Saluting Garnett Roper

Let me use this opportunity to thank the Rev Garnett Roper for giving voice to the voiceless and always seizing every opportunity to speak on behalf of the disadvantaged.

I read his letter to the editor regarding the South African athlete, Caster Semenya. The views he has expressed reflect the total disgust felt by myself and other well-thinking Jamaicans for the manner in which Semenya's right to privacy has been violated by the IAAF and the international press, and concur with him that, at best, the handling of the matter is gross insensitivity and at worst outright racism.

Rev Roper we continue to salute you for championing the cause of the downtrodden and oppressed.

-Maggie Barnett, St Catherine

Media bias against Serena

I am usually very careful before citing racism or colour bias, given the sensitive nature of the topic. However the treatment by sections of the international media of Serena Williams's controversial loss at the US Open, I am afraid, beseeches such an allegation.

Several of these entities chose to highlight the egregious nature of Williams' conduct while totally ignoring the horrible call by the line official which triggered the entire incident.

Of course, Serena's reaction was a bit over the top and we wish that she had retained her cool in pursuit of triumph but the coverage of the international media of the controversy itself leaves much to be desired.

The rant by the tennis analyst on the BBC's Sunday Sports World programme to the effect that the sporting world would forever look on Serena differently, is extreme and unnecessarily harsh. It is basic essay skills that the opposing point of view must be given an air, yet disgraceful several of the media entities chose to ignore not an opinion but a fact, that the call by the line judge was wrong.

I am willing to bet that had it not been Serena but Clijsters, or tennis's poster girl, Maria Sharapova, who made such an outburst, their passion to win would be extolled. Why is it that Serena is being denied the empathetic reaction afforded to the temperamental McEnroe, Sharapova, Ivaniesevic and Agassi, all of whom have been guilty of indecent conduct on the tennis court from time to time?

-Abka Fitz-Henley, abkafitzhenley@yahoo.com