---

In a letter to The Royal Gazette, Ms Laverne Furbert attempted to ­discount the atmosphere of fear ­pervading our island, as pointed out by the group Bermudians in an earlier ­letter.

She also attempted to belie this community's distrust of and concern about Dr. Brown's leadership.

Ms Furbert made personal attacks on members of the Bermudians group. ­Personal attacks are a ­typical tool of those ­wishing to monger fear.

Typical, too, is that key perpetuators of fear and ­intimidation are often the most vocal claimants that no such fear exists.

No honest commentator could deny these examples of the fear experienced by Bermuda's black and white residents, particularly those in public service:

• fear of having one's name circulated via the gossip train, attached to ­rumours that have no ­connection to reality;

• fear of attempts to have one's message discounted by the venomous rants of one "hater" or another;

• fear of being labelled a "confused negro", "house n*****" or "lynch mob";

• fear of having the term "racist dog" hurled during parliamentary debate;

• fear of having family's names and jobs exposed;

• fear of being deported at the whim of a union official/MP/Cabinet Minister;

• fear of having your job truncated or cancelled;

• fear of being laid off or fired by a petulant Premier.

Ms Furbert argues that if there was fear, people would not have attended the three successive and unprecedented demonstrations to dump Bermuda's Premier.

Certainly, it was out of fear of repercussions that many in the black community did not show up.

It is likely that those few who showed up for Ms Furbert's "counter demonstration" did so out of fear.

Warped

But hundreds of people showed up to demonstrate against the Premier despite their fears. Throughout ­history, ­people have overcome fears and done what the time called for.

Ms Furbert also claims that no fear today could be as severe as that experienced by the Progressive Group back in 1959.

Comparing one person's fears with another's is a warped, tit-for-tat logic that is no basis for either justifying or discounting fears.

Having gone through the oppressive and debilitating fears of yesteryear, how could any but the most vengeful leaders wish to ­instill similar fears to control what people do or say?

Using fear as a political tool was wrong then and is wrong now.

As for Dr. Brown's ­popularity, Ms Furbert claims "the majority of Bermudians are satisfied with the leadership".

That is pure fabrication and typical of the spin ­coming from that quarter. A majority of Bermudians did not vote for Dr. Brown. He may have drawn a ­majority of the voters in Warwick South Central and of the PLP's ­hierarchy who voted him into the party leadership, but if you look at any ­reliable measure of the public's support, he polls at around 25 per cent in favour. That's a record low for any local leader.

Where fear and Dr. Brown are concerned, I am reminded of a quote by John Basil Barnhill: "Where the people fear the government you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty."

What people like Ms Furbert fear most is that liberty is on the rise.[[In-content Ad]]

---