If you didn't know before

December 31, 2007

Dear Sir,

One thing that has become abundantly clear from the results of this election is that white people do not understand black people. For the majority of white people it is inconceivable that the majority of black people would feel that race is more important than corruption, lies and the future of their children. The UBP campaign was based on good governance, ethics and representation from all walks of life, and I strongly believe (as a white person) that this is what Bermuda needs for everyone to prosper, not just a chosen few.

So, if white people didn't understand before, it is certainly very clear that the past is still very much the past, present and the future, for a large number of people on this tiny Island, and the resentment toward white people is so powerful that I honestly doubt there is much any white person can ever do to change this attitude, even if they did understand the rationale.

There have always been numerous letters and essays from PLP supporters advising everyone how white people think and behave – an example is in today's paper telling us the UBP would have behaved in just the same way as the PLP supporters did when they won the election. There is no doubt they would have been noisily ecstatic, but I also know there would have been a lot more respect shown for the losers.

Personally, I am truly sick to death of reading and hearing these idiotic lectures by non-white people spouting forth about how white Bermudians feel toward black people. Rarely, if ever, are they correct. We do not spend our days despising and plotting black Bermudians' downfall, we really do not. You do not understand us any more than we understand you. Until Bermudians of all backgrounds start looking forward, trusting each other and learning to appreciate and understand each other's differences and contributions, the future for our children, looks very bleak.

PALEFACE

Southampton

Embrace black culture

December 31, 2007

Dear Sir,

Start embracing Black Bermudian culture. In Alvin Williams' MON commentary dated December 28, 2007 he stated that '…. we (as black people) have grown weary of carrying the burden of improving race relations in this country and many have made the decision to lay that burden down — this black man's burden". I certainly understand his sentiments. Throughout history, the struggle for civil rights, equality and justice has always been initiated by black people and continues to be so even in 2008 Bermuda. And yes, it can get really wearying.

Yet we as black people still persevere despite the many obstacles that come our way — what a people we are! I believe we have embarked on a turning point in our history in race relations. Who would have thought 30 or 40 years ago that the UBP would become so scattered and fall into the current demise of becoming so un-winnable? It's a crying shame. The UBP and its supporters have to really dig deep, reflect and make some uncomfortable choices in order to pull out of this one. Our racial polarization has been a major cause of this one sidedness but contrary to popular belief, this polarization has been in existence long before the PLP came into power. It is just more expressed now.

In 2008 Bermuda, the Opposition should be strong so that everyone is on their toes to maintain a healthy democracy. However its weaknesses is reflective of racial polarisation coming to a head. The white Bermudian population has lamented that democracy may be now be lost. But since the supporters of the Opposition are mainly white Bermudians, they need to act now to salvage what is left of their party and what they feel is a fallen democracy. They could start by embracing the deeper fabric of the culture of the black majority of the population just as we have always done. Let the healing begin!

FOR HEALING IN BDA

Pembroke

Badgering the innocent

December 28, 2007

Dear Sir,

I am a former resident and native of the Island. In commenting on the recent violent shootings over the holidays and Ms MacPhee's report regarding the importation of fire arms, I find it rather uncanny that Customs sees fit to increase the patrol on overseas consumer purchases as opposed to guns and ammunition being imported to our once peaceful shores. It grieves me to hear that people are being taxed so stringently when they travel abroad and purchase items to provide for their family in the form of toiletries, clothing, food items, etc.; items that are either non-existent or drastically overpriced on the Island.

Yet the drug and violent weapons present on the island have increased dramatically over the past few years. I think we have our focus all wrong. Instead of badgering innocent shoppers at the airport, they may want to take a look at those who walk through the airport with little to nothing to declare and see what they come up with. I am sick and tired of my family grieving about the prices in the US and how they wish they could take this or that back home, but they can't because Bermuda Customs is on a rampage.

Imagine what a day it would be when the tables are turned and the criminal minds start grieving about the items they hope to import, but can't because Bermuda Customs finally has their focus on the more important issues that affect our community.

T. WALKER

Lake County, Florida

UBP should disband

January 1, 2008

Dear Sir,

A number of persons in the white community – myself included – were surprised by the recent election results. We thought that the accusations of corruption, the evidence in support of those accusations and the actions of the Premier in response to those accusations (seeking an injunction to suppress public disclosure of the evidence, refusing to authorise a public inquiry to clear his name, and throwing the Auditor General in jail) would sway the electorate against voting for the PLP. What we didn't realise was that it wasn't enough. What we need to understand is why.

Several prominent PLP members have publicly espoused the view that the coverage of the corruption allegations by The Royal Gazette and Mid Ocean News was based on a pack of lies that galvanised the black community in their support of the Premier and the PLP.

This, of course, is poppycock. Last spring, prior to the disclosure of the corruption allegations, Ewart Brown predicted he would win 30 seats. If the coverage by The Royal Gazette and Mid Ocean News had actually galvanised support for the Premier and his party, the PLP would have won more than 30 seats. Instead, the PLP failed to gain a single additional seat in the legislature. So the corruption allegations were a significant factor for many voters, including blacks, but they were not enough to give the UBP a victory. Why was this so? Was the black vote an anti-white vote? Was moral leadership not a fundamental issue for black voters or was something else at play?

As a white person, I cannot be so presumptuous as to even pretend to understand the varied reasons why the black community voted as it did. I did not suffer directly under segregationist laws or racist glass ceilings, nor was I born to parents who instilled in me, whether consciously or otherwise, thoughts, feelings and self-doubts that grow out of second-class citizenship. I recognise that, like their white counterparts, black voters are motivated by a myriad of different issues, each weighed according to the beliefs unique to the individual.

Having said all that, I think it is important to Bermuda's future that we look more closely at some of the reasoning and conclusions that are floating around the white community. This election was not, as some have claimed, an anti-white vote. Yes, it's probably true that some blacks simply hate white people, but the many friendships between the races suggest this is not a widespread phenomenon. Indeed, if the statement were true, blacks never would have elected Zane Desilva, a white man at the epicentre of the corruption allegations.

Nor does it necessarily follow that blacks ignored the morality issue when they voted. It is true that even if they believed the Royal Gazette to be biased, they could easily have viewed the website where Son of the Soil posted page after page of damning evidence collected by the police, evidence that strongly indicated corruption and moral turpitude and at a minimum demanded a full explanation and rebuttal by the Premier.

However, if we look at the collective statements made by several black commentators, both before and after the election, we can begin to see that for many black voters something bigger was indeed at play. Whether rightly or wrongly, many blacks view the UBP as the party that was established by powerful white men who were raised in the era of segregation and who either overtly or tacitly condoned racial glass ceilings long after the formation of the UBP.

When blacks hear the cry, "Our father's sins are not our sins", they are reluctant to wipe the slate clean. They know that much of the inherited white wealth in Bermuda was gained through monopolies and oligopolies in which blacks were barred from participation. They also know that today's powerful white Bermudians were raised by parents that had supported segregation and institutionalised racism, whether overtly or tacitly, and they fear that the beliefs of the fathers are instilled in the sons. So for many blacks, the issue of moral leadership may well have been at the forefront of their electoral concerns-they were simply weighing the perceived moral shortcomings of the PLP against those of the UBP.

The thinking goes like this: If you steal money from me, you make me a poorer man, yet I do not doubt I am a man. But if you constantly tell me through laws of segregation or a racist glass ceiling or simply through your manifested belief systems that I am something less than a man, you undermine my belief in myself. For many blacks, doubts of self-worth, whether conscious or subconscious, still remain and are being passed down to their children. It would be a devastating blow against their struggle for self-worth to vote in a manner that admitted that a black government lacked the moral fibre to lead this country and that the party founded by powerful white families that had condoned segregation and racial glass ceilings should replace them.

It is not that the black community cannot forgive or forget. It's that they choose not to take a chance on powerful white families that have been instilled with a value system formed by parents who promoted or condoned racism. They know too well that the self-doubts and prejudices of our fathers are all too easily instilled in their sons.

For this reason the UBP should realise they will never again be the party in power. The unfortunate part, of course, is that the PLP leaders also know this, and such knowledge increases the chances that these leaders will view the election results as a green light to continue or even escalate their corruption. The UBP can stop this, not by becoming stronger or purer or having better policies, but by disbanding. Only after the UBP has ceased to exist will there be room for a new party to rise, one without connection to the powerful white families that once ruled Bermuda, one that can become a viable moral alternative to a PLP government that continues to prove the adage 'absolute power corrupts absolutely.'

CLEAN SLATE

Smith's