Dear Editor,

Six police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were shot on Sunday, July 18, 2016. Three have so far died.

And as I watched this unfolding news on

CNN, I remembered that President Obama, in his remarks at the memorial service in Dallas last week, made the most damning and devastating assertions to and about white America and no one has dared to challenge him.

He said: “And so when African-Americans from all walks of life, from different communities across the country, voice a growing despair over what they perceive to be unequal treatment; when study after study shows that whites and people of colour experience the criminal justice system differently, so that if you’re black you’re more likely to be pulled over or searched or arrested, more likely to get longer sentences, more likely to get the death penalty for the same crime…”

In support of these assertions from the president, indisputable statistics show that a young African-American man in America is two and a half times as likely to be shot and killed by a police officer as compared with a white youth. This is only one of the litany of deadly and discriminatory practices against African-American communities across the country. It is perpetrated by organisations — notably the police, companies and institutions.

As President Obama pointed out in his speech: “And while some suffer far more under racism’s burden, some feel to a far greater extent discrimination’s sting. Although most of us do our best to guard against it and teach our children better, none of us is entirely innocent. No institution is entirely immune. And that includes our police departments. We know this.”

So there are bigots and racists, like the Ku Klux Klan who deliberately set out to continue the centuries of subjugation and brutality against black people in America, even in the 21st century. This reality, together with the Second Amendment to the Constitution of America — the right to bear arms — and the power of the National Rifle Association over politicians, a dangerous cocktail is now being shaken with deadly consequences.

More young African-American men and boys in America will continue to be murdered, likely with impunity, by white police officers, and just as surely as has now becomes clear, some black men may be moved to exercise their Second Amendment rights, purchase guns and kill white police officers.

So it would be no surprise to me if in the near future, like The Bahamas, more nations with predominant or a large percentage of citizens descended from Africans, issue travel advisories warning their young black men about travel to the US.

The Bahamas advisory issued on Friday July 8, said that: “In particular young males are asked to exercise extreme caution in affected cities in their interactions with the police. Do not be confrontational, and co-operate.

“Do not get involved in political or other demonstrations under any circumstances and avoid crowds.”

It may well be that the governments of Caricom should consider this before any of our nationals get caught up in the current and coming violence in the US.

I am afraid that now, “They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind.”

Ashton S Brereton

ashton.s.brereton@gmail.com