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Dear Sir,

The late businessman Murray Brown had a very ­gratifying send off on ­Friday.

I did not know him as well as many who spoke but there is one quality I saw in him that I would really like to underscore because so few manifest it today.

He had a quiet, stubborn, courage and he was not ­prepared to appease or comprise. He also had pride.

He became a part of the anti-apartheid group when it was not popular to ­address the South African issue.

Far more importantly, he was prepared to address the local issue of apartheid and racism, which was even more unpopular.

It was during the 80s with Sir John Swan as Premier. It was really taboo and quite risky to raise the ­issues of race relations for either black or white.

We had a black Premier, so there could be no racism. 

Mr. Gilbert Darrell, an MP at the time, suggested to me that Bermuda needed a non-political, non-partisan organization to ­address the issue of race ­relations.

I approached scores of people with the idea, none of whom responded ­positively. It was too ­dangerous.

Until I met Murray. He had been back in Bermuda long enough to know the score but he did not ­hesitate to co-found the ­National Association of Reconciliation (NAR).

For me, there was no ­serious risk. I was in an ­insignificant but fairly safe job. I had no children to support or educate and, thanks to values instilled by my family, I had a roof over my head.

If my numerous academic qualifications and wide ­international professional experience was never ­acknowledged or rewarded, it was a matter of justice but not a financial crisis.

The situation was very different for Murray. He was in his prime and not in a very secure job.

He had done the apartheid thing but that could be forgiven as it was for many.

To overtly address local race relations was a very different matter and ­unforgivable.

Murray was too proud to talk to me about the ­numerous occasions when obstacles were deliberately placed in his way or when he was undermined, as were black Bermudian ­masons and builders. But he paid dearly for his courage. When we acknow-ledge who and what he was, we need never forget that reality. He did move on, time and time again.

But he never became CEO - as Larry Burchall declares all blacks could if only they "moved on".

In any country besides Bermuda, with both its overt and covert racism that has undermined so many black Bermudians, Murray, with his skills and ­background, could and would have become a CEO, if he had been prepared to appease or compromise and ­ignore the foundations on which this society was built, as many have.

Let us recognize his ­sacrificial courage and integrity, even if we are not prepared to emulate it.

Eva N. Hodgson[[In-content Ad]]

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