Ja: Why Jamaica is helping Haiti

LAST THURSDAY, The Gleaner published a letter from Ulrich May, a reader whose listed address is Norsa, Florida, concerning the refugee situation arising from the Haitian crisis. In essence, the letter argued that Jamaica should not be receiving Haitian refugees, for two reasons: (a) the United States, a wealthy country, is not accepting Haitians at this time, and (b) Haitian refugees will "only bring burdens on Jamaica, such as AIDS, voodoo, illiteracy and their comfort level of bad hygiene."

That letter has ­ thankfully ­ prompted a significant flow of letters to The Gleaner; the vast majority of these letters reject the basic approach reflected in Ulrich May's short letter. Thus, respondents have argued that refugees should be accepted by Jamaica on compassionate grounds, that Jamaicans have ourselves benefited from being received as migrants in other countries, and that though Jamaica is poor, we are in a position to assist our Caribbean neighbours at a time of great stress.

Mr. May's letter, and some of the responses to it, are written in strong terms: thus, for May, Haitians will visit only burdens on Jamaica, and in response, May's letter is classified as evil, he is described as callous, and Professor Clinton Hewan (a Visiting Lecturer at the UWI, Mona, a few years ago) has registered his anger and utter disgust at Mr. May's prescription.

Read the essay, the above text is the causal agent for Stephen Vasciannie's article. He grounds his rationale in international law.