Staff Writer - Kerran Monroe
In the March 4th 2012 edition of the Sunday Gleaner, Carolyn Cooper had an article entitled, A Letter from Adidja Palmer. At the beginning of the article, Ms. Cooper gave a short story of how a young man saw her one day in Tropical Plaza and asked if she was Kartel’s mother, when she inquired as to the reason for such a question, the young man replied “mi see yu pan tv”.
Ms. Cooper then went on to say “So I’ve now joined the band of aggrieved mothers who routinely appear on national news loudly protesting against the arrest of their sons who, supposedly, have been falsely accused of crime.”
In the article Ms. Cooper attempts to make a distinction between Vybz Kartel and Adidja Palmer, hence the name of the article. Her reasoning was that based on her assessment of the entertainer’s intelligence, she is in doubt as to his guilt of Vybz Kartel. According to her “Vybz Kartel couldn’t be foolish enough to think that Adidja Palmer could get away with murder!” After that statement she defends her stance by saying that her position is not just that of “indulgent mother’s stubborn affirmation of her son’s complete innocence.” It is instead “recognition of an essential distinction between the man and the role he plays as a DJ.”
Dr Carolyn Cooper Photo courtesy gleaner-ja.com
The letter from Adidja Palmer reads:
“Dear Ms. Cooper,
Good day to you and i hope you are in the best of health and the highest of spirits, but I am not.
“Ms Cooper as you know i am in jail on numerous charges and i’d like to tell you that i am an innocent man who needs your help because i’m being painted as this evil ‘D.J. by day, don by night’ murderer who is society’s number one cause of crime and violence. The police is using the media to slaughter me and as such i don’t think i will get a fair trial. They are using the media to form public opinion of me that is so contradictory to the person that I really am. They (police) have tried my case in the public & found me guilty.
“Every single piece of alleged evidence, every new development in the case is thrown on t.v. as if this is a soap opera, but i can assure you that this is no movie to me. This is about my life and my freedom and i take them very seriously.
“My charges are merely allegations, but they are giving the public the impression that i am guilty and that is not fair to me or my family.
“I have been to court on numerous occasions and saw hundreds of accused men who are charged with heinous crimes like murdering children, killing police officers, burning & shooting whole families and i have never once saw police on t.v. discussing the development of those cases, much less every week, as in my case.”
The comments below the article ranged from, “Ms Cooper you are not Kartels mother, you seem more to be his woman, ur obviously in love with him” to “Carolyn you are a complete waste of intellect.”
