Dear Editor,

As the US bids farewell to another Black History Month, I can’t help but notice the glaring omission in our local and mainstream media. A story so rich in irony and intrigue it practically begs for attention: US President Donald J Trump, the man who once sparred with diversity initiatives the way a mongoose squares off with a cobra, announced plans for a National Garden of American Heroes. Yes, that Trump. I don’t know if it was printed on the back pages of one of the national newspapers, but I have not seen any mention of this. Maybe it missed me, who knows, right?

Not only is this garden set to feature towering effigies of sports legends like Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali, and Jackie Robinson, but also civil rights titans such as Martin Luther King Jr, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks. Picture it: Trump, the supposed anti-diversity villain, now curating an outdoor museum of Black excellence. If that’s not plot twist material, I don’t know what is. Hollywood couldn’t write it better.

And yet, not a peep in Jamaica’s media. Why, Dear Editor, are we not talking about this? Are we so committed to the anti-Trump narrative that we’re ignoring a story practically dripping with dramatic irony? Or are we simply too busy dissecting his tweets, tariffs, and his relationship with Elon Musk to notice he’s out here commissioning statues? I mean, for a man whose critics accuse him of clashing with diversity like a stubborn goat, this is quite the change of tune.

Now, I know what the anti-Trump brigade will say: It’s just a public relations stunt, a desperate bid to rewrite history. But isn’t that precisely what we want from our leaders — a willingness to evolve, to surprise us, to defy expectations? Or is Trump only allowed to surprise us if the end result is a new tweet storm? Heaven forbid the man does something that could possibly, even remotely, be seen as unifying. That would throw an entire cottage industry of Trump critics into existential crisis.

But let’s not kid ourselves. Had this announcement been made by a leader more palatable to the masses, say, Oprah Winfrey or Barack Obama, we’d be drowning in think pieces and praise. The Jamaican media would be running feature-length specials, complete with reggae soundtracks and slow-motion montages of Rosa Parks statues being unveiled to Bob Marley’s One Love. Instead, we’re stuck with crickets. The silence is deafening, and the bias, well, let’s just say it’s about as subtle as a dancehall party at midnight.

So, Dear Editor, I ask again: Why the blackout on this story? Why the absence of witty headlines like ‘Trump’s garden plot thickens’ or ‘From tweets to statues: Trump’s unexpected pivot’? Surely, in a country as vibrant and opinionated as ours, we’re not afraid of giving the man his due — even if it’s begrudgingly, with a side-eye and a raised eyebrow.

As another Black History Month closes, maybe it’s time we acknowledge that history is messy, unpredictable, and often served with a side of irony. And if Trump choosing to honour Black icons doesn’t qualify as all three, then I don’t know what does.

Yannick Nesta Pessoa

Montego Bay, St James

yannickpessoa@yahoo.com