Renaissance, the Reformation, the industrial/scientific revolutions, the rise of capitalism.
What would a Chief and his 20 wives want to know about the calculus, logarithms, the French Revolution, trade and industry?
My parents made sure that I qualified and entered the civil service because I would be assured of a fixed salary, however small. Shopkeeping or business of any form was taboo. What could be more destructive of the entrepreneurial spirit than this?
When Lewis Davidson, then Headmaster of Wolmer's, taught us black students civics and warned us about the civil service mentality, he was quickly fired from his job. That was in the early 1940s.
My conclusion: Formal education properly structured is a necessary but certainly not a sufficient factor. To this must be added family values and attitudes, supportive of the ends we seek. Such a contribution, like faith, can overcome mountains.
I am, etc.,
R.H. ALEXANDER
Temple Meads, Kingston 6
