The following letter was sent to Royal Gazette sports editor Adrian Robson and copied to Thaao Dill of HOTT radio:

Hi Adrian,

I would like to commend you for your sentiments in today's (Friday's) edition of the paper in your article 'Male Athlete award ¿ no winners, just losers'. Please see this submission that I sent to Thaao Dill. It only speaks to what you have written and finally there seems to be an innate gap in the minds of those who can actually agree that what happened was just ¿ including James Stout.

Dear Thaoo,

I must admit that perhaps this letter comes at the helm of a highly debated topic regarding the current Minister of Environment, Youth, Sport & Recreation and a decision that he admittedly and knowingly changed (the Male Athlete of the Year award).

However, I cannot respect your position in terms of a false misconception that you and other media venues have promoted which seems to be the common thread of this country. More importantly, perhaps you should consider how disturbing such decisions/statements affect the mindset of young black, educated Bermudians such as myself and what type of toxic elements your position as a DJ and other media types diffuse through radio, print, TV, etc.

Perhaps this brief introduction of history may have or help you to consider a wider perspective gaining some insight as to what it is to struggle having no political agenda or platform to voice your concern as a world-class athlete. And consider this we are mere grasshoppers to these political giants whose political agenda (and in my honest opinion) continues to remain stagnant (as if we were there in the 60's and 70's) despite the many advancements that continue to occur today for People of Colour (and I am not referring to Blacks alone).

The 1968 Olympics Black Power salute was a noted black civil rights protest and one of the most overtly political statements in the 110-year history of the modern Olympic Games. African American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos performed the Power to the People salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

On the morning of October 16, 1968, US athlete Tommie Smith won the 200 metre race in a then-world-record time of 19.83 seconds, with Australia's Peter Norman second with a time of 20.07 seconds, and the USA's John Carlos in third place with a time of 20.10 seconds.

After the race was completed, the three went to collect their medals at the podium. The two US athletes received their medals shoeless, but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty. Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride. Carlos had his tracksuit top unzipped to show solidarity with all blue collar workers in the US and wore a necklace of beads which he described "were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed and that no-one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred".

It was for those thrown off the side of the boats in the middle passage. All three athletes wore Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) badges, after Norman expressed sympathy with their ideals. Sociologist Harry Edwards, the founder of the OPHR, had urged black athletes to boycott the Games; reportedly, the actions of Smith and Carlos on October 16, 1968 were inspired by Edwards' arguments.

Both US athletes intended on bringing black gloves to the event, but Carlos forgot his, leaving them in the Olympic Village. It was the Australian, Peter Norman, who suggested Carlos wear Smith's left-handed glove, this being the reason behind him raising his left hand, as opposed to his right, differing from the traditional Black Power salute. When The Star-Spangled Banner played, Smith and Carlos delivered the salute with heads bowed, a gesture which became front page news around the world.

As they left the podium they were booed by the crowd. Smith later said "If I win, I am American, not a black American. But if I did something bad, then they would say I am a Negro. We are black and we are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos were perhaps seen as two of the greatest and influential athletes in the history of the Olympics despite their medals being stripped.

For centuries the Olympic Games and other major sporting competitions have provided a venue for athletes who exemplified extraordinary strength, dexterity and enthusiasm as an opportunity to compete at a level befitting to those of Gods. The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, contests alternating with sacrifices and ceremonies honouring both Zeus (whose colossal statue stood at Olympia), and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia famous for his legendary chariot race, in whose honour the Games were held.

There have been many sentiments shared in light of the recent decision to overturn a ruling that not only highlights the accomplishments of a single athlete whether male or female, but the hard work that individual has invested to achieve such accomplishments. The fight in this case is still the same and is no different than those struggles endured by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics symbolising their quest for equality and freedom.

Whether black, white, purple, green or blue, the underlying premise of Mr. Burch's disdain was the inadequate and apparent inequality for his sport financially, and serviced as a reminder that he and others are restricted to the financial limitations set before them.

Now whilst, I applaud the efforts of each individual who has sacrificed much time to contribute to a passion, I also applaud their dedication to a sport that enables them to represent their country at the highest level. What a more glorious platform. A golden opportunity to see the WORLD's best and an even exchange of cultures, struggles, triumphs but more importantly a life-time experience. Each nation, each individual carries a pride, an humbleness, a story, a journey and a gift that most aren't able to achieve let alone experience.

Have we forgotten as a people the importance of such sacrifices? How remarkable it is to have your own hometown hero? There is a certain expectation that somehow resonates when we explore the mindsets of those who are placed in a position of authority and abuse it.

Now for some of us perhaps we cannot fathom why such a stance is taken. But how poignant is this platform? A widely received democratic political party (who in case we forgot is majority black) dishonours an athlete because of his stance on why the sport in which he has dedicated and sacrificed much of his time to lacks to support him financially?

And this time, it has nothing to do with one's colour! And let's not forget the facts, fair enough Mr. Burch does receive "limited" funding from this government, yet he simply stated that he and many other athletes who are not lumped into football or cricket do not receive as much funding despite them actually making it to a much larger platform in competition and producing world class athletes.

And yet Mr. Burch does all this representing his country whilst simultaneously setting an example for aspiring swimmers male, female and more importantly BLACKS giving some a sense of hope that all things are possible if you invest the time. Perhaps that is an ideal that is lost today especially, when you consider that at one time blacks didn't even have an opportunity to participate in such sports. Consider the movie Pride, an adaptation of blacks defying the odds despite the obstacles set against them leading them to become premier swimmers.

And unlike some others in my lifetime at the ripe age of 28 years-old, there aren't many football or cricket athletes born and bred in Bermuda that have the passion, drive or motivation who have actually made it to a level befitting to that of a Greek God. Quite a select few, might I add, and out of those select few who do partake in sports such as football or cricket without a shadow of a doubt one of them manages to screw up these opportunities; whether it be from not showing up to practice, refusing to play or chartering their own course because that individual had their own agenda. I am sure you get the jist.

And this is not an attack on these sports, but a reminder how opportunities are ever present but yet the financial loss gets lost along the way and becomes the burden to those who supported and rooted for that athlete. And those that do make it, well we don't even employ our own resources especially when their passion is to give back and service the country that they so fondly represented.

Take our own Shawn Goater for example, you can turn your TV onto FSC or Setanta and see how this Bermudian excelled in perhaps one of the wealthiest sports on earth and is hailed as a true legend and one of the most remarkable and instrumental figures for Manchester City. Manchester City, UK might I add. And yet we barely acknowledge him?

This community and country misses the bigger picture and a larger portion of what is needed as it relates to our current socio-economic class especially during times of chaos and confusion. Perhaps it would have been different if Mr. Burch was quiet. He made us aware of his struggles as a world class athlete. What is the foul in that?

And what does that say about the future of our young people? We are becoming a people who struggle to equip our young people with the necessary tools and armour to be independent thinkers, a community who thrive off of influence and a necessity to be dependent or reliable on what we don't have. It is that mentality that has our very newspaper highlighting our ability as a people to make things transparent and showing our flaws whilst defending our actions.

Perhaps we ought to put our pride on the backseat and recognise how important it is for us as people to accept our flaws, embrace them, let go and move on.

W.E.B. Dubois said it best in his collection of the Talented Tenth ¿ "It is our responsibility as a the Talented Tenth to help the Non-Talented 90%."

SARINE BABB