Stakes are too high to gamble over Tucker's Point

And as our attention is turned to Tucker’s Town we have one more opportunity, whether we take it or not, to get us closer to a better Bermuda, one that eludes us, the one that is less divided and more whole. We can alter the unsustainable approach we have taken to dealing with our racial history, our human history. This debate can and should stem firstly from this place, the history of Tucker’s Town.

Hundreds of families, almost all of them black, poor, and unrepresented were forced to disband their long-established community and give up their land for below-market prices. This was brought about by an act of parliament at a time when only 11 per cent of our population could vote. That is how Tucker’s Town became available to tourism developers and rich foreigners seeking a luxury neighbourhood. The rationale put forward for this was that it was for the good of all Bermuda.

Whatever comes next for that piece of Bermuda, let’s not let it happen without doing these three things:

1. Tell the history of Tucker’s Town.

For too many of us, especially those in the white community — myself included — it has been too easy to be unaware of this part of our history. How can we heal something we aren’t even aware of? We all need to be aware of this history. It needs to be told in schools and churches and community organizations and families. We can challenge the media to focus on it. We can find ways to support the Tucker’s Town Historical Society who have been researching this for a long time with very little help. We can also ask other organizations like the National Trust and the National Museum of Bermuda to feature this history.

2. Acknowledge this national injustice.

When history has been repressed like this it can take all parties a while to get used to the idea of exposing it. Doing so will bring genuine pain but also, many fears will be proved false. We need to truly acknowledge and respond to what happened. How do we do this? Often we don’t know the answer so we don’t even attempt to begin any sort of racial healing process. But there are always things we can do.

We can listen in earnest to the people hurt by this injustice and support the Tucker’s Town Historical Society. We can apologize for the injustice and for the repression of the history that has prevented healing. We can help to ensure that oral histories are recorded and becoming aware of how we may have personally benefited from this injustice. We can install monuments, plaques and exhibits in the Tucker’s Town’s tourist properties, recreational facilities, and sites important to the original residents.

We can also insist that Tucker’s Point close or move the driving range which currently sees golf balls raining down on the original Marsden Church graveyard. We can mention this history in tourism literature. There are many concrete, achievable measures that can be taken to aid in healing

3. Take great care in what happens to this land.

Here (and only here) is where the SDO decision comes in. SDOs are meant to be used only for instances of national importance. The strongest authority here, though, is the moral one; the legacy of the original inhabitants who were forced to make a huge sacrifice with the explanation that the whole of Bermuda would benefit. It is incumbent upon us to ensure that what happens to this land would be right in the eyes of those who were forced to leave it.

Our government is indeed very mindful of Bermuda’s history of injustice, and Minister Roban did the right thing when he met with three descendants of the original inhabitants.

However, more is needed. The immediate financial pressures here are strong and our voices are needed to ensure that this decision process is as genuine and extensive as is required to honour the history. Before a full debate in the House, public meetings are needed. Thoughtful outreach should be undertaken; perhaps a more private process would be best, to allow the opinions of the descendants of the original Tucker’s Town residents to be fully included and heard.

To take the necessary care here we can demand more than opinion that this is in the country’s best interest. We can insist that the benefits are more comprehensively spelled out and backed up. Many answers are needed. For instance, what kind of jobs will be created and how many will realistically be filled by Bermudians? Exactly how will the influx of money move through the economy? How will rents and home prices be affected? What about the extra demand for electricity, water and waste disposal needed? Some of this land isn’t just natural woodland but is ecologically exceptional enough to be zoned Nature Reserve. David Wingate describes it as Bermuda’s Yellowstone National Park. What happens if we lose it? What will the impact be on the rare cave ecosystems or the endemic and critically endangered Yellowwood trees that are found virtually nowhere else?

What do future generations most need from this land? Might they be crying out for natural open space or recreational land or space to grow food? And will the injection of collateral that comes from granting this SDO be enough for the hotel to succeed into the future or just for the next financial year?

In other words, is this a gamble?

We can demand that the financial information is released or at least that more of it is shared with the government. In the mid-’90s, large tracts of Ship’s Hill were granted subdivision approval when Marriott said they needed it to stay in Bermuda. Marriott left anyway. The history of this land requires that many concerns are satisfied.

The SDO decision is crucial but we have a precious opportunity here to expand our civic concern beyond it. We have the chance to do something to aid positive change and reconciliation for the whole country.

We may say that our community healing and our tourism needs are in conflict but a critical part of our tourism product is the stability of society and the graciousness of our people. These are things we all need and that we must work to secure. Healing our entire past can seem unattainable, too big or unknown or scary to even know where to start. So here’s a piece of it, ready and waiting, and here’s what we can do: three things.

Note: You can reach Keith Dubois, the chairman of the Tucker’s Town Historical Society on 516-0862. The Society also has a Facebook group.