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The two vital questions that came out of our Premier’s errant e-mail episode are these:

1. Is our Premier racist?

2. Can black people even be racist?

These questions have consumed so much airtime and print space that, I’m embarrassed to tell you I really don’t care, one way or the other.

I used to care about these kinds of things.

Not so long ago, when I was a CURE Commissioner, I could rattle off the definitions of racism and racialism and prejudice and bias and bigotry and chauvinism and discrimination.

They were good times, in a way, because we thought we knew what we were talking about. Knowing the difference between a racist and all these other things made us feel like we had the problem half-licked.

But we didn’t. It was a lot easier to define the words than define the problem, and neither one of those got us a great deal closer to getting the problem solved.

In fact, it gradually dawned on me that the definitions themselves were often the source of the friction.

For example, there’s been plenty of arguing about whether the Premier’s e-mail was racist.

But I think everyone agrees that the Premier’s comments offended Mr. Brannon, and were hurtful to a lot of other people in Bermuda too.

And that’s probably all that really matters.

If we care about each other — and we need to care about each other if Bermuda is to survive — we avoid hurting each other.

We don’t need to explore the Premier’s motives. It’s almost impossible to figure out anybody’s motives, let alone a PR man turned politician.

We don’t need to analyze whether Mr. Brannon, other white people, or anybody else, were justified in taking offence. The fact is they did, and their hurt seems sincere.

And we don’t need a big fight over what label to stick on the Premier’s e-mail. It’s not what it’s called that matters, it’s the effect that it has.

That’s why the other great controversial question of the day – can blacks be racist? – is so inane.

“Blacks don’t have the power to exert racism” was the bold headline on the front page of last Wednesday’s Bermuda Sun.

It was a quote from American race expert Tim Wise, who happened to be visiting Bermuda when the furore over the Premier’s e-mail was reaching its peak.

It’s a common assertion in the world of race relations, but it’s bound to raise the hackles of whites in Bermuda.

After all, many whites in Bermuda have been hurt by words or actions they believe were racially motivated. And all but the stupidest among them have noticed that a high percentage of people in authority in Bermuda are black.

Yet hardly anyone, white or black, would dispute the essential facts behind Mr. Wise’s assertion.

Blacks have been locked out of power for centuries. Blacks still have tremendous disadvantages, even in Bermuda.

And clearly a bigot with no power can cause little damage, no matter how offensive he or she might be. The more power people have, the more power they have to do good… and evil.

We all knew that already.

Claiming blacks can’t be racist — or getting upset when somebody makes this claim — doesn’t help us understand or solve very much.

Branding people with labels — be it racism, racialism, prejudice, bias, bigotry, chauvinism, discrimination — rarely yields anything but a swift and vigorous denial. Followed, of course, by an argument over the definitions.

We need to worry about the acts, not the definitions.

We need to make sure we treat others like real human beings, as equals, with respect and dignity and fairness. We need to be sure we don’t hurt others with our thoughts and words and actions.

We need to listen to people, when they try to explain to us how and when our thoughts and words and actions hurt them.

This is often difficult, but almost everybody agrees that this is what needs to be done. The last thing we need to do is obscure the struggle with big fights over definitions.[[In-content Ad]]

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