Ove deserves public apology

On Sunday February 22 my fellow artist/filmmaker Mr Horace Ove, CBE, was brutally assaulted by a gentleman wearing a NCC T-shirt, supposedly a security official of the NCC.

Many persons including yourselves, may not be aware of the contribution Mr Ove has made to our country through film and photography internationally. He has been at the forefront of the fight for equal rights for people of colour. Back in the 70's he did the first ever documentary on Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. He has been honoured in Jamaica, Trinidad, Europe, Africa and India and in 2008 honoured by the British for his contribution to black filmmaking in the United Kingdom, with the title award Commander of the British Empire - CBE.

According to Mr Ove, he was photographing Mas on Ariapita Avenue, as he customarily does, when he was rudely approached by this supposed official who demanded that he stop taking photos. The official quickly became physically violent and obscene toward Mr Ove, threw him down on the ground, physically assaulted him and damaged his camera. If two photojournalists hadn't rushed to his assistance the outcome could have been a lot worse.

Once again here we are, with the greatest show on earth, making the greatest fools of ourselves by awarding jobs to people who are thoughtless and untrained in dealing with our visitors and citizens in a civilised, humane manner.

Mr Ove is deeply saddened and hurt by the incident. This could have happened to any of our locally-based photographers, filmmakers and artistes and is completely unacceptable. Many of our great contributors to art and culture already feel undervalued and under appreciated and this incident is a slap to our collective faces.

I would like Mr Chin Lee to launch an investigation into this unfortunate incident and to also issue a public apology, on behalf of the NCC, to Mr Ove.

Francis Escayg

via e-mail