The Editor, Sir:

I listened to Barack Obama deliver his speech in response to the storm that is gathering regarding the radical and racial comments made by his pastor. I was never more impressed by the man and what he stands for. It is, however, ironic that his race in now being pushed to the forefront based on comments made by another black man.

I knew when Barack announced his candidacy for leader of the free world that his race would have been an issue. It was not a matter of would it surface, it was a matter of when and how. Barack tried to avoid or glaze over the issue during and after the primaries in South Carolina and Mississippi where he won by a very wide margin because of the black vote.

Earlier comments

Former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro struck the first chord on the issue with her earlier comments on his front-runner status being due to his race when compared to his opponent Hillary Clinton being female. Ferraro did not voice anything that many Americans and political insiders have not thought or said in private. Barack dismissed her words as fallacy, all be it, in my opinion, a political move, as being the man he is, it must have dawned on him at some point that she is right.

I recall as a young college student studying in America, I, along with other classmates, was invited to an event on the family farm on a Caucasian friend. She spent a bit of time with me at the event and during the course of the evening her grandmother informed me in no uncertain terms that the biracial thing was not well liked in that neighbourhood. I know of the racial undertones in America as I have experienced it first-hand.

We, here in Jamaica, have come a long way with this same issue as not so long ago in our history, the topic of race and colour was a sore point for many a family. We now mostly have the residual issue of class biases to deal with. However, all is not well and past racial issues have not been eradicated. I suppose that anywhere in the world that it had thrived, it has merely been suppressed and, as with any suppression, given the right circumstance it will rise up.

I am, etc.,

GARFIELD COLLINS

Garfield.collins@cwjamaica.com