Dear Mr Editor,

I would like to thank Mark Emmerson for his comments made in The Royal Gazette on October 14 and Eva Hodgson for her comments in her letter on the same day. They both made some very important comments and I do pray that Bermuda is paying attention, particularly the black community.

As I look at Bermuda on the whole, it is amazing that the greater percentage of black Bermudians do not have a clue as to what is going on in the country they were born in. It is becoming a country that is being sold out right in front of their eyes — and many do not even realise it. The few who are associated with the One Bermuda Alliance may be aware, but they are supporting those who want to see this Island become some kind of private place for the rich and famous.

People, beware, there is a terrible undercurrent in this country and many of us will be washed out to sea. I would like all of us to think for a moment about the past 40 years and tell me if you ever heard any black politicians talk about building up any kind of businesses that will bring together the black people. But our people will work very hard to bring their people down.

In all reality, there are enough black people to support any kind of business that can be opened, but we instead grumble about the others and what they are doing to us as a black community. People, let me say this: we have done it to ourselves because we are our own worst enemies and it stems from desegregation where before we knew where we stood and where we were supposed to stand. But now with the illusionary boundary moved, we are lost and support everybody except our own.

We can find every excuse not to support our own, no matter how attractive it is made and how hard that someone worked to make it attractive to entice us for support. In short, we will say that that person is getting rich off me. Well, what about the others that are getting rich off us or are we still of that master-slave mentality that has kept us in bondage for the past how many years?

It is time for us to move productively and in unity. Maybe many of us may not know, but as Nelson Mandela once said: “Only a man’s mind can keep him in slavery.” It is time for us to break the bondage of thinking that we cannot make it. If you will just take a look around at the business on Victoria Street, you will see unity at work and we could all learn a lesson from that business. We are the majority and we are in the minority in all things in this country except for confusion. As I looked at the news last night (October 21), I heard Bob Richards tell the audience that the first and last thing that they see in a country is the airport. He must be suffering from some kind number bomber madness because the first thing and the last thing I see when coming or leaving a country is the view of that country and not the airport.

On arriving, my thoughts are on my visit and, leaving, my thoughts are on the time I had and do I want to visit again. But I will say that it is the last building that I pass through to get to my intended destination or return home before boarding the flight. So if the country has wasted the people’s money, so Bob can sit and look at the airport, it is time for a change.

I heard a member tonight on the news saying how the Government is short on funds. So why does it waste so much on people sitting around doing nothing. Some of you will say how does this happen? Well, just think about the number of people that are unaccountable to their responsibility of overseeing the affairs of the Government.

I give you this one for starters. A couple of years ago, there was talk of saving the Government money by attending the dental clinic, so I did and I did get to see the hygienist and then made a call to see the dentist. Well, I called for a month and to this day have not received a return call. I have talked to a good friend who tells me that the office of social assistance will not pay him for outstanding rents. With the dentist, I told my wife that I was going to find out where he lives and follow him for a week and report what I see, but then I thought of the text in the book of Isaiah 53:1 which reads: “Who has believed our report? And as for the arm of Jehovah, to whom has it been revealed?”

The people did not believe then and who would believe my report? There is no accountability in the system and Mr Richards said tonight on TV there will be no report on exempted companies, and I can understand that and it is very simple the representatives (the Government) have no bargaining power and so they get the bone and the meat goes to them that bought the meat in the first place.

Bob, what brought the people to Bermuda in the prime of tourism? Was it the airport or the service they received and the friendliness of the people? You tell us, number bomber.

WENDELL HASSELL