Dear Editor,

Member of Parliament Dean Peart has got a lot of tongues wagging over his now infamous reference, “ole naygah”, in talking about some black people in Jamaica.

What Peart does not realise is that until he is called an “ole naygah” by, say, a white person, he will never understand the deep hurt and anguish that is felt. To prove the demoralising effect those words can have on someone, I ran a little experiment the other day.

A friend of mine who is a constant listener to Perkins on Line started this foolish nonsense that Mutty began as a take-off from Peart’s one-liner by greeting everybody of colour with the words, “Wha’ happen, ole naygah”, which I find very offensive. I believe that the reason I felt that way was because I had previously heard my friend referring to his employees in that manner.

I called him on the telephone and as he answered I said loudly, “Wha happen, ole naygah”. My greeting was met with a stony silence and I have not heard him repeat that awful phrase since. I am going to do the same to Dean Peart.

Ken Spencer

PO Box 537

Kingston 8

ken3_1999@yahoo.com