Letter sent to St.Lucia Commissioner of Police Mr. Ausbert Regis Commissioner of Police Royal St.Lucia Police Force Jeremie Street, Castries 10th April, 2007 As a St.Lucian national I write to you with deep concern about the upcoming performance by the controversial reggae artist Miguel Orlando Collins, also known as "Sizzla" Kalnji. In 2004, the Stop the Murder Music campaign in the UK was successful in applying pressure and much needed publicity to the anti gay lyrics that exist within the reggae and dancehall music industry. Sizzla was among eight artist (Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Capelton, Vybz Kartel and T.O.K) being investigated by Scotland Yard's Racial & Violent Crime Task Force after a complaint was filed by Outrage! and other concerned community parties. Possible charges under UK law included inciting the assault and murder of gay people, and/or charges of causing harassment, alarm or distress. As a result of much public pressure many concerts were cancelled across Europe and the United States. Sizzla was subsequently denied a visa to enter Britain on November 1, by immigrations officers at Heathrow Airport for his UK tour. Sizzla will be in Saint Lucia on the 5th May 2007 to perform at a concert in Gros-Islet under the promotion of Gaiety Productions and in collaboration with TriStar Promotions. The lyrics of three Sizzla songs listed below call for the capital murder of gay people and are at the very least, likely to be considered swearing, abusive or indecent language in public- all of which are criminal offences under the Criminal Code of St.Lucia. As a citizen of St.Lucia, I call upon the Commissioner of the Police to play particular attention to this delicate legal matter. We also request the police to warn Gaiety Productions and TriStar Promotions that they may be guilty of aiding and abetting criminal offences by promoting and giving a platform to Sizzla, especially if he performs any of his violently homophobic songs on 5 May. If the promoters are unable to give assurances that these violent criminal tracks will not be preformed, we urge the Royal St. Lucia Police Force to insist that Sizzla's concert is cancelled and that all ticket sales are halted. We expect the laws of St.Lucia to be upheld. Amnesty International has documented how Sizzla boasted to an audience in Chicago in a recent concert that: " I k*ll sodomites and queers, they bring AIDS and disease upon people". Only sub-Saharan Africa has a higher HIV infection rate than the Caribbean and statistics note that heterosexual sex is the main way of transmitting the virus in the region. As a result of the anti gay lyrics, artists like Sizzla continue to perpetuate the stereotype that HIV/AIDS is a gay mans illness and as a result help promote a discriminatory and violent environment for gay black men in the Caribbean. A notable speaker at a CARICOM conference said that: "A number of artistes are effectively contributing to the spread of HIV by producing reggae and rap songs actually encouraging discrimination”. In allowing an artist such as Sizzla to make such discriminatory statements in public, we believe it discredits the hard work of the Ministry of Health and the Aids Action Foundation (AAF) in their relentless effort to educate the public on safe sex and HIV/AIDS prevention. I believe in free speech, however in a democracy like St.Lucia no one should be able to incite murder or violence through hate crimes against minorities. This goes against out Criminal Code. I hope you can reassure me that action will be taken. Yours truly, Akim Adé Larcher, AA, LL.B akimlarcher@gmail.com References to the Murder Music lyrics by Sizzla Kalonji Lyrics in Jamaican patois, with the standard English translation underneath in [brackets] and BOLD. Sizzla - Pump Up Step up inna front line [Step up to the front line] fire fi di man dem weh go ride man behind [burn the men who have sex with men from behind] Shot battybwoy, my big gun boom [Shoot queers, my big gun goes boom] Sizzla – Boom Boom Boom boom! Batty boy them fi dead [Boom boom (as in gunshots) Queers must be killed] Sizzla - Get To Da Point Sodomite and batty bwai mi seh a death fi dem [Sodomite and queers, I say death to them] Mi no trust babylon fi a second yah so [I don’t trust Babylon for a second] Mi a go shot batty bwai dem widdi weapon ya [I go and shoot queers with a weapon] NOTE: this letter was found on Yardflex.com