For the time being, only Buju Banton, his friends and associates know if he is guilty of attempting to purchase a large quantity of the illegal drug cocaine and, more than that, it remains to be seen just how serious the crime itself actually was and, as such, just how much punishment will be meted out if an American court finds him guilty.

Yet, what is so shocking to many of us now is that, like so many other stories where the situation involves a black man running afoul of the law in some other country than Jamaica, where, on the other hand, there is good argument to believe justice is determined by the size and weaponry of the posse rather than some abstract principle of law, so many people routinely and automatically assume the accused is the victim!

O.J. Simpson, 'Dudus' Coke and Tiger Woods, to name a few of the most prominent, all seem to fall, to varying degrees, under this same grand umbrella of sadness and shame or prejudice and victimisation.

What is it then about Jamaicans themselves that predisposes such a demonstration of such obvious bias and such an apparently unbalanced view as to the guilt or innocence of the black man? From a psychological standpoint, this phenomenon cannot be denied, yet it remains to this day largely unexamined and unanalysed.

Is it the result of centuries of abuse and oppression imposed by the white minorities of the western world? Or is it instead merely the convenient excuse, the matronly grace, of the great, New-World, African-American woman? The one who forgives any and all of the stream of still immature and largely irresponsible young males who pass through her arms? Indeed, what explanation should be given for the so-defined and so often undemonstrated 'righteousness' of a social class which, by all appearances, holds no more authority or proof of worth than any other?

Non-acceptance of responsibility, guilt

Was O.J. guilty of murder? Probably. Should 'Dudus' Coke be extradited? Seems likely. Was Tiger Woods an adulterous hypocrite? It would seem a good possibility. All sad, to be sure. Yet, once again, the reader's doubt instantly arises, apparently louder than truth and always far more entertaining than the acceptance of responsibility and guilt.

Is Buju the victim of some sort of 'frame job' perhaps inspired by a militant, anti-Rasta, pro-homosexual agenda? For the time being, only Buju, his friends and associates know the truth of the charges or, perhaps, why they fell on him in particular. Yet, regardless of how it all turns out, all too many Jamaicans are all too willing to be victims, all too willing to easily waste their sympathy and empathy and, perhaps, in the end, all too unwilling or afraid to face the truth that though they themselves and their kind are no worse, they may well be no better.

I am, etc.,

ED MCCOY

mmhobo48@juno.com

Bokeelia

Florida