Turn it around...

October 1, 2009

Dear Sir,

The issue of the Uighurs continues to dribble on and on. One of my friends (an ardent PLP supporter) gave me a lecture the other day. Essentially he told me to ignore the politics, and just think about it from a humanitarian point of view. So I did. Then I asked him, what would he think if this had happened the other way around? What if the UK and the USA had been negotiating on the issue of Guantánamo. What if the UK reached an agreement to take four Uighurs. What if the UK said to Bermuda these four are coming to you. Funnily enough, my friend didn't like that. His compassion suddenly disappeared and politics came back into play.

SMITH'S

The solution for police

September 25, 2009

Dear Sir,

I am a retired born Bermudian Police officer with 25 years experience and loyal service to my Island home. In recent years crime has increased, especially violent crime such as murders, rape, serious assaults, breaking and entering and stealing. I am very concerned about the unsolved murders. I ask the question "why have they not been solved?"

I do not want to be too critical about the present Police Service or how it is conducted or how the men and women are trained but there is room to criticise. Whenever a murder is committed, nearly always you hear and see a Detective Constable as the Investigating officer. This would never be allowed during my time on the force.

The first officer on the scene of a murder should preserve the scene and immediately call in a superior officer, no officer lower in rank than a Detective Chief Inspector. Many cases are lost in the Supreme Court because far too many junior constables confuse the evidence. They all want to be the arresting officer. Now as far as promotions are concerned, I believe they are promoting these junior and foreign police far too quickly. Just because the foreign police have previous experience in their country with five and eight years in their country, some are now senior officers with very little service in Bermuda. (But) you must have local knowledge on any Police force to be successful.

(Whether its) men on the beats, men in the parishes and in general the community. The Police and the public should be together. Not so in Bermuda. What is needed? Is it the Police attitude and approach when a complaint is made to them.

Surely after having three to six weeks training at Prospect Headquarters, they should be polite in dealing with the public. We know that in any organised body we have the chiefs and Indian, the theory and the practical, my opinion is the Police Service has far too many chiefs. Most of them work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. During the day they are running around with pieces of paper from office to office.

When I began to write this letter I did say I would not be too critical. However, I do recall that when I applied for the job the Commissioner of Police asked me "what would you do if you had to lock up your brother or friends". My reply was: "Sir, I would do my duty." None of my friends or family would ever commit any offence while I was on duty. They respected me. My advice to young detectives is get out of the cars, walk about in the neighbourhoods, get to know your postmen, they can be very helpful as well as getting experience in the fieldwork of Police work. You never know what information someone may tell you. You could develop a very good informer if you know your people. One more suggestion: try not to reveal your informer. Once you do that the confidence is lost forever.

DUDLEY PROCTOR

City of Hamilton

Show the data

Dear Sir,

"A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." (Author unknown).

This pretty much sums up the big race debate. Those who are uncomfortable with the recent figures showing wide disparities in income by race will continue to feign racial ignorance while those that see them as a reality will endorse them, in many cases from their own personal experiences. I can understand how easy it would be for those who may not have suffered, but likely benefited, from racial discrimination to claim that it is "relatively minor" in Bermuda. But what is ironic, or disingenuous, is to claim that the comments made so far are "based on unsupported perceptions" – like the comments that racial discrimination is relatively minor, and that earnings are rapidly moving toward parity. Show me the data!

Further, such comments cannot be taken seriously. There is the perception that the Statistics Department is not doing its job because, it is claimed, that it does not compare like-to-like. Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all, the Statistics Department has to conform to international standards in producing data. Data on race has been dissected, analysed, scrutinised, verified and the like. There have been numerous reports, the Newman Report being just one of them, that has compared like-with-like.

Moreover, the Stats Department is willing to run any tables from the census if requested. So if any one doesn't have the information that they claim they should have, it is simply because they do not want it and, by extension, they don't want the truth. How can 350 years or more of unearned privilege be turned around in 50 years? Why spend so much energy in being defensive when you are in a position to make substantial steps to correct the problem? The Portuguese had their 400-year-old error corrected, but people of colour are told, like in the 1960s, to wait, or worse trying to be sold a lie – that racism only plays a minor role in Bermudian life today. We weren't fooled then, and we are not being fooled now.

Employer-related associations will now collect "their own" race data. And it has already been claimed that the lie will be proven true, something that statistics is incapable of doing anyway. But beyond that, I know of no study where a sample of the population is given more credence than a census of that same population, but perhaps more illogical feats have been attempted. So don't waste any money. All such organisations have to do is release salary data by race from their members and let the public draw their own conclusions. But one word of advice, don't wait to exhale!

CORDELL W. RILEY

Pembroke

The statistics say enough

September 30, 2009

Dear Sir,

More than a fortnight has gone by since the release of statistics highlighting the disparity in median income along racial and residency status lines. There is no doubt that this has caused widespread dialogue among Bermudians. The media syndicates have taken the ample opportunity to collect opinions from leaders across all sectors of the community. While most generally come to a consensus in public, the underlying issue is at bay. The commentators en masse avoided specifically targeting individuals and classes of people. The statistics said enough. Upon being asked about the recent release of the statistics, recently appoint managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Bermuda Darren Johnston stated: "It is not sustainable in a country such as ours if the largest segment believes they are being discriminated against, we have a responsibility to look at this. What can we do individually and what can we do collectively?"

While his opinion heads in a progressive direction, I was put off by his earlier assessment of the current state of the salary gap when he directly used the Bermuda public school system as a reference to that. Mr. Johnston said: "If I were to go into CedarBridge Academy and stop ten students and ask them what accounting is about and what the benefits are, most of them would not know." For whatever reason, unbeknown to me, Mr. Johnston felt it necessary to inject his opinion of the school into the debate. The questions I have for Mr. Johnston are: Do you have a problem with the school; What does the school have to do with these statistics; and how can one school possibly solve this issue? Surely with your professional background you can account to the fact that a public high school that has been in existence for less than 20 years can have nowhere near the effect of 400 years of economic inequality, social injustice, and apartheid-like governance on a population.

The fact that your profession has a total of 900 registered accounts in this country of whom only 250 to 260 are Bermudians forces me question the allegiance of the industry itself. It seems obvious to me that all of the evidence points away from the school. It is also clear that your interjection of the school into this matter represents a deep seated sentiment in the community of a fine institution that was created to produce the leaders of tomorrow. From the inception of the school there has been a smear campaign in place founded upon racism, classism, elitism and generational warfare to marginalise the school. These beliefs have historically performed the function of subtly feeding into stereotypes that become generalisations predicated on anecdotal ignorance.

Could it be said that a group of ten students from all other secondary schools (public, private or parochial) on the Island can describe what accounting is and what its benefits are? Could it even be said that you Mr. Johnston can describe accounting in one sentence? The polite answer to those questions is no. My defence is not just of CedarBridge Academy, but of the scores of young people who are constantly used as political fodder and scapegoats for complex and entrenched social issues. Unequivocally, you and I can testify to the fact that we have been both been on the receiving end of discrimination as men of African descent and the certainty that it is both spiritually debilitating and mentally exhausting.

My relevance to this issue vested interest in seeing Bermuda succeed in the global economy with an environment that is conducive for the Bermudian worker. However, the fact that you Mr. Johnston, a man in a position of authority have such a misguided view of the reality deeply disturbs me. Have you inadvertently forgotten that it is your industry that has the 40 percent salary disparity in salary along racial lines, that has received the most government scrutiny over the years, and that has been the most resistant to change? The summary of all of this is to critically analyse the role and value that international business plays in Bermuda to solving this issue.

In further accordance to a critical analysis of you Mr. Johnston, an apology to CedarBridge Academy should debut along with a clear and concise plan of what your intentions are to alter the current trend of inequality, injustice, and complacency that exist in your industry and that have been at the root of this country's founding. Mr. Johnston, the time for change is now.

CARLSEN PHILIP II

Southampton