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Dear Sir,

When I was in college I had to study a 1950s British play by John Osborne titled Look Back In Anger.

The play was set in the Midlands and featured a middle-class couple coping with life. The lead male character had the most difficulty with life and critics dubbed him 'an angry young man.'

I do not recall why he was angry and maybe that was the reason we had to study the play. Perhaps he had no reason to be angry at all.

Flip forward to Bermuda in 2007. Recently we had another case of the angry not-so-young male syndrome. Tony Brannon's comments had all the markings of John Osbourne's lead character.

Did black Bermudians' lack of service really lead to the downfall of tourism in Bermuda? I have personally studied tourism for 25 years and I must admit that I have often wondered about the link between poor service and the decline in arrivals.

Surely poor service played some part in the decline. However, I never put the decline down to a particular race.

Rather than apologize, as he did, or leave Bermuda, as he is contemplating, Mr. Brannon may wish to offer up some tangible evidence that blacks played a key role in the decline of tourism in Bermuda.

That way people could digest the facts for themselves and draw their own conclusions.

If no such evidence exists (perhaps because the hypothesis is not true) then Mr. Brannon runs the risk of being John Osborne's lead character in the 2007 version of the play.

The question, like in the play, is why is Mr. Brannon angry?

In the Bermuda economic chain, the white male is at the top of his game. Mr. Brannon is putting his lavish home up for sale.

One can argue that the decline in tourism clearly affected some to a greater degree than others. Those at the bottom of Bermuda's economic chain are angry, among other things, because of their inability to purchase a home.

Are these reasons legitimate? Mr. Editor, I agree with some comments that Mr. Brannon's remarks may have opened up a meaningful dialogue on race. Thus this angry outburst may have been entirely helpful.

Cordell W. Riley

Warwick[[In-content Ad]]

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