Please choose your words more carefully

23.APR.10

Editor: I would like to voice my disapproval with what I perceived as irresponsible utterances by senior magistrate Donald Browne. Mr. Browne’s conclusion that only black men are coming to his court and not other groups is rather crude and not fitting of the office he holds.{{more}} If it is a case that he would like to try court cases of other ethnicities then perhaps he is in the wrong country. With an ethnic composition of approximately 70% blacks, surely Mr. Browne is astute enough to realise that the majority of court cases will also be by blacks. Or perhaps it is an excellent opportunity for the magistrate to conduct some sound research on why the crime rate is skewed towards a particular ethnic group.

There are enough outlandish statements being uttered on a daily basis in SVG without having the court join the queue. I chose to comment only because last year in a case involving the robbery of a citizen from a Scandinavian country and published in the Searchlight Mr Browne made an equally crude comment about how the victim must have been traumatised since perhaps he had never seen a black person before. This is the 21st century, Mr. Browne! There are blacks in all Scandinavian countries. I would also hope that you are not afflicted by colour complex.

While I am quite certain your comment was probably intended to be a positive lesson for your audience, perhaps you should choose your words more carefully when in the courts, especially if it is going to be published for public consumption.

Citizen Jacque