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JCA must revoke that honour to Lawrence Rowe
Friday, July 01, 2011
IF there was anyone who did not share our lack of conviction in the sincerity of Mr Lawrence Rowe's so-called apology for his contemptuous rebel cricket tours of Apartheid-ruled South Africa in the 1980s, they only need to listen to his interview on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines last week.
When asked by journalist and presenter of the show, Mrs Dionne Jackson Miller, whether his apology was an acknowledgement that he was wrong to have broken the sporting ban on South Africa at the time, Mr Rowe said:
"I'm not saying that I did wrong. The whole point about it is that history will prove if I'm wrong. History will prove that. If we check it out some of our own national heroes were crooks. Paul Bogle was vilified and then he becomes a national hero. So you don't know; probably when I'm gone, probably 40, 50 years from now I might be a national hero; wherein something that was extremely negative and thought of as being wrong might be positive 40, 50 years from now."
Absolutely unbelievable!
So here we have a man who spat in the face of the Jamaican people, and indeed the freedom-loving people of the world, comparing himself to National Hero Paul Bogle and declaring that probably one day in the distant future he may be named a national hero.
Such arrogant balderdash!
Mr Rowe seems to have conveniently forgotten that Mr Bogle fought for freedom for the black majority of this country, which runs counter to the racist system of governance that his rebel tours embraced.
Further, in the context of Apartheid South Africa, Mr Bogle would be equated to men like Messrs Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu — men who fought against a system that oppressed people of the same race and hue as Mr Rowe.
Mr Rowe also vilified our national heroes when he suggested that some of them were crooks. For that he should apologise.
But then, he would not know what it means to truly apologise, given that the one he offered on June 20 was issued a few hours before he turned up at Sabina Park to participate in the Jamaica Cricket Association's (JCA's) shameless ceremony naming the Players' Pavilion in his honour.
That, as we articulated in this space last week, was merely a gesture driven by the JCA's misguided decision, a fact that was unabashedly confirmed by Mr Rowe himself to journalists after the ceremony.
Except for the weak defence of this decision offered by JCA president Mr Lyndel Wright last week, the association, we notice, has gone silent on this issue.
Mr Wright, however, needs to accept that a man's ability to bat cannot outweigh his respect for humanity.
And given Mr Rowe's outrageous comments on Beyond the Headlines last week, we cannot see how the JCA can justifiably keep his name emblazoned on the Players' Pavilion at Sabina Park.
For, years from now when youngsters ask who Lawrence Rowe was, what will the JCA tell them?
The JCA needs to revoke this honour before it embarrasses itself and Jamaica any further.
Friday, July 01, 2011
IF there was anyone who did not share our lack of conviction in the sincerity of Mr Lawrence Rowe's so-called apology for his contemptuous rebel cricket tours of Apartheid-ruled South Africa in the 1980s, they only need to listen to his interview on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines last week.
When asked by journalist and presenter of the show, Mrs Dionne Jackson Miller, whether his apology was an acknowledgement that he was wrong to have broken the sporting ban on South Africa at the time, Mr Rowe said:
"I'm not saying that I did wrong. The whole point about it is that history will prove if I'm wrong. History will prove that. If we check it out some of our own national heroes were crooks. Paul Bogle was vilified and then he becomes a national hero. So you don't know; probably when I'm gone, probably 40, 50 years from now I might be a national hero; wherein something that was extremely negative and thought of as being wrong might be positive 40, 50 years from now."
Absolutely unbelievable!
So here we have a man who spat in the face of the Jamaican people, and indeed the freedom-loving people of the world, comparing himself to National Hero Paul Bogle and declaring that probably one day in the distant future he may be named a national hero.
Such arrogant balderdash!
Mr Rowe seems to have conveniently forgotten that Mr Bogle fought for freedom for the black majority of this country, which runs counter to the racist system of governance that his rebel tours embraced.
Further, in the context of Apartheid South Africa, Mr Bogle would be equated to men like Messrs Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu — men who fought against a system that oppressed people of the same race and hue as Mr Rowe.
Mr Rowe also vilified our national heroes when he suggested that some of them were crooks. For that he should apologise.
But then, he would not know what it means to truly apologise, given that the one he offered on June 20 was issued a few hours before he turned up at Sabina Park to participate in the Jamaica Cricket Association's (JCA's) shameless ceremony naming the Players' Pavilion in his honour.
That, as we articulated in this space last week, was merely a gesture driven by the JCA's misguided decision, a fact that was unabashedly confirmed by Mr Rowe himself to journalists after the ceremony.
Except for the weak defence of this decision offered by JCA president Mr Lyndel Wright last week, the association, we notice, has gone silent on this issue.
Mr Wright, however, needs to accept that a man's ability to bat cannot outweigh his respect for humanity.
And given Mr Rowe's outrageous comments on Beyond the Headlines last week, we cannot see how the JCA can justifiably keep his name emblazoned on the Players' Pavilion at Sabina Park.
For, years from now when youngsters ask who Lawrence Rowe was, what will the JCA tell them?
The JCA needs to revoke this honour before it embarrasses itself and Jamaica any further.
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