Dear Editor,

Some years ago a high Japanese official remarked that if too many black people start moving into your community then you should move out as your community will become a ghetto. While that official got a lot of flak for his remarks, I sometimes wonder if there is any truth to them.

I grew up in east Kingston and my late grandma came to Kingston when she was a young woman. I can still remember areas like Rollington Town, Vineyard Town and Rockfort being very different when I was a child — which isn’t that long ago.

I spent much of my childhood on Heslop Avenue, which is off Windward Road, and I can remember when most of the people who used to live there were expatriates. Those roads that led to the sea — there was no highway then — were so calm you could hear a pin drop. Rollington Town and Vineyard Town were very different then. The noise that was heard was from us kids playing.

So why are they mostly ghettoes now? On Heslop Avenue, most of the expatriates have either left or passed on. Many of the very educated folks who were living in Rollington Town and Vineyard Town, for instance, have migrated. It seems to me that the situation in many other communities is the same.

My late grandma used to tell me that these east Kingston communities were even better before my time. It is sad to say, but from where I sit, I can definitely say that the quality of many of the people moving into these communities is not the same as those moving out.

On too many street corners there are mostly young people idling. Groups of calm people have been replaced over the years with gangs of thugs who gladly intimidate others with their criminality. Simple habits like cleaning one’s front yard or even painting one’s house are vanishing. We don’t talk out our differences anymore; we fight and shoot them out.

My late grandma used to tell me that Rae Town wasn’t the ghetto that it is now. It used to be peopled by many Jews, and it was a very quiet and “well-to-do” area. Hard to believe that now, isn’t it?

I remember when I was on Heslop Avenue, we had some east Asians living next door us. I think they were Chinese or Korean. When they moved out in about 1980, I couldn’t understand why. Beginning in the late 1970s, many non-black residents started leaving my east Kingston communities. In retrospect, it seemed that they knew what was coming.

I think a large part of the problem is this culture that we have — one bursting at the seams with violence and disorder. While I would want to, I am being forced by my own experiences not to completely disagree with that Japanese official. There are uncomfortable elements of truth in what he said.

Michael A Dingwall

michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com