Dear Editor,
In light of the brutal killing of 17-year-old cross-dresser, Dwayne Jones, by an angry mob who, after cowardly stabbing and shooting him, threw his body by the side of the road and continued to dance as if nothing took place, I think civil disobedience is needed.
It is needed to send a clear message that no longer will decent people sit by and allow this kind of atrocity. For far too long, a minority group of people of "otherness" through their sexual preference have been maligned and the Bible used as the yardstick of morals to measure them to see how they fit into the Jamaican society.
As we celebrate Independence and Emancipation, I think it is now time for all well-thinking Jamaicans to stand up and be counted among those who will not sit idly by and allow tyranny to rule.
Just as how the church can organise a march against the repeal of an antiquated law, people should stand up and let their voices be heard in every corner of Jamaica, from every building, and on every street, that equity for all is what is needed. Do not be silenced; if our ancestors never did this, we would still be in chains today.
It was St Augustine who said "an unjust law is no law at all". In the movie, The Great Debaters, one of the speakers, in reference to racism, made the point that "majority does not decide what is right or wrong, your conscience does". Our conscience therefore must dictate to us that what two consenting homosexual adults decide to do with their lives and in the confines of their bedroom is not something that infringes on the rights of heterosexuals.
Let us not be fooled that an idea prevails because it has the support of the majority. Let me hope that never again will we allow the blood of people like Dwayne Jones to be spilled in a senseless way. No matter what Dwayne did, the mob was the criminal.
Ralston Chamberlain
Toronto, Canada
In light of the brutal killing of 17-year-old cross-dresser, Dwayne Jones, by an angry mob who, after cowardly stabbing and shooting him, threw his body by the side of the road and continued to dance as if nothing took place, I think civil disobedience is needed.
It is needed to send a clear message that no longer will decent people sit by and allow this kind of atrocity. For far too long, a minority group of people of "otherness" through their sexual preference have been maligned and the Bible used as the yardstick of morals to measure them to see how they fit into the Jamaican society.
As we celebrate Independence and Emancipation, I think it is now time for all well-thinking Jamaicans to stand up and be counted among those who will not sit idly by and allow tyranny to rule.
Just as how the church can organise a march against the repeal of an antiquated law, people should stand up and let their voices be heard in every corner of Jamaica, from every building, and on every street, that equity for all is what is needed. Do not be silenced; if our ancestors never did this, we would still be in chains today.
It was St Augustine who said "an unjust law is no law at all". In the movie, The Great Debaters, one of the speakers, in reference to racism, made the point that "majority does not decide what is right or wrong, your conscience does". Our conscience therefore must dictate to us that what two consenting homosexual adults decide to do with their lives and in the confines of their bedroom is not something that infringes on the rights of heterosexuals.
Let us not be fooled that an idea prevails because it has the support of the majority. Let me hope that never again will we allow the blood of people like Dwayne Jones to be spilled in a senseless way. No matter what Dwayne did, the mob was the criminal.
Ralston Chamberlain
Toronto, Canada