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Dear Sir,

The campaign in which you and the Gazette have united against Dr. Brown is a psychologist's dream.

The application of the term elitist to a successful black man is so instructive. Until Jennifer Smith, Premiers had no need of an official residence because their own homes were far grander than anything the government could provide. I do not recall any of them being labeled elitist.

The fact that this PLP Premier does not require politics to eat allows you and others to tap into the latent self hatred blacks carry. The less scientific term is "crabs in a barrel".

The psychology says "he can't have it and be one of us..." Knowing the importance Bermudians place on their cars, what better way to draw out the worst in us by focusing on that? Imagine, you got people who know someone who is a blue collar worker who owns a BMW to say that a medical doctor with a successful practice who is also the leader of the country shouldn't have a BMW. What nonsense.

Your messenger, in the form of Ashfield Devent is equally sublime. The suit with the locks, the walking, the Pembroke constituency...all good stuff. But I am no amnesiac, sir. This former Minister drove GP13 when it was assigned to him and joined the world of blackberry communication too. He travelled on the public purse to look at mobile homes somewhere in the U.S.. I don't begrudge him that because his position as a minister required it. I would just like to remind him and you of it for the purposes of balance.

PLP has done so much

Lastly, to the substantive. This government has done so much for the "working poor" (a phrase you've lifted from the Kim Swan/2007 UBP election campaign) that we in the middle class should be marching next. Free public transport, countless benefits for seniors, future care, free day carefree college education, increases to HIP coverage, housing projects everywhere there's a piece of land, renewed focus on tourism, free money from the NTB, expanded financial assistance... the list is endless.

What people like Craig Simmons and Mr. DeVent should be focused on is the effect of this deliberate assistance to a class of people on the economy without some stimulation to the sectors that bear the tax burden.

The character assassination in which you have joined is bred of fear. You and many others know that this Premier means to change this country and so short of a bullet this is the means by which to take him out. The historic short-sightedness of some blacks is your weapon of choice but rest assured there are many more of us who know what's up and will play our part in the change that must come.

Our job is to school people like Denny Richardson who at 67 still thinks it is wrong for D.A. Brown to have OWNED the bar. Crabs in a barrel indeed.

G.K.Stowe

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