January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Letter: Stuart responds to Cal
Of course race is an emotional issue. My accusation, as you admit, Cal, was that you attempted to exploit the emotion. Because of the transfer of political power, something I wholeheartedly endorse, there is now the risk that some blacks will attempt to exploit this political power in ways that whites did.
My intervention is simply an attempt to highlight and stave off reactionary racial vengeance. If you say, in essence, that whites must join the PLP if they want racial slurs and other expressions of prejudice to be eradicated, that is coercion. Did you really mean to attempt to deny coercion in the same paragraph you perform it? As far as second-guessing my motives, my record of activism in or out of electoral politics speaks for itself. I have written columns on politics and race going back to the 1980s.
I spent hours in your office, Cal, exploring the racial aspects of environmental issues while doing research for Bermuda's Delicate Balance (published in 1981). I have selected myself to run for Parliament three times, losing twice and winning once - my point being I have no need to hope for selection by either party.
And as for being pro-white, while it is not widely known, I have had a book manuscript rejected by its mostly white sponsors partly because it dealt too forthrightly with racial issues - in other words I was seen as pro-black.
What the PLP (and any party) has to worry about is that it will indeed be judged by what it does more than what it says. And any who contemplate joining the party are sure to take note of how it deals with criticism, especially from "its own people", and how it treats its critics.
Stuart Hayward[[In-content Ad]]
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