Sir, - I would like to think that those who attacked Mr Nasser Diaby from Zaire (The Irish Times, December 4th) are not representative of the Irish people.
This attack as well as others of its nature make me think of a lovely experience which I had in the late 1960s. I had arrived in Nairobi and was driving to a small town called Kisii in western Kenya to take up work. It was dusk when I reached there and as I had been travelling most of the day I was tired. I had a minor accident with my car and received a gash on my arm. I remember the gash being stitched while I sat on a bed in a dazed state at the top of a long ward in the local hospital. I also remember a black man hobbling up the length of the ward, stretching out his hand to me and saying "sorry". That incident set the tone for what turned out to be a pleasant 16year stay in that country during which I was at the receiving end of many kindnesses from the black population.
I cringe when I read of black people being abused and told to "go home". - Yours, etc.,
Noel Clarke, Shannon Weir, Athlone, Co Westmeath.