I AM writing in response to Mr. Alvin Williams' Commentary "White man is still afraid of the dark" (, January 10). Never mind the puzzling diatribe about Castro (I'm still trying to figure out how that topic got in there), I was struck by the unsoundness of his arguments.

Not only were his assertions questionable (was there really NO white support for the civil rights movement in Bermuda?) and oftentimes confusing, but some of them were flat out untrue.

Let me speak to a few of these issues. First of all, I will defend the writer Margaret's use of the term "brown-skinned" simply because I surmise, from everything said in the Commentary, that Mr. Williams would have barked even louder had she used the term "black".

Mr. Williams, don't jump to conclusions about her word choice. For all you know she might have intentionally chosen the term "brown-skinned" to more accurately describe the skin pigment of her husband or to encompass a mixed race and / or ethnic background (to our chagrin, we lack terms for nuanced intermixing.)

Furthermore, Margaret's avoidance of the word "black" might actually have been a display of consideration and sensitivity towards possible controversy over the word "black," as some people still believe that the term is intentionally and inexorably linked with negative prejudices (as you lament later in the Commentary.)

You, Mr. Williams, have confirmed my very own personal fears and justified my hesitation in deciding what word would be least offensive in referencing the black population ? you have become one of many who are eager to read false racism into the words of "people who look like" (to borrow the taboo phrase from a trusty MP) descendants of past oppressors.

I, speaking as a young white woman, do not have a "phobia of colour" as you boldly and unjustifiably claimed I do, but rather a phobia of being falsely misinterpreted as racist. I am not afraid of the dark but I tread lightly and warily because there's a heavy foot waiting eagerly to kick me if I stumble.

The second issue that I wish to address is that I am concerned Mr. Williams has been misguided in the history of the word "black" as it relates to the world and to race. Mr. Williams seemed to be under the impression that the term "black" was intentionally devised as a moniker for darker-skinned people as a way to perpetuate subliminal comparisons with all things negative.

I will present to you the truth: The contains evidence of the use of black with reference to African peoples as early as 1400, and certainly the word has been in wide use in racial and ethnic contexts ever since.

However, it was not until the late 1960s that black (or Black) gained its present status as a self-chosen ethnonym with strong connotations of racial pride, replacing the then-current Negro among Blacks and non-Blacks alike with remarkable speed.

Equally significant is the degree to which Negro became discredited in the process, reflecting the profound changes taking place in the Black community during the tumultuous years of the civil rights and Black Power movements.

The recent success of African-American offers an interesting contrast in this regard. Though by no means a modern coinage, African-American achieved sudden prominence at the end of the 1980s when several Black leaders, including Jesse Jackson, championed it as an alternative ethnonym for Americans of African descent.

The appeal of this term is obvious, alluding as it does not to skin colour but to an ethnicity constructed of geography, history, and culture, and it won rapid acceptance in the media alongside similar forms such as Asian-American, Hispanic-American, and Italian-American.

But unlike what happened a generation earlier, African-American has shown little sign of displacing or discrediting black, which remains both popular and positive.

Again it seems you have mistakenly imagined racism where it does not conclusively exist. From what I gather, it just happens to be that humanity is naturally afraid of the dark (diminished sight leaves us vulnerable, death implies darkness as you die and the darkness of being buried underground) and we naturally embrace the security of light (improved vision, God, sunshine makes us cheerful), which maps onto the words black (negation of light) and white (absence of dark).

While it may be true that the black-negative connection might perpetuate subliminal negative prejudices, asserting that there is a racial reason why this is and how it came to be is completely unwarranted.

Mr. Williams, maybe try to be a little more open-minded and trusting of the world around you. I'm not saying that racism doesn't exist and that the repercussions of Bermuda's colonialism aren't still evident and problematic.

I do beg you to avoid falling into the easy trap of presuming people guilty before they've committed any crime. If you search for something hard enough you'll begin to see it in places where it's not. And maybe one day you'll be surprised to discover just how much you actually have in common with your fellow "white" Bermudians ? even the ones who are afraid of your neighbour's black cat.

Are we all stupid?

HEARTFELT congratulations for your editorial page last weekend. Your Opinion, headed "Behold 'The Man'," was one of your best; readable and demonstrating surgical perspicuity.

Thank God for the Press.

Mr. Gareth Finighan's summary of the now obsessive compulsive drive to Independence for an unwilling and wise Bermuda was a timely, dispassionate chronicle of this sad political chapter.

I write now to ask you ? for the sake of truth rather than 'truthiness' to turn your attention to the ongoing and curious Premier's pet project: Ombudsman.

Except for the subject of Independence, no other subject has resulted in so many carefully choreographed press releases from this PLP Government.

First the highest gloss, multicoloured pamphlets delivered to every single household and post box in multiple copies. It explained to us in that curious language, which only the top functionaries seem to be able to produce what the history and definition of an Ombudsman is.

Presumably if we can read this pamphlet, we are either too stupid to open a dictionary, encyclopaedia or check the Internet. Or is the point of the pamphlet to ensure their approved definition is the one which seeps into our Burgers' Brains?

Then numerous photo-ops with His Excellency, William A. and yes, the "Dear Lady" appointed.

And now the arrival in Bermuda (one assumes at the taxpayers' expense) of two live, imported Caribbean Ombudsmen ? one from Antigua to 'educate' us at Bermuda College meetings and via television press releases on the democratic benefits of his office.

Are we all stupid? Can you, Mr. Finighan, or anyone else please tell me what, if anything at all is democratic and just about the Antiguan Government?

Now not to be misunderstood, let me say I have nothing at all against the institution of an Ombudsman ? however, it's the choice, and installation of this particular 'Dear Lady' and now the appearance of her mentor from Antigua, which should give rise to some probing consideration of exactly whose interests she will be serving.

We know that the PLP Ministers are to be exempt from the Ombudsman's call, so on the salary she is receiving ($120,000? per annum), we are entitled to ask whether she has been installed for the Premier's benefit or ours? My personal and quite bitter experience would strongly suggest the former.

You are the one with the hang-up, Mr. Williams

IT disturbs - but hardly surprises - me that Alvin Williams would purposely misrepresent the Letter to the Editor from "Margaret" to further advance his own increasingly intolerant ethno-political agenda (, January 21).

You ask what you have in common with white Bermudians? Well, I am black (and proud, Mr. Williams) and sometimes after I read your columnam left wondering what I have in common with you.

Your politics seem firmly entrenched in the 1960s. You don't actually seem very interested in finding any common ground with your fellow white Bermudians. You seem to be afraid that without an enemy, your entire reason to be would cease to exist.

The letter writer "Margaret" tried to meet you more than half-way. When she made the entirely valid point that people with shared interests or viewpoints often have far more in common than those who simply share an ethnic or racial background, you belittled her because you could not answer her.

When she mentioned her ex-husband was "brown skinned", you mocked her by saying white people are afraid to use the word "black" and that she clearly suffered from some form of psychological hang-up.

You are the one with the hang-up, Mr. Williams. Come on! The woman was simply stating that her husband was dark as opposed to light-skinned or "high yellow"; such colour-coding, although not very common among younger blacks, is still prevalent amonggeneration, Mr. Williams - and does anyone accuse you of being "afraid of the dark" because you use such terms?

You mock the efforts of those like "Margaret" and Dr. Eva Hodgson who are sincere about creating an inclusive, colour-blind Bermudian society. You seem to have only the most superficial understanding of those forces that are shaping 21st-century Bermuda.

You seem to be afraid to recognise that the black-white impasse of the mid-20th century has given way to an entirely new set of social and economic problems - some of them, directly or indirectly race-based, yes, but others having far more to do with the lack of equality of opportunity that now exists in Bermuda between Bermudians of races and an international business sector that requires the type of training that neither our private nor public schools are providing.

Education, Mr. Williams, will be the great leveller in Bermudian society - but only if those administering our schools finally wake up to the fact.

I am 25 years old. I was, of course, born long after the days of official segregation and I thank you, Alvin Williams, and the other civil rights pioneers who helped to bring about a better Bermuda for all of the island's young people.

I recognise things are not perfect in terms of race relations in Bermuda. But I would argue that Bermudians under the age of 30 who have been brought up with one another, educated with one another, work with another, socialise with one another (and, yes, Mr. Williams even date and sometimes marry one another) are far better placed to resolve our outstanding differences in the 21st century than "old campaigners" like yourself who do not believe any progress has been made at all.

And before you attempt to categorise me, Mr. Williams, no, I am not a United Bermuda Party person. Nor am I a Progressive Labour Party person, for that matter. I am a person, period. And to quote one of your 1960s-era heroes who actually say something that still applies today: You are either part of the solution or part of the problem.

I like to think I am part of the solution, Mr. Williams. You, on the other hand, seem intent on remaining part of the problem. You tell it like it isn't. I, on the other hand, am . . .

Belated gift for Premier

IN his recent Christmas , your columnist Alvin Williams handed out his usual array of presents to Bermuda's great and good - and not so good. For the Premier, he gave a crash-course in how to properly operate Blackberry. I would not disagree with his choice.

But I have an additional, belated gift for the Premier - a ticket to the opening night of the new George Clooney movie

This is a film about a group of American newsmen who, with surgical precision, remove a cancer from the body politic. They believe in the fundamental American freedoms and, in the opportunistic, witch-hunting 1950s Senator Joseph McCarthy, they see a man who would destroy those freedoms in the name of defending them.

Because McCarthy is a liar and a bully, surrounded by yes-men, recklessly calling his opponents traitors, he commands great power for a time. He destroys others with lies.

But, in a happy ending Hollywood itself could never have dreamed up, Sen. McCarthy is himself finally destroyed by the truth. I'm sure a Premier who has based his entire career around McCarthy-style witch hunts (the Salvation Army, unbelievably, is his latest target), could learn a number of valuable lessons from this film - particularly that the truth will always out in the end and people who "sound like him" always end up on the scrap-heap of history

Shrill ramblings

IN the last few weeks Alvin Williams' shrill ramblings have managed to antagonise Dr. Eva Hodgson, Bermuda's Rastafarian community and, judging by the letter from Berhane Araya published in last Friday's , the entire African nation of Eritrea.

Forget about whites. Tell me, Mr. Williams, what in fact do you have in common with your fellow (myself included) both locally and abroad?

Ultimate 'cultural exchange'

January 21, 2006

I HEARTILY second Ras Judah's suggestion that we send Castro "wannabes" Alex Scott, Dale Butler and Alvin Williams to Cuba in return for Havana sending us their persecuted Cuban Rastafarians (, January 20).

That would be the ultimate "cultural exchange" as far as I'm concerned! But someone had better let P. know that he won't be able to play his prized collection of Bob Marley records in Cuba. They're illegal on the grounds that Fidel's secret police believe Marley's lyrics are subversive and "counter-revolutionary".

Follow the UBP's lead

HOW on earth has it come to this? When Bermuda is confronted by runaway crime, crack dealers selling their poison next to schools and an overall decline in respect for law and order, how does this Premier decide that the Salvation Army is now Bermuda's public enemy number one?

Now that Bermuda's increasingly deluded Premier has both the time and inclination to launch vicious "smear" attacks against an institution as invaluable to the community as the Salvation Army, his Government might want to seriously consider taking a leaf out of the United Bermuda Party's book. They need to replace "The Man" before it is too late for Government Parliamentarians to salvage shreds of credibility as a result of his increasingly reprehensible and out-of-control attacks.

Unlike P., the Salvation Army has a proven track record of service to the Bermudian community. But since "The Man" is known to keep senior citizens in conditions that would shame a slum-landlord in homes he himself owns, clearly he has no idea whatsoever about just what important community services the Salvation Army provides in Bermuda.

Who else will he smear?

NOW that our obnoxious "Dissembler-In-Chief" Alex Scott has seen fit to make the Salvation Army the number one target on his "hit list" who else can we expect to find there in coming months? Who else is he going to smear? Nursery school children, perhaps? The Sunshine League?War veterans? The Pink Ladies? The Committee of 25 for Handicapped Children? All of the above?

As you rightly point out in your today, for this Premier it's always open season on . Anyone at all is considered to be fair game for his smears as long as P. succeeds in creating a distraction from the ongoing mess he is creating within Bermuda's Government.

He is clearly impervious to shame. After all, this is "The Man" who allocated $340,000 - fully half the amount the Salvation Army uses to help hundreds of Bermudians - to build an overpriced parking lot for 36 MPs.

So we can all see where his priorities lie. Problem is, why can't his fellow MPs? Why is this man still " Man" in Government? Does the Progressive Labour Party have a death wish? It would certainly seem that way.

God help us all

ALMOST every time he opens his mouth Alex Scott reaffirms the fact that he is a disgrace to the office of the Premier. His colleagues in Government should think about removing him - now! - before he can do any further harm to both that office and to Bermuda.

I did not think he could sink any lower than he already has. But by attacking the Salvation Army, "The Man" has confirmed in no uncertain terms that there are new lows which are beyond him. A nuclear submarine could not reach the depths this man is capable of traversing. God help Bermuda. God help us all.

WORRIED

City of Hamilton

Revolting performance

I WAS fascinated to watch the Governor launching the office of Ombudsman on TV the other day. What fascinated me was not so much what the Governor had to say as the fact the "P" could stand there and listen to it all without any sign of writhing in embarrassment.

"Accountability," said the Governor, "means that public servants and public institutions can be held responsible for their actions, that Governments must explain what they are doing with the taxes they raise, and that individuals know what to do if they have a grievance."

"P" smiled benignly at this . And so he could. The legislation establishing the office of Ombudsman exempts the Cabinet from any such scrutiny. The Cabinet is where a total lack of any kind of accountability has been the one consistent characteristic since the Progressive Labour Party came to power.

Where the evils of inept governance, lack of accountability, lies, corruption, cronyism and greed are most rampant, the Ombudsman has carefully and deliberately been rendered toothless. This shameless Government has now corrupted even the civil service. PLP political affiliation has become the standard for promotion, not competence - still less integrity.

This revolting performance by "P" is just one more example of the sickening "spin" produced by that contemptible little man to befuddle the ignorant few who still, despite all evidence, continue to support him and his running dogs.