The Rally Against Racism at the City Hall on Friday 14th July generated debate in various quarters and much of that debate centred on the speech given by Mr. Calvin Smith. The Council of Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda (CURB) has discussed the matter and would like to share its views.

First, CURB congratulates Mr. Jonathan Starling for taking the initiative and coordinating the rally. In four days, Jonathan was able to organise the event and line up informed and interesting speakers. Bermuda is beginning to see the development of grassroots initiatives such as this to challenge various issues in Bermuda and it can only bode well for attempts to tackle racism. CURB was pleased to participate in the hastily arranged event and will endeavour to coordinate ongoing conversations on race and racism in Bermuda.

A large majority of those attending the rally were white. Whilst many of them were galvanised to attend due to the assault on Mr. Rui Medeiros, the rally was intended to address the broader issue of racism in Bermuda. Regardless of their motivation, having a substantial number of the white community attending a rally against racism was an opportunity to demonstrate that the white community is indeed concerned about racism and is prepared to listen and work alongside other races and ethnic groups to tackle it. We believe that, to some degree, the opportunity was hampered by the response to Mr. Calvin Smith’s speech by some of those in attendance.

Mr. Smith had initially declined the invitation to speak at the rally and had to be convinced by Mr. Starling to do so. From the podium, Mr. Smith began to talk about racism from his perspective as a black Bermudian man. Part way into his address, some of those in attendance began to shout out to him, in apparent disagreement with what he was saying. We understand from CURB members who were nearby that the initial shouted comments were simply to suggest that no one act of racism is any worse or better than another. As there were no microphones in the crowd, many of those in attendance could not hear the specific comments and were only aware of shouts that appeared to be heckling. Others in the crowd also shouted comments at Mr. Smith. In response to the shouts from the crowd, Mr. Smith emphasised that he would not be deterred from speaking his mind and said that if those who were shouting didn’t like it they could ‘go to hell’. There was an immediate crowd reaction to the comment with many of the crowd shouting comments to Mr. Smith. One young man repeatedly shouted “Off, off, off” and gestured to Mr. Smith to leave the podium.

Members of the black community have complained for years that some members of the white community simply do not want to hear the truth about racism. Those who were present for the rally could be forgiven for assuming that to be the case again. It appeared that when members of the audience did not like what Mr. Smith had to say, they attempted to silence him. Whilst Mr. Smith’s ‘go to hell’ comment was regrettable, it is perhaps easier to understand when considering the history of attempts to silence black Bermudians.

Regardless of whether or not we agree with a person’s viewpoint, it is critical that we all demonstrate respect for all opinions and that we actually take the time to listen to what is being said. Often, there are subtle messages that can be missed if we are not attentive and open to really listening to varied viewpoints.

Fortunately, several white members of the audience were sufficiently concerned about the treatment meted out to Mr. Smith that they took the time to approach him and express their gratitude for his speech. Hopefully, that will go a long way to assuring Mr. Smith, at least, that there are indeed members of the white community who wish to hear the message and who want to work to eradicate racism. Unfortunately, we will never know how many other people were dissuaded from speaking out at the rally due to the treatment received by Mr. Smith.

CURB believes that honest dialogue is critical if we are to understand and uproot racism. We therefore urge all of Bermuda’s residents to take the sometimes painful steps to discuss the impact of racism in Bermuda today and for people of other races to carefully listen to each other. The problem of racism affects us all and every one of us must assume some level of personal responsibility to participate in its elimination.curb<$>[AT]northrock.bm