Rastas: Start with sorry
by Phillipe Aimey
APOLOGISE!
That’s what members of the Rastafarian community want the Royal Barbados Police Force to do before there is any meeting between the two bodies to discuss a long list of issues.
This was only one of the conditions outlined by the Justice Committee at a Press conference held at the I’Akobi Youth Resource Centre, Tweedside Road, St Michael, yesterday.
It was called to respond to Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin’s invitation to meet and discuss the issue of “Rasta profiling”.
Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris, while delivering the verdict last month of ‘death by misadventure” at the inquest of I’Akobi Maloney, 23, suggested that more be done between the two groups to foster better relations.
Dottin agreed and extended an olive branch.
However, the Justice Committee said an apology was needed first.
“We have issues to discuss, but we cannot escape the reality that this young man died in the presence of police officers.
“They are the last ones who saw him alive and if we take their account that he escaped from their custody, it still clearly highlights neglect and poor work on their part to let someone escape from them, so an apology is in order,” secretary Ras Kudosage I said.
Other conditions outlined by the committee included that the protocols “ignored” by the police following Maloney’s death be discussed and that the discussion be a public one, open to the media.
Dottin said last month: “I want to state categorically that the police force does not enforce the law by targeting any groups. We carry out our duties without fear or favour and with sensitivity.”
Dottin is out of the island, but when the WEEKEND NATION contacted acting Commissioner Bertie Hinds yesterday, he would only say:
“Those comments were made by Dottin, so it is best if he speaks to that matter. I won’t be drawn into it.”
Brother Ivar, better known as Observer the calypsonian, had been very vocal following the verdict, stating there was no hope for better relations between the two groups.
Yesterday, however, he said unless a genuine effort was made to improve relations, nothing would change, reiterating that other social groups had to strengthen their stance.
“It is not just the police. We hope the dialogue can be frank towards a better end but other people in this society have difficulty with Rasta, so it’s across the board.
“Some families treat their children as outcasts when they profess this faith so it is the same profiling happening.”
I’Akobi’s brother Mandela Maloney wants a judicial review of the matter.
“The question of how my brother died is still to be answered. After the months of deliberation we are no closer than we were then . . . . [The coroner] refuted death by suicide and then said he ran over a cliff in fear; that amounts to the same thing in our opinion . . . ,” he said.
Tags: Acting Commissioner, apology, Bertie Hinds, Commissioner of Police, Coroner, Darwin Dottin, dialogue, Faith Marshall-Harris, judicial review, Justice Committee, Mandela Maloney, meeting, misadventure, olive branch, protocols ignored, Ras Ivaar, Ras KudosSage I, Rastafari community, Rastafari profiling, Royal Barbados Police Force, verdict