No further steps to take?

April 3, 2009

Dear Sir:

I have read with interest the replies to Ms Winfield's thoughts on offering an apology to the black community. It is very easy for most white Bermudians to defend a stance of "I didn't do it", so "why should I?" I understand that idea and like them I can also say that very same thing. I also accept that there is a foundation of racism that exists today that is as oppressive as it ever was. The challenge for us is to recognise this oppression and work to remove it.

Mr. Emmerson, in his letter (Royal Gazette – March 28), has chosen a stance of living in the here and now and not being able to apologise for the sins of the past made by people "long dead". It is also interesting to note that my white brothers and sisters seem to be very defensive about the subject. The argument is a complex one and should be studied in a more aggressive manner, rather than being dismissed as absurd. If we are not willing to learn, we remain ignorant.

So may I ask that my white brothers and sisters who choose to walk that line to "reflect" for a moment, rather than "deflect" it out of hand. In order for the white community to begin to realise the current nature of racism, they must be able to recognise it happening in their own world. We recognised that slavery was wrong and we abolished it. We recognised the need for civil rights in the 60s and allowed blacks to be integrated in our society. Integration was seen as the next logical step after segregation. So now that we have our "integrated" society, all is OK? Are there no further steps to take?

The fact is that most whites in Bermuda are not openly racist, and probably don't even consider the areas of their lives where blacks are still being held back. I wonder if Mr. Emmerson has ever spoken with a black person about the issues of being black. I wonder if Mr. Emmerson has ever seen racism in his community? I wonder if many whites can recognise these problems. Please do not believe that a society with a black government cannot still be plagued with racial problems.

The problems are many. Our society is still one that supports a "white" economic power base. I accept that this is primarily a world problem and not just a Bermudian one. Luckily we live in a country where we can make changes, where we can make a difference. To ignore a problem, or deflect it away by saying that it "isn't me" doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. It is possible that the ultimate sin is "integration" where blacks can now also support that same "white" power base. The slave master may have disappeared, but the cotton field certainly hasn't.

For that is why the apology is needed, that blacks in most aspects of life are still not considered equal to whites. It may seem hard to believe, but it is true. The lists of inequalities are there for your examination. Certainly there have been major strides to break down the barriers that have been built over hundreds of years, but we still have a long way to go! In order for recovery we must first accept that there is a problem. For far too long we have not seen, or choose not to see the problems, thus recovery has been hard. It has taken the vigilant efforts of organisations like CURE and CURB to attempt to bring these issues to light. Long may their efforts continue.

In closing I will ask you this Mr. Emmerson. Do you work for a black owned company? Do you support any black initiatives? Are you able to assimilate to a black culture the way blacks are asked to assimilate to a white culture? The apology is only the beginning. The work still has yet to be done.

PHILIP RAY

Pembroke

A big part of the problem

March 31, 2009

Dear Sir,

Mark Emmerson wrote a clear and well reasoned letter to CURB and Mrs. Winfield. I would like to add to his letter. Slavery in Europe and the Americas was not the product of any skin colour, it was the product of a culture. Many readers will try very hard to link skin colour with culture, but skin colour is genetically determined and culture is not. Mrs. Winfield and others will look at me and say that because of the genetically determined pigmentation of my skin I should make an apology for something done by cultures to which I have never belonged and which I have abhorred all my life and will abhor for the remainder of it. Mrs. Winfield and others are as wrong as persons can humanly be. Where they will claim to part of the solution to a problem, they are, in reality, the greater part of that problem. It can sometimes be difficult to detect when someone is acting disingenuously for cheap political gain, but I do not believe that this is one of those times.

Mrs. Winfield, you and your political masters owe all Bermudians an apology for the damage caused to them by indiscriminate attacks on a group that you have identified by a genetic trait that tells you nothing about the individual. Every person, regardless of skin colour, must be judged on his own beliefs and actions, not on those of others who may, or may not, look in some superficial way like him. Mrs. Winfield, you must begin the social reform process by focusing on people who classify others by colour. If you classify by colour, you discriminate by colour. You cannot use the terms "black people" and "white people" without stereotypical connotation, and this makes you, CURB and CURE a big part of the problem.

Mrs. Winfield, you owe me an apology, and I want it to be public. You and every other Bermudian who has bought into the notion of classifying everyone into mutually exclusive racial groups, which are based solely on appearance, have discriminated against me who has no race. You owe me an apology for your skin colour obsession which ignores the important qualities of individuals and, thereby, discriminates against me, who has important qualities unrelated to my skin tone.

In my life, I have been repeatedly and unfairly associated with the likes of you because of my skin pigment, but I am not, and never will be, like you.

Am I sorry?

Am I sorry that Hitler exterminated 15 million people during the Second World War?

Yes I am.

Am I sorry that Stalin exterminated 20 million people during and after the Second World War?

Yes I am.

Am I sorry that the Turks committed a genocide against the Armenian people?

Yes I am.

Am I sorry that there was a global slave trade?

Yes I am.

Am I sorry that George Bush created a war in Iraq?

Yes I am.

Am I sorry that the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites?

Yes I am.

Do I accept your pointless call for a meaningless apology?

No I do not.

IAN CAMPBELL

Devonshire

'Charity' fee is blackmail

April 3, 2009

Dear Sir,

I and a number of my fellow athletes are fuming over the so called mandatory $100 for charity being levied in order to enter the Bermuda Day Half Marathon. That, on top of the $35 entry fee, is outrageous! What should normally be a fun event for all who wish to brave the 13.1 miles of hills, heat and humidity, has turned very sour for many of us. Bermudians and residents give very generously to charities by choice all year long. No one should be forced to give to charities. This is blackmail!. One irate athlete told me "her" charity, SPCA, isn't named, so why should she give to charities not of her choice?

What might be a better solution is for us to write a cheque if we so wish, to the charity of our choice, in the amount of our choice. At least this way we actually know where the money is going! Just giving the Derby organisers $135.00 does not guarantee the charities anything! Some people who are working hard to find the time to train, are also working hard to pay their bills, and simple don't have the $100 to fork out, or the time to go asking others for money, especially when so many are struggling in this economic climate.

A number of athletes I have spoken to have said they will run without a number! The road belongs to the public. They can't stop us from running, they can only stop us from entering the finish chute. We can check the finish clock for our times. Who needs their names in the paper anyway? I urge all athletes to protest this unprecedented and unfair demand on the part of the Marathon Derby race committee. Bermuda Day should be a happy day, and supporting charities is a fulfilling thing to do. But it must be by choice.

PEGGY COUPER

Pembroke

We have been played

March 30, 2009

Dear Sir,

If I hear another comment, quote or receive another e-mail concerning the Big Conversation, I think I will be forced to go play in the traffic. The East Broadway at 5 p.m. traffic, to be exact. It isn't as if I don't see the merit in attempting to resolve an issue that is long standing and destructive, however I sincerely believe that this ambitious project lacks credibility, primarily because our black government has tormented, terminated and reduced to nothingness, large segments of the black community that don't openly support their highly suspect behaviour. We have been duped into believing that our issues are merely black and white when the real divisive ingredient is green. This Government would have us believe that it was purely race that prompted the recent Auditor General's report. That the many, many issues that have plagued this country over the past ten years are simply racially based. Hogwash and more camouflage.

We have been played by a master player. He has us believing that his black American friends deserve to be empowered and financially rewarded at our expense. That the majority of black Bermudians are not worthy, unless they display unswerving loyalty and openly support his twisted agenda. That he deserves to be rewarded for leading us out of the wilderness and that to question is sacrilege. His tactics are not new, however I have to admit that I am surprised he has survived this long. I therefore recommend that we have a real conversation. One that is huge, massive and comprehensive. We need to discuss and decipher whether the smoke we have been inhaling for the past few years is merely trash being burned in the back yard or if there is something far larger and sinister burning underground. We need to determine if the volcano that formed this island is dormant or if we are about to feel the real destructive forces of an eruption. One that can't be reversed. Seriously, we need to think and not be lead around by our noses. All that pinching apparently has eliminated the stench. Power to the People. Right on!

BROTHA MAN

Southampton