January 25, 2006

Dear Sir,

It is disingenuous for Mr. Philip Wells and even Mr. Wayne Furbert (and others) to excuse whites for not joining the PLP because of their recent racial campaign rhetoric without once acknowledging that the PLP did not come into existence yesterday but over 40 years ago. They know, or should know, that the early PLP, with people like Mr. Arnold Francis, Mr. Walter Robinson, and even Mrs. Lois Browne Evans and Mr. ?Mose? Allen, were all so anxious for whites to join the PLP that they leaned over backwards to accommodate them. They would not touch racism and were so compromising in their language and in their efforts to attract white people that they angered many of their black constituents who were still living very segregated lives and daily facing all kinds of discrimination. Whites still did not join. Why will they not acknowledge this?

Dr. Ewart Brown and Ms Renee Webb with their racially confrontation style and racial campaign rhetoric are of very recent vintage. They are the direct result of whites refusing to even acknowledge the outstretched hands of a black PLP. They are each very much a ?Johnny come lately? and as I said of very recent vintage. Moreover, until this past year or so, they were the only ones in the PLP hierarchy who had the courage to even mention racism or ?black? and they are going to be used as an excuse for almost a half century of white rejection? Whites did not have to go to black schools but they might have joined black clubs, such as the Leopards Club, and in those early days, in the 1960s, the surplus wealth that whites had accumulated and the experience they had acquired from controlling the economy, they probably would have been welcomed. Moreover, in the 1960s, the results at the Berkeley Institute were as good as, and often better than, those at Saltus Grammar.

But Mr. Philip Wells wants us to now believe that a white community that instituted the racial divide and were filled with such venom and rage when Sir Henry Tucker tried to move towards some form of ?integration? is not totally indifferent to the pain and humiliation inflicted by their racism? He is the ?liberal? and he spends his time lecturing me and the PLP rather than trying to reinforce that part of Tim Wise?s message with which he agrees to his white colleagues.

No, I do not talk to young whites but I would love to talk to older decision making whites! I do talk to young black and some of those who are ?integrated? are often more cynical and bitter than those young blacks who are shut out of our flourishing economy because they have discovered that with all their ?integration? there are all kinds of ways to ensure that they never have parity with whites in either status or salary.

Ps. The surplus money which Mr. Bob Richards wants returned to him and other wealthy members of the community like Dr. Grant Gibbons should have been given to the Salvation Army for the Addiction Services which the Government asked them to undertake rather than maligning them by saying that they returned ten percent of their intake to Canada ? which they clearly never did! Also, if there are whites who really do care why have they not taken up NAR?s proposal to talk, at least, to each other about Tim Wise?s comments and the origin of our racial divide. There is nothing like knowing the origin of a disease in order to decide on its cure.

Prescription for progress

February 2, 2006

Dear Sir,

The hospital board and its advisors held a meeting this past summer to discuss replacing the existing hospital with a new updated facility. While everyone surely will agree that a new updated hospital is a positive and welcome idea, there seems to be a problem on just where to put the facility. The plan is limited to building no more than three storeys tall, claiming that going any higher than three floors is too expensive operationally. The search also includes looking at areas such as the Botanical Gardens and the Arboretum. The current 17 acres would be abandoned.

Bermuda?s precious land is scarce and limited. Decisions regarding updating facilities must include thinking about our children and our grandchildren?s future. To do this, decisions must be farsighted ? not just for the next 50 years ahead, but for the next 150 years. The KEMH board has before them a golden opportunity to plan an updated facility with state-of-the-art technology, beginning with smart decisions about the land use here in Bermuda.

The original King Edward VII Memorial Hospital was built in the 1920s. The present hospital was built 45-50 years ago. The present KEMH site, along with the recent purchase of property on the corner of Point Finger Road and Berry Hill Road total approximately 17 acres. The presentation last summer confirmed that this site is large enough for a new hospital; however, their main reason for not using this site is the expense of relocating the Extended Care Unit and building around the present hospital building.

Why cannot 3.5 acres on the north end of Point Finger Road near Berry Hill Road be used, going up eight storeys? With this idea, the building would not be as high as the present nurses? quarters and would establish parking on the first two floors. A new doctors? and nurses? accommodations could be built at the parking lot near water catches on the north of Berry Hill. Certainly these 3.5 acres can accommodate the 450,000 square feet needed for the expansion, leaving the adjoining land for future generations. This solution, using the present central location, would be beneficial for several important reasons:

Ambulances would not have a longer ride when transporting sick patients.

No additional costs would be incurred expanding the existing roads to accommodate traffic to the Arboretum.

The Botanical Gardens and Arboretum would be preserved.

Additional land mass would not be tied up.

Reduce the very immediate need of rehousing the total Extended Care Unit facility at the old hospital.

Expensive roof top gardens will not be needed as views will bed plentiful from the higher elevations.

The cost of operating a hospital of several storeys and preserving our land mass versus having no land in 50 years for future updated facilities seems like a small price to pay.