A dream deferred

THE EDITOR, Sir: LANGSTON HUGHES wrote a poem about what happens when a dream is deferred in 1951. It was about the impact of racism on African Americans. He wondered if dreams dried up like raisins in the sun or festered. Obama’s efforts were dashed by Mr Sessions, who has had a lifelong desire to dash the hopes of people of colour in America.

In keeping with the election promise, nearly one million youngsters must find new homes, some in the nations of their birth or that of those parents who are described as illegal aliens in America. In a strange twist of fate, the Europeans, who now claim the Americas, wish to exclude all others from the continents they claimed.

We in the Caribbean, particularly here in Jamaica, face the fact that the undocumented and illegal are also our citizens. I wondered how many of the 60,000 Jamaicans currently resident in Houston and its environs are affected by DACA and the American nightmare. How many will be deported? Why is the organising around the diaspora largely focused on the remittances which form 15 per cent of our gross domestic product? Do we in Jamaica care about those who weather the storms of racism, winter and other indignities. Do we realise that we need to fix our country so that those who wish can have a safe, reasonable life here?

The discussions on Mrs Jackson Miller’s (RJR’s ‘Beyond the Headlines’) programme coincide with the Johnson polls findings – that many Jamaicans are so busy surviving that they do not have the time to dream. In my recent book That Time in Foreign, more than a dozen Jamaicans spoke about the joys, triumphs and tribulations of their time spent overseas. It is time for some honest discussion beyond the fantasies and frustrations being experienced by yet another generation of Jamaicans. The river ben come down, wai! HILARY ROBERTSONHICKLING hilary.hickling@gmail.com