MALVO
THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE MAY 22 edition of the New York Times carried an Associated Press story on Lee Boyd Malvo stating, "Malvo, who was largely abandoned by his parents, said Muhammad 'basically took me under his wing' a few months after they met in May 2000." Clearly, Malvo's parents' stories in the Jamaican press did not make an impact abroad.
A review of the history of young, intelligent, impressionable and hungry-for-love Lee Boyd Malvo will reveal that he was not abandoned by his parents. His experience mirrors the struggle of migrants to America supporting their children back home.
Malvo's father could not earn enough in Third-World-going-seventh-world Jamaica, and his mother migrated to find better jobs to support her children left behind. Malvo's mother's relationship with Mohammad in the Bahamas turned into a virtual kidnapping of her child by Mohammad, who had lost his own children in a broken marriage. Malvo's mother made a heroic trip across America to the pacific northwest, where she received no help from authorities in regaining custody and control of her son.
As America debates its guest worker programmes, their impact on family life for the children of migrant parents is important to consider. In Jamaica, hardworking parents send material goods home to their 'barrel children' as best they can, but their presence is longed for.
As Father's Day approaches it might be wise to analyse the common denominator between Malvo, shoebomber, Richard Reid and subway shooter, Colin Ferguson. Aside from Jamaican heritage, all shared the lack of a father figure and male guidance in life into positive directions.
I am, etc.,
HEIDI REIDELL
heidireidell@hotmail.com
St. Elizabeth
