Whether we have been a victim or perpetrator of prejudice, when we look back on the experience it is often quite funny. I was made joyously aware of this just recently when my ex-wife and I were discussing our first meeting with a dear friend, a Jamaican named Cecil Frazer.

The Screaming Landlady

We met Cecil on a rainy, cold night in September, just prior to the beginning of the Queens University school year. It was about eleven o'clock at night when my landlord called and told me that there was someone downstairs asking for me. I went down to the door wondering who was calling on me so late.

Standing in the hallway with outstretched hand was a black man about average height who bore a striking resemblance to Louis Armstrong. He had the same round, shiny, black face and bulging eyes that looked as if they were going to pop out of his head. To add to this rather startling appearance, my visitor was wearing a heavy overcoat, a sweater under his suit, a thick scarf and heavy snow boots. He looked all the part of a person dressed for a Kingston winter ? Kingston Ontario that is.

His opening statement to me was "I have just arrived from Jamaica and I don't have anywhere to stay. I called the University and they told me to contact you and that you would see that I got a place to stay for the night". By way of response, I explained that I was authorised to place Caribbean students in a motel until the student housing department re-opened. Later, we offered Cecil a coffee and sandwich during which time he proceeded to tell us what had happened.

Apparently, he had arrived by train from Toronto. Immediately after arrival, he had phoned his would-be landlady, identified himself and asked for directions on how to get to her place. He recalled that the landlady was very friendly in providing the directions. Cecil said he was very relieved when he heard the pleasant voice because he had heard from other West-Indians that they had met with some unpleasantness with landlords in Kingston.

When Cecil arrived at his assigned residence and knocked on the door, his would-be landlady took one look at him, screamed and ran upstairs. Her husband came rushing to the door, saw Cecil and asked with great hostility "What are you doing here"? Cecil explained but too little avail. The husband assured him that he personally had nothing against coloured people but he really did not think that his wife would be able to deal with the situation. "Even if she could", he continued, "I know my neighbours would be most upset".

For me it was a familiar story although it was the first time that anyone had reported a 'screaming landlady'. The humour of the incident evolved from the way Cecil handled the incident. From that time onward at frequent gatherings of West-Indians, Cecil cheerfully related the tale of 'The Screaming Landlady'. As a result, whenever any of the Caribbean students met with prejudice they would pre-empt the explanation of the person displaying the prejudice with the remark, "I know, its not you it's the neighbours". Cecil's ability to laugh at adversity probably contributed in large part to the fact that he was among the first graduates in the Queen's University Faculty of Law.

Whites Can't Dance

Sometimes, the prejudice originated with me. Once I accepted my friend Henry's invitation to spend the weekend with him in Toronto. On my first night at Henry's home, he decided to take me to a nightclub where the music was Mo-town. After one year in Kingston, I was looking forward to visiting a nightclub where there were people who could really dance.

When we arrived at "The Hall", the name of the dance hall, I was surprised to discover that at least half of the patrons were white and furthermore, everyone seemed to be quite comfortable with each other.

When the music started, I was amazed to see the people I thought were white dancing like black people. Believing that whites cannot dance to our music, I asked Henry, "how come there are so many mulattoes here tonight. I have never seen so many Mulattoes in a dance hall, even in Bermuda". Henry replied "What Mulattoes? There's not one mulatto here tonight. Those are white people". I responded clearly shocked, "But Henry, how could they be white and dance like that?" Henry replied with ill concealed annoyance, "Man, you Bermudians are really messed up. They dance like black people because we all grew up in the same neighbourhood. Hell, you should see me do Ukrainian and Greek dances". That was my first lesson on the importance of the social environment in determining behaviour.

Embarrassing Stereotypes

Strongly held prejudices often lead to what is called stereotypes. On one occasion during my tenure as Chief Statistician, I received a call from Keith Forbes who told me that a friend of his from Reuters News agency was in Bermuda seeking information on the state of race relations locally. Keith had advised him that he should have a talk with me and he had promised to be at my office within the hour.

About thirty minutes later, my secretary called to inform me that there was a man in the waiting room who said I was expecting him. I immediately went out into the waiting room looking forward to an exciting encounter with a world class news correspondent. However, when I entered the waiting room, there was no 'man from Reuters'. The only person in the waiting room was a very black man whom I assumed had arrived to carry out maintenance or some such thing. I turned to go back to my office and the lights went on! I thought, "My God that must be the man from Reuters".

At that point, I practised what my mother always told me, "Calvin if you are in an embarrassing situation, tell the truth." Acting on my mother's sage advice, I turned and looked at the black man who was now visibly angry, threw my arms in the air and admitted, "OK! I thought you were white." To which he replied, "I am used to that reaction from whites but this is the first time I have experienced it with a black. Following that unfortunate encounter, we had a lively chat about the strange encounters we had both experienced arising out of the stereotypes that are born of prejudice.

The Innocence of Youth

These encounters with prejudice are seldom funny when they occur. The humour is usually apparent weeks or even years later. The encounter I am about to relate was instantly humorous.

In Kingston, it was quite common for young children at the kindergarten age to shout racial epithets when they saw someone of colour. In fact the utterings of these youngsters were a constant reminder that there was a strong anti-black undercurrent of prejudice in Kingston although, on the surface, the people seemed to be very friendly.

One night at a very popular Italian restaurant located in a pharmacy near the University, I was in the company of several West Indians looking at magazines in the drug department while we awaited a table. While waiting, I noticed a very young white boy staring at Burt, who happened to be a very bright biochemistry student from Jamaica. Now Burt was over six feet tall with a bushy head of hair that he had styled with a part right up the middle. I assumed that was what caught the eye of the white youngster.

By the way, this youngster could have been the Aryan poster child. He had deep blue eyes, almost white blonde hair and a smile that seemed to say "I like you very much."

Finally, Burt noticed the little boy and said "Hello little boy". Whereupon the youngster responded, "Hello! Are you a nigger?" The child's mother, who was standing nearby, rushed up to the child chiding him with the words, "You must not speak to the nice gentleman like that; he is Mister!" The child now severely chastened looked up to Burt with his bright blue eyes brimming with tears and apologised, "I'm sorry, Mister Nigger!" Well, I'm ashamed to admit that the whole group of us broke out in laughter. For the remainder of our stay in Kingston, whenever we felt a need to apologise to each other, we would say, "I'm sorry Mr. Nigger."

Perhaps I am one of very few Bermudians who see humour in exhibitions of prejudice. However, I am certain that if each of us looks back on even the most painful incidents of prejudice we have experienced, many of these events would turn out to be very funny in retrospect.

In these trying times of independence debates, housing issues, violent crime, drug addiction and fears of a foreign takeover, the ability to laugh at ourselves may be an important way to maintain our sanity.

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