THE EDITOR, Sir:
I REFER to Mr. Cecil Gutzmore's critique in your May 15th edition, of a documentary on Marcus Garvey Look For Me In The Worldwind aired on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) during Black History Month.
According to Mr. Gutzmore, the film was a terrible one, which used valuable resources to besmirch Garvey and that part of its intent was the putrefaction of Garvey's reputation. In general, and to my disappointment, Mr. Gutzmore had nothing favour-able to say about either the film or its producers.
I attended high school in Jamaica 1963-1970 and was not availed of the teaching of Marcus Garvey in that setting. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake.
I did though hear of Garvey through my mother, and through references in songs by the Mighty Diamonds, Burning Spear and Culture. Subsequently, I acquired works on Garvey by Robert Hill and Babara Bair, Judith Stein, and Henrik Clarke.
Still no scholar on his works and teachings, I an nevertheless impressed by his visions of self-reliance, racial unity and independence of thought, among others, and suspect that his teachings would bring some inspiration to us as a people, if critically analysed.
Therein lies my disappointment. Instead of using his pulpit to encourage readers to analyse some of Garvey's works, Mr. Gutzmore chose to engage in intellectual chest-thumping. I continue to be amazed that we Jamaicans so often ignore our national heroes' achievements or indigenous products. But when others attempt to bring them to light, their efforts are never to our liking or satisfaction, and we are always victims of injustice.
I am etc.,
RAY FORD
E-mail: fordraye@aol.com
Via Go-Jamaica
