It is now history that four high profile members of the UBP have resigned from that party due to continuing exhibits of racism on the part of its white membership.

The resigning UBP members are Ms Gwyneth Rawlins, Mr. David Dunkley, Mr. Jamahl Simmons MP and Mr. Maxwell Burgess MP. Actually, Mr. Burgess attributed his resignation to the poor leadership of Mr. Wayne Furbert MP.

However, since Mr. Furbert is the darling of the UBP white membership, one could conclude that Mr. Burgess' resignation was also based on racism. Somewhat surprisingly, other high profile members of the UBP, in defence of their party, have publicly denied the existence of racism in their party which is causing the more vocal members of the PLP to claim, “Those fools still think that denial is a river in Egypt”.

Make no mistake about it; many Blacks joined the UBP because they believed membership would increase their access to economic opportunity. When Mr. Burgess defected from the PLP he gave this reason shortly after in The Royal Gazette, “I have to think about my Daughters future”? Personally, I do not think that the prejudice that leads to racism has changed seriously in either of Bermuda's major political parties. To appreciate this statement, let's pause for a moment and examine the meaning of the term “racism”.

Webster's new twentieth Century Dictionary explains the term as follows: ‘Racism is a program or practice of racial discrimination, segregation, persecution, and domination, based on racialism.' The dictionary further defines Racialism ‘as a doctrine or feeling of racial differences or antagonisms, especially with reference to supposed racial superiority, inferiority, or purity'.

Put simply, racialism in the intellectual basis of racial prejudice and racism is the practice of racial prejudice. During most of Bermuda's history, both races have practiced racialism. That is to say each preferred to stay within their own racial boundaries for reasons that each considered justifiable given the social realities of Bermuda. By virtue of colonialism and the accompanying racism of that ideology, whites were the privileged race and blacks were the oppressed and victimised race. Clearly, in those circumstances, one would not have expected any love to develop between the races.

There are stories of masters who loved their slaves, which is surely a contradiction in terms. Although, when one looks at the varied complexions of Bermuda's so-called Black population, one might suppose that love existed at some level in the same way as people love their pets. On the other hand, in the early half of this century, there were many Black Bermudians who extolled the virtues of the White aristocracy even though they were rigidly segregated and prevented from acquiring the education which would have enabled them to free themselves from the victimisation of that same aristocracy.

Dr. Gordon tried to weaken this blanket control of all aspects of Bermuda society by white Bermudians by taking a petition to England which sought to integrate the schools so that Blacks could have the same access to education as did the white minority. Britain at first agreed to support the petition but was dissuaded from implementation by the local governor acting on the advice of the white establishment who claimed “that if the schools were integrated, the American tourists would stop coming to Bermuda.

With the advent of Party Government in the sixties, the UBP leadership recruited substantial numbers of blacks and maintained the dreadfully gerrymandered constituencies in order to keep the power firmly in the hands of the white minority. As a result, they were able to maintain control of parliament through eight elections held between 1968 and 1993. Further, throughout this period, the UBP not only maintained power, but whites were the majority in the UBP parliamentary group and thereby held the control of Parliament despite the fact that the members of parliament were overwhelmingly black.

Given their inability to make inroads on the economic power structure, blacks in the UBP began to feel betrayed. In fact the formation of the Black Caucus of the UBP in the seventies resulted directly from this feeling of betrayal. One of my relatives, who held a prominent position in the UBP, told me that Premier Sir John Sharpe listened more to the PLP than to the Black members of the UBP. I asked Sir John about this and his response was, “But Calvin, What am I supposed to do? Your friends in the PLP are more in touch with the concerns of your people than the Blacks in my party?” Given this historic background, it should be clear that when the PLP won the government in 1998, the power equation changed markedly.

For the first time in the History of Bermuda, the political power of the White Minority was drastically reduced and with it much of their control over the economy. The PLP now controlled immigration, the incorporation of foreign companies, the planning development order, foreign investment in Bermuda Companies and taxation of both businesses and individuals.

Despite this obvious power shift in favour of Bermuda's Black population, the Blacks in the UBP continued loyal to their party; this was probably because they believed that their political leverage in the UBP had increased as a result of the election to power of the PLP.

This supposition would have been enhanced as a result of the narrow victory of the PLP in 2003. After the election of 2003, the PLP ended up with an eight seat majority. However, the margin, in terms of the differences in total votes, was very close. Some nine constituencies were won by less than 100 votes. Six of these were won by the PLP and three by the UBP. The UBP blacks had reason to be optimistic. The narrow victory of the PLP in 2003 convinced Blacks in the UBP that the honeymoon of the majority race with the PLP had ended. Hence they stood firmly behind the UBP and supported the new UBP strategy of accusing the PLP of corruption and of “Keeping Racism Alive.” Both races in the UBP obviously believed that this strategy would derail the PLP and they would at last reach the “Promised Land”.

With the election of the Dr. Ewart Brown as leader, the fond hopes of the UBP were dashed. The PLP now had a leader who understood the intricacy of power and how to use it. As Minister of transport, Dr. Brown had purchased the very successful ‘fast ferries' in the face of tumultuous objections by both the electronic and print media. He followed this up by introducing new air services that have lowered the cost of air travel to and from the Eastern Seaboard. But the jewel in his crown has been the delivery of the Grand Slam of Golf to Bermuda's Mid Ocean Club. The control of the Grand Slam means that Bermuda will be watched by people who comprise our tourist target market.

As a result, this one act should give Bermuda an advertising and public relations boost that should be the greatest that Bermuda has ever received from a single event. Clearly, we now have a premier of this colony who has the intelligence, energy and commitment to do the one thing that all previous leaders have failed at - to take Bermuda to a new level that utilises all Bermudians as equals based upon merit. Clearly, this is the desire of the Blacks who defected from the UBP. Clearly this was not what they had been getting.

calvinnorthrock.bm