Letters to the Editor
I hope Government might just hear what Mr. Gilbert has to say
December 26, 2005
I AM not trying to monopolise your Letters to the Editor column, but I was so very gratified to see the letter from Guilden Gilbert, Jr. (Mid-Ocean News, December 23) because he is such a strong supporter and defender of both the Progressive Labour Party and Independence that the Government might just hear what he has to say.Indeed, racism has never been a core value of the PLP. The PLP was so anxious to be "integrated" and not "race based" that during their early days they threw out a long-time black politician (Levi Pearman) and replaced him with an absolute newcomer who happened to be a white woman (Dorothy Thompson) and ran her in their "safest" (blackest) constituency. She won and Mr. Pearman lost out.
From day one I disagreed with the PLP because I believed racism was far more destructive and significant in the Bermuda context than any class conflict. But they would not touch racism.
They looked to Europe for direction and indulged in the rhetoric of socialism rather than looking towards Bermuda and addressing what concerned us — which was racism. In fact, for a very long time they alienated the black community by refusing to even talk about racism and stressing "socialism" — which was about as meaningless and alien to the black community then as it apparently is to the PLP Cabinet and hierarchy now.
We should note that neither PLP Premier has ever talked about race or racism or racial equality in their policy discussions or even in the Social Agenda. It is ironic and hypocritical that so much of the current rhetoric, particularly at campaign time, manipulates black folks' deepest emotions by touching on racial issues but when it comes time to put policies into place that might address the social problems stemming from race they are ignored. I find it very demeaning towards black people that they are manipulated in this fashion.
Colonel David Burch's black-on-black attacks are particularly frustrating to me because it is this deep divide within the black community which has brought racial progress to a halt. I initially thought that from henceforth we should simply address the Colonel as a "field nigger" but in both his training and his personal development he is too much a product of the "Master's" army.
Even his need to be "arrogant" on a full-time basis is a product of the British military and its hierarchical culture and values. It was the British Army that was the tool used for the conquest and colonising of Africa and the rest of the Empire. They needed the "no-nonsense" and "do-as-I-say" approach so typical of the Colonel.
Traditional Africa and black Bermuda during the days of segregation were too community-oriented. They might have adopted and absorbed some of the British military's culture over the years but not their values since their own were based on respect for age and not political or social status (since they had none).
But someone like Colonel Burch
I do differ with Mr. Guilden Gilbert, though, when he suggests that we do not concern ourselves with the past. There are still too many black people who carry too many painful scars from the past that need to be acknowledged.
Moreover, too much of the past still reverberates in the present and we need to acknowledge what happened in our history and why that still impacts on our current lives. The white community, just like the PLP, needs to recognise that until there is less of a racial divide in our community other outstanding social issues cannot be addressed in a united fashion. Until the white community can make some gesture of acknowledgement , the black community will continue to think in terms of race no matter what the PLP does (most likely aggravate the situation rather than address it).
I have to ask if there are any in the white community who are courageous enough to begin a dialogue with other whites on this issue. The National Association for Reconciliation would gladly facilitate if they will phone in their names and addresses to 293-2423. The black community is itself too divided to make any further progress in this area and there must be at least a few whites who bothered to go to hear Tim Wise who do not want to see it end there.
I believe the racial divide is responsible, either directly or indirectly, for the Chamber of Commerce being so limited in its concerns. The ship Logos II is here for two weeks; HSBC is here forever and can be far more destructive to Bermuda's infrastructure than that visiting ship can be.
Your Opinion this week entitled "The Long Goodbye" highlights an even greater problem that not many are discussing and the few that raised it with the PLP seven years ago were completely ignored — namely, the over-concentration of international business in Bermuda. I suspect that not many PLP supporters read your Opinions, even one as direct and easy to understand as this week's. So if any voices are to be raised in support of your arguments, they will have to emanate from the Chamber of Commerce.
Politicians (including those in the United Bermuda Party) have made a virtue of what is contributing to our destruction — the unchecked growth of the international business sector and the equally limitless number of foreigners and alien cultures being invited into Bermuda while Bermudians themselves are being increasingly sidelined. We are supposed to view both developments as positives even when what's happening is clearly to our long-term detriment.
EVA N. HODGSON
Crawl
