Letter: If you are going to attack me, at least get your facts straight

I must respond to Stuart Hayward’s opinion column published on Wednesday, for several reasons. First and foremost, since Mr. Hayward was not present in the Senate on the day in question and only read the abridged version of my comments during the Motion to Adjourn, he was writing from a point of ignorance. I could suggest that he apologise for describing my remarks on the day in question as a “mean-spirited attack on Sheelagh Cooper” in particular because I did not attack Mrs. Cooper.

Secondly, I take exception that Mr. Hayward described my comments during the Motion to Adjourn as an “outburst”.  Those who were present during that particular Senate meeting, and others, know that since I have been appointed, I do not make “outbursts” in the Senate. In fact, my comments are always measured and I am always calm when speaking on the Motion to Adjourn or at any other time during Senate debates.

Thirdly, I never “retorted” that Mrs. Cooper was “sensationalizing” the issue. What I did say was: “While I agree that we all should be concerned about the rise in violent crime in Bermuda, we should not sensationalize it in an effort to grab headlines. The rise of violent crime is not a phenomenon that is occurring only in Bermuda, it is also on the rise in our sister islands to the south of us;  further, the  leaders in those Caribbean nations are grappling with the problem just as we are in Bermuda.”

Also during the Motion to Adjourn, I commended those people who are involved in breakfast and lunch programmes for needy schoolchildren, which obviously includes Mrs. Cooper. Mr. Hayward and others who have criticized my comments regarding poverty should know that while Senators are not permitted to read directly from prepared notes, leeway is given to new Senators and I was allowed to practically read word for word from my prepared notes.

Mr. Hayward and others in Bermuda should also know that while Mrs. Coooper and others in the community make their work “on the front lines with families in crisis” public knowledge, there are those of us who work quietly on the front lines with families in crisis. This is something that I have been doing most of my adult life and I continue to do. However, I choose not to make my efforts to assist Bermudians public information. I encourage those families that I work with to be as self-sufficient as possible and more importantly, I share with them the benefits of sitting down together as families for meals, whether the meal is breakfast, lunch or dinner.

I was once one of the statistics to which  Mrs. Cooper continuously refers. I was one of the black mothers who headed a household and I have no doubt that I and my sons lived below the poverty line while they were growing up in Bermuda. I know what it is like to struggle to provide for a family; however I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that my sons and I benefitted greatly by sharing our meals at the kitchen table. 

While Mr. Hayward believes that the island needs more “Good Samaritans” like Mrs. Cooper, I believe that we need more good people to help those in our community who need to learn the basics of effective parenting, and part of that is certainly feeding their own children.

And lastly,  I never stated that I had to “use an outhouse”.  What I did say was that when I was young, many families used outhouses, but we rarely, if ever, see families using outhouses in today’s Bermuda.

LaVerne Furbert