Dear Editor,

I'd like to throw some light on the discussion over the use of sensitive words. When Ronald Reagan was Governor of California the Vietnam war was still going on and when he was asked how he felt about the war he remarked "Bomb them out, bomb those coolies out".

The late Rajkumarie Singh, anti-Indian Cultural activist, once staged a play called "Coolie art forms". Peter Kempadoo in one of his short stories about a baby carriage mentioned two 'nigger boys sucking sugar cane'.

Then there was an Amerindian policeman who attempted to charge a hire car driver friend of mine for a traffic offence. When this friend begged for a chance saying he had a little Amerindian blood, the lawman replied "don't tell me about Amerindian, say Buckman, because when me back turn you gon still say is dat Buckman lock me up."