April Wine next?

This is in response to Mr. Pierre Gauthier's letter ["Girls on trial," Letters, Feb. 11] criticizing the Mirror's cover story regarding the supposed assault of a "Québécois rock god" by four young anglo women.

With all due respect, Mr. Gauthier, open your eyes. The article was about the abuse of both the legal system (with a case as ridiculous as this, can it be anything but abuse?) and a fund developed for the purpose of aiding victims of violent crimes. Serge Fiori and his companion Marie-Jocelyne Dion should not receive $1,300 and $1,000 a month respectively for what amounts to a minor scuffle.

I myself have been the victim of robbery at gunpoint and I wish I had known about the aforementioned Indemnisation des victimes d'actes criminels.

It was not really an issue of French vs English until Mr. Gauthier made it one. His analogy was ill-conceived, as was his criticism: young men often do assault older women. It was the fact that these were young women accused of violence that made this case noteworthy in the first place. Had these girls been French and had they assaulted, say, the lead singer of April Wine, only to have him turn around and claim victim status in order to scam the government out of money, I would laugh him out of court as well.

--Robert Zorzi

Sports in black and white

I was dumbfounded to read Terry Haig's rambling column about Michael Jordan's retirement ["Michael Jordan's legacy," Jan. 21]. I have admired Haig in the past for using his column to condemn the exploitative labour practices of Nike. It was all the more distressing, therefore, to see Haig making the claim that white people have no right to tell blacks how to live their lives.

As a black person, I don't consider criticism of Jordan's greed a racial issue. It's more a human issue. Many African Americans in the States, including several high-profile athletes, have condemned Jordan for endorsing Nike without any concern for its atrocious labour record. I am happy to see anybody, black or white, criticize Jordan for his callous attitude.

What appalled me even more, however, was that in the same column Haig actually rewrote the history books to compare Jackie Robinson with Paul Robeson and Muhammad Ali, in terms of taking a stand for their principles.

Jackie Robinson may have bravely broken baseball's colour barrier, but I guess Haig never read any further into his biography. In a shameful display of red-baiting, Jackie Robinson voluntarily went before the House Un-American Activities Committee to denounce Robeson as a Communist. He later condemned Muhammad Ali for his stand against the Vietnam War and, to add insult to injury, he joined the Republican Party at a time when it was actively resisting Civil Rights.

Hopefully, Haig was just having an off week.

--Colin Baptiste

[Terry Haig replies: Regarding Robeson and Robinson. Later in life, Robinson did admit that one of the things he regretted most was testifying before the HUAC. Robinson had a profound difference of opinion with Robeson: Robinson believed black capitalism would lead the way; Robeson was a Communist. As for Robinson's joining the Republican party: he felt that the only way to get the Democrats to stop taking Negroes for granted was to provide an alternative. It is to Robeson's everlasting credit that he refused to condemn Jackie Robinson for his HUAC testimony, saying that was exactly what the white establishment wanted of the two. Despite their different approaches, both wound up physically shattered as a result of their respective battles.]

Correction

The unveiling of the plaque commemorating black railway porters will take place at 12 noon on Monday, February 15 at Windsor Station. Last week's article "Riding the rails" incorrectly listed the time as 10 a.m. For further information, contact Michel Spenard of the St. Lawrence & Hudson Railway at 395-7265.