October 18, 2012Dear Sir,I read with interest Dr Eva Hodgson’s October 9 Letter to the Editor in which she states: “The PLP can use race because we are still a deeply divided society racially.”This comment carries much weight because there are few, if any, persons in Bermuda who are as knowledgeable about the racial-equity struggle as Dr Hodgson. Unfortunately, her comment is subject to various interpretations and misinterpretations, some of which may lead to harmful results to both Bermuda and the racial-equity movement.If Dr Hodgson is saying that the PLP should include in its election platform a discussion of what specifically it has done for struggling black Bermudians over the last 14 years and, if re-elected, what it will do in the future, then her comment is clearly constructive because it paves the way for those concerned about the racial-equity struggle to not only assess what specifically the PLP Government has done for struggling black Bermudians but also to assess the PLP’s credibility when it say it will do better in the future.However, if Dr Hodgson is simply condoning the use of skin colour as the sole basis for voting, then she would appear to be completely ignoring the warnings of numerous leading American racial-equity advocates who have strongly and coherently argued that such methods undermine the racial-equity struggle.As Yale Professor Dr Cornell West explains, advocating that someone vote for a person simply because he or she is black feeds into the myth that blacks are intellectually and morally inferior to whites. Such an election strategy is, in effect, implicitly saying that blacks would not otherwise attract votes from other blacks if the standard for earning that vote were based on merit and integrity.Dr West then explains that by pursuing such a negative approach to the racial equity struggle, black leaders continually undermine the belief blacks have in their own self-worth. The racial-equity movement would benefit much more if these leaders were to advocate voting only on the basis of merit holding all elected officials to the highest ethical standards, and then judging these officials by their successes and failures while in office.Further, as Dr West explains, voting solely on the basis of skin colour creates corrupt politicians. If a politician knows that he has your vote no matter how badly he performs and no matter how deeply he lines his own pockets, then he will govern only for the benefit of himself and his connected friends.Unfortunately, Bermuda has experienced exactly that of which Dr West warns. The PLP repeatedly used racially inflammatory statements (“back to the plantation” etc) to rally the black vote, and then, to everyone’s disappointment, numerous PLP Ministers repeatedly immersed themselves in scandals that collectively have exceeded $100 million.But that was not the full extent of the PLP damage to the racial-equity struggle. Faced with mounting Government debt to no small degree because of Government corruption and waste the PLP Government then chose to dramatically reduce its financial support for many social programmes that otherwise could have helped struggling black Bermudians in these difficult times.So two questions remain. Is Dr Hodgson saying that race should be used as a basis for judging what the PLP Government has done to help (or harm) struggling black Bermudians over the last 14 years? Or is she saying that it is OK for the PLP to once again use racially inflammatory statements to gain the black vote, and that blacks should simply ignore the PLP’s track record over the last 14 years, including the massive corruption and waste that has led to the reduction of social assistance payments to help struggling black Bermudians?For the sake of the racial-equity movement and the future of Bermuda, it is hoped that Dr Hodgson will use her significant influence to make clear that no man should be judged simply by the colour of his skin. Let integrity and merit be the basis for each man’s vote, and let each politician know that there is a political cost to lining one’s pockets at the expense of the nation.KEVIN COMEAUCalifornia