While driving to a meeting at the BIU on Monday, January 16, I thought I heard the radio announcer say that Wayne Furbert was the new leader of the UBP. I asked my wife: “Did I hear that right?” She answered: “Hear, what?” I replied: “I though that the announcer said that Wayne Furbert was the new leader of the UBP.” She responded that she wasn’t paying attention to the announcer.

Although my ride to work is never longer than ten minutes, I greatly increased my speed in order to get to the office to find out whether or not I was hearing things. When I hit the steps of the BIU, a person I did not know asked: “What do you think of the new leader of the UBP?” I answered: “Is it really Wayne Furbert?” My questioner replied: “Yes! What do you think of Wayne?” Actually, I did not have an answer at that instant. I never expected a change in the UBP leadership and had never thought seriously that they would select Wayne if they did decide to change leaders.

I am not a member or supporter of the UBP, but I did take some pleasure in the fact that they had selected a leader from Hamilton Parish. I can tell you that I am certain that most Bermudians who have their roots in Hamilton Parish were as delighted as I was at Wayne’s selection. The Furberts are a well thought of family in the Parish as well as a very large one and they are noted for industry and ambition.

Wayne himself has done very well. He has made the effort to get a substantial education, acquired a well-paying profession as a chartered accountant and seems to have been very successful in the highly competitive restaurant industry. No doubt he acquires much of his business acumen from his father Calworth who, incidentally, happened to be born on the same day and year as myself.

At this point, I feel I must correct a report in The Royal Gazette <$>of January 16 which stated that Wayne’s great, great uncle, Mr. Ernest Furbert, was the first black Member of Parliament. He was not! That honour goes to Mr. Rudolph Joell, who was elected to Parliament in 1883. He was followed in 1887 by Mr. Charles Jackson, an ancestor of Premier Alex Scott. These two were followed in 1916 by Mr. Hilton Hill, the grandfather of Dr. June Hill Butler and Mr. Buddy Hill. Nonetheless, Mr. Furbert was at least the fifth black Member of Parliament and that was no mean achievement at that time.

I continue to be surprised that the UBP thought the change in leadership was necessary and that they chose Mr. Furbert. I know that the UBP has recently acquired a passion for attributing colour as a necessary quality of leadership for their party. However, I fail to see how they can maintain that colour is a fundamental criteria for political leadership while maintaining at the same time that we must keep race out of politics.

As stated by me some time ago, I thought that Mr. David Dodwell would have made a solid leader because he is not only a successful businessman, but he achieved that success by establishing excellent relationships with his black staff and accepting unionisation. But in politics, Mr. Dodwell reaches the “black ceiling” as fast as any other white member of the UBP.

Yet, while I praised the efforts of Mr. Dodwell, I didn’t think that Dr. Grant Gibbons was doing a bad job either. His UBP colleagues admit that he is bright — his educational achievements are certainly evidence of that — but they insist that he lacks charisma. Well, he may lack charisma but he certainly has not lacked the ability to keep the PLP on the “back foot” during his term as leader of the UBP. This leads to the question that if the UBP wanted black and charisma, how did they bypass Mr. Maxwell Burgess? Maxwell may not have the papers to substantiate his intelligence, but he certainly has “strong street smarts”. Furthermore, he also comes from Hamilton Parish.

The fact that Mr. Burgess was again overlooked by the UBP seems to indicate that the white majority in that party are genuinely afraid of him. Maxwell’s assets — a deep understanding of politics and a sincere love for his race meant that he would not have been afraid to tackle the one thing that truly irritates Bermuda’s black population — no matter their politics — and that is the blatant inequality they continue to face in terms of access to the economy. Am I to conclude from the exclusion of Mr. Burgess from the leadership that the rank and file members of the UBP are still clinging strongly to the hope of maintaining their diminishing economic privilege with the selection of Mr. Furbert?

Certainly, if the UBP is to cooperate in any serious change in race relations, they need to realise that Bermuda’s racial issues are by no means summed up in Mr. Furbert’s promise to reduce “race hatred”. What on earth is this hatred he is talking about? Is he referring to the free expression of blacks who at long last realise that they no longer have to wonder how the white minority will react to their expressions of concern? Remember, as late as 1965, there was a law on the books that expressly forbade Bermuda’s black population from looking “insolently at whites”. However, law or no law, I am confident that Bermuda’s blacks will look insolently not only at whites but also at the PLP leadership who made possible their newly found confidence.

I don’t know how white Bermudians feel about “hatred” but I am confident that black Bermudians do not harbour any special hatred towards Bermuda’s white population. Consider, black Bermudians have suffered through slavery without hate induced violence; through the humiliation of segregation without hate induced violence; and through intense industrial disputes without hate induced violence. Why on earth should black Bermudians hate white Bermudians today when they have the means, through control of the legislature, to correct any wrongs that they believe are race induced?

Clearly what we see today that might be interpreted as “hate” is the readiness by which increasing numbers of black Bermudians are prepared to speak out and take action against any wrong, real or imagined. But this activity is a result of confidence induced by the existence of a black government and not racial hatred.

Despite my comments so far, I have no doubt that Mr. Furbert’s goals are well intentioned. I heard him speak just a few months ago at a predominantly black economic conference sponsored by the Church of God and he held the attention and respect of the audience. This was no mean accomplishment considering that the audience was sprinkled rather heavily with PLP supporters.

I have no doubt that Mr. Furbert will grow in stature as a leader because he possesses two very important qualities that Bermudians expect in a leader. He has an abundance of humility and he is nice.calvin<$>[AT]northrock.bm