9 July, 2014

Dear Sir,

After reading today’s article in the opinion page titled When myth becomes fact, I have to confess I have not done deep research on all aspects of Tucker’s Town.

The article was good for providing background to the acquisition of that property. Every older person whom I’ve talked with that had roots in Tuckers Town, told me of the harshness of the times economically.

As in business location; location; location, the government and the business community had clear indicators of the real prospects of a huge influx of foreign exchange which could reverse the fortunes of the floundering economy.

I don’t think the wisdom is questioned, I think its the morality of the forced acquisition against those who refused, is questioned. There will never be a true reconciliation between the ethics of either position, we will have to live with and respect conflicting views. There is another historical layer that brings us closer as parallels to past events in other countries which have precedent.

Knowing the value of that land and its distinct location often caused a question to arise in my head. How did these black folks get this valuable land in the first instance? I was told that Captain John Smith was given the land as a gift for all the work he had done for the kingdom and that he gave that gift to his black children. If this folklore is true then from an historic perspective, new dynamics are at play.

We are now talking about displacement of historic people and historic properties of what is of probative value when equating with the notion of being indigenous or some of our first people.

KHALID WASI