Recently, I have been accused of being a racist, liar, stupid, and of failing to ascertain the facts before putting pen to paper. Gareth Finighan of the Mid Ocean News gave front page coverage to a statement I made in my opinion column of February 15 in which I took issue with the ?outpouring of disgust and contempt? for the PLP government that is based upon nothing more than a carefully calculated attempt to exploit the feelings of inferiority that continue in the psyche of many black Bermudians?. He continues with the following quote: ?If we did not have such carefully developed fears of West Indians, we would not be flooded today with Asians who do not seem too anxious to befriend Black Bermudians. Instead, we could be flooded with people who look like us and who share our common history and ancestry?.

Mr. Finighan then quotes from a guest worker who did not wish to be named stating that it was totally unfair to label all Asians as unfriendly. He is correct! I should not have generalised about all Asians. I was rebuked by a friend when the article appeared. He assured me that the Philippine residents were the friendliest non-Bermudians in this island. I shamefacedly agree. All races have people who are both good and bad. I suppose my statement was influenced sub-consciously by a visit to India in 2001 when I met first hand with the appalling Caste System and probably concluded ?if Indians treat their own that way what would they do to non-Indians??

I was listening to the Shirley Dill Show when a person surnamed Santucci announced that a white friend told him that he (the white friend) had managed the successful PLP election campaign of 1998. I immediately called the show pointing out that my cousin Larry Burchall and I had co-chaired the Campaign Committee that managed the campaign. The campaign committee consisted of Party Leader Ms Jennifer Smith, Deputy leader Mr. Eugene Cox, Mr. Alex Scott, Mr. David Allen, Mrs. Lois Browne Evans, Ms. Patrice Parris, Mr. Walter Roban, Mr. Larry Burchall and Mr. Calvin Smith. The only white person in that group was Mr. David Allen and I?m certain he did not relay that information to the Santucci person. Still, my clarification of the situation did not faze Mr. Santucci. He called back this week to inform Bermuda that his information was correct and that Calvin Smith was a liar.

Mrs. Kitson believed I was either stupid or trying to stir up racial hatred in support of my goal of independence. The stupidity conclusion came from her observation that slavery had been in existence since the beginning of time. She also felt that I should be aware that the slaves in Bermuda were freed 30 years before those in America and England compensated the slave owners.

She is of course correct that slavery has been in existence in some form for most of the world history. However, it was not limited to blacks. Anyone who lost a war was destined to end up in slavery or dead. It was as a result of the colonisation of North America that slavery took on a distinctive colour perspective. White slaves or indentured servants could always flee to another state and blend in with the rest of the Europeans. This became very easy to do once the poor American Indians were decimated. However, Blacks were identifiable by their skin colour. Hence when blacks ran away, they had to make it up to Canada to have any chance of retaining their new found freedom.

The UBP notion that I and everyone else who is PLP is interested in stirring up hatred is an amazing statement. Even more amazing is the fact that many Bermudians of both races actually believe it. God knows there are many reasons why blacks should hate the white race. However, we never gave in to that urge when we had every reason to do so. Why should anyone think that we would give in to that urge now? Mrs. Kitson apparently knows why and I would actually be grateful if she would relay this information to all Bermudians to enable us to cease the behaviour that she perceives as hatred.

Mr. Fahy alone of all my critics seemed convinced that he was the sole arbitrator of truth. His treatise opens with what he states is my opening myth, ?The UBP is attempting ?? to gain power by exploiting the fears and prejudices of the electorate?. By way of truth he accuses Dr. Brown, Colonel Burch and Ms Renee Webb of making offensive comments that he does not recall UBP Senators or M?s ever making. I would argue that the UBP politicians did not have to make the ?offensive? remarks. Their silence in the face of blatant discrimination in terms of economic opportunity spoke volumes. This truth was evidenced by Mr. Khali Wasi who complained after the UBP loss of 1998 that the loss was due to the failure of the UBP to provide economic opportunity to their loyal black supporters. Perhaps for that reason black economic opportunity is high on the UBP agenda should they be re-elected. Yet, the UBP represents the major Bermudian businesses and one would think they could carry this out without being the government.

Mr. Fahy lists a number of projects and events as evidence of the incompetence of the PLP. High among these was his charge of the Berkeley cost overruns. At the moment, the situation at Berkeley is very unclear. Two issues ? a liability of unfair dismissal and a true assessment of claims ? are being assessed by a tribunal of three highly competent Englishmen. That does not seem to me to be evidence of government trying to hide something. Perhaps, the Government could save money and time by dismissing the Englishmen and hiring Mr. Fahy.

With respect to the charges against the Ministers with respect to the Bermuda Housing Corporation, Mr. Fahy wants us to ignore the fact that a highly qualified investigating committee found no evidence of criminality. Mr. Fahy was unperturbed. He insisted that the Ministers should have been disciplined on the basis of ?unethical? behaviour. Apparently Mr. Fahy would like a return to ?lynch law? which states that as long as a sizeable number of the community believe something to be true than the person to whom the judgment applies must be punished. Under this so called ethic, white women were regularly pilloried for unethical behaviour, if they were caught having sexual relationships with a black male. Terrible things happened to the black male.

To Mr. Fahy?s credit he makes the following admission: ?Mr. Editor, although I accept that African Bermudians were treated appallingly in the past, and many still bear the emotional scars of that poor treatment, it cannot continuously be used to explain away the shortcomings of the PLP. The facts speak for themselves?. I agree! However different interpretations of the same set of facts reflects the uniqueness of each human being. Democracy developed because it was recognised that this uniqueness enabled human creativity and should be maximised. Democratic governments protect this ability to maximise our creativity by means of certain principles. These principles are Liberty, Equality, Rule of Law and Constitutional Government. Obviously Mr. Fahy would add a fifth, ?FAHY?S TRUTH?

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