On June 8, 2004, The Royal Gazette published an article by a person identified as "Observer". This correspondent reacted negatively to an article written by me and published in on April 15, 2004 titled, "Learning from the Caribbean". For easy reference for those who never saw that April article I quote from key paragraphs:

"In my view, the propaganda against Independence was achieved by exploiting deep seated feelings of inferiority that were held by too many black Bermudians. These feelings were created and nurtured by slavery, segregation and years of unequal participation in Bermuda's economy and were given expression by the oft-quoted statement that blacks cannot run a major business or any other major undertaking. Proof of this inability of blacks to manage a major undertaking was frequently provided by claiming that the Independence movement in the Caribbean had failed because the governments of the newly independent nations were black.

"Surprisingly, this view prevailed despite the fact that most Bermudians of African descent came to Bermuda via the West Indies. Not only are our roots deeply entrenched in West Indian culture and history, it is fairly obvious that Bermudians of recent West-Indian background are prominent among the leadership in Bermuda's business and political spheres of activity."

Observer disagreed, pointing out that Bermudians should have nothing to do with the Caribbean because "the majority of blacks in the Caribbean do much worse, economically, than do Bermudian blacks". He notes further that "under Independence, the politicians have prospered, but the people have suffered". He concludes that Bermuda "should not emulate countries whose leaders pompously feign importance (while sharing the spoils of office with a handful of insiders), as their governments struggle to stay afloat despite being awash in debt and international crime?"

As proof of the poverty of the islands to the South of us, Observer quoted statistics from a variety of sources among which the CIA figured most prominently. He seems to think that the sources he quotes provide statistics that are more reliable than those that some countries "massage" ? "in a PR fashion". This conclusion is false. The only way to get reliable statistics on GDP and unemployment is from establishment and household surveys. I am certain that no matter the power of the CIA, they cannot conduct such surveys in Independent states. Hence, the data upon which he relies is necessarily obtained from the very same sources he decries.

However, the analysis is not disturbing because of the data but because of the literal interpretation he makes of it. For instance, an exchange rate says very little about the standard of living of a country. It simply measures the relative prices at which goods and services exchange on the international market.

Thus, Observer declares that Bermuda's per-capita income is almost twice that of the Bahamas yet the value of Bermuda's dollar in terms of the US dollar is less than the Bahamas dollar. This should not be so if we follow the logic of Observer's analysis.

Observer is on stronger ground when he uses the per-capita income to analyse changes in wealth over time. However even this measure has serious weaknesses when used to compare the purchasing power of individuals in one country with that of the individuals of another.

For instance, Observer notes that the annual per-capita income of Dominica is the meagre sum of US$3,304 while that for Bermuda is a princely sum of US$35,200. Does Bermuda's high level of per-capita income indicate that the purchasing power of Bermudians is ten times as great as that of Dominicans? Yes, if Bermudians could work in Bermuda and live in Dominica.

By way of illustration, I refer readers to Page 76 of the 2000 Census of Population and Housing for Bermuda. That page shows that 30 percent of Bermudian households are poor or near poor, if they earn less than US$45,000 per annum. Yet, any household that earns $45,000 per annum, even in the United States, is certainly not poor or near poor. We may safely conclude that when we allow for vastly higher living costs in Bermuda vis-?-vis the Caribbean, it is obvious that the real wealth differentials quoted by Observer are nowhere as wide as he would have us believe.

Apart from making invalid statistical comparisons, Observer makes very unflattering remarks about the leadership in the Caribbean who led the Islands to Independence. It takes supreme arrogance to accuse the Manleys of Jamaica, Barrow and Adams of Barbados, Eugenia Charles of Dominica, Eric Williams of Trinidad, Nobel prize winner Sir Arthur Lewis of St. Lucia or Sir Lyndon Pindling of the Bahamas as leaders who are little more than gangsters.

Are there islands that have not fared well in terms of leadership? Of course there have been. However, I defy Observer, or anyone else, to prove that the bad leaders made their appearance as a result of Independence. Ignorance, arrogance and incompetence can be found in any nation at any given time.

What is important is whether the country experiencing bad leadership can remove such leaders without having to resort to open bloodshed. For the former British Caribbean, the answer is an almost unqualified yes.

What can Bermudians learn from West-Indians? We could talk to Mr. F. W. Yearwood, an immigrant from St. Kitts who not only owns many major apartments and offices, but who also was the first black chairman of the Bermuda Monetary Authority. In terms of significant accomplishments, he stands alongside now deceased Sir Edward Richards, a Guyanese who was Bermuda's first black Premier; and Dr. E. F. Gordon, a Trinidadian who was the founder of the Bermuda Industrial Union.

Bermudians can almost certainly follow the example of the descendants of West Indians, who are at least as successful as any other immigrant group. Examples are Dr. James King who seems to be the chairman of every Bermudian Corporation that is worth chairing; Sir John Swan who was not only Bermuda's longest serving premier but is also one of its most successful realtors: Dame Lois Browne Evans, former leader of the Opposition and Bermuda's first female lawyer; and last but not least, newly appointed Dame Pamela Gordon, Bermuda's first female premier and the daughter of the illustrious Dr. E.F. Gordon.

My own long standing interest in the Caribbean was heightened by my marriage to a Dominican. For this reason, I found Observer's remarks about Dominica particularly distasteful. Not many Bermudians can claim Dominica as their ancestral home yet descendants of that few include Mr. Donald Scott, the Financial Secretary; the Honourable Dale Butler, the Minister of Youth, Sports and Community affairs; Mr. Arthurton Riviere, former owner of the Wok restaurant and currently in the process of opening up Bermuda's first car wash; Mr. Jean-Jacques (deceased) who taught business administration to black Bermudians who were unable to gain entry to the very restricted schools available to blacks for much of our history.

In conclusion, I must admit that even if Observer were correct and there really was nothing to be learned from the nations of Cari-Com, I would still want a closer association. Hell, they are family.