January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
We need a 'big conversation' on race. But people need to speak more softly if they want it to work
The Premier and others in the PLP frequently hamper their important efforts by the way their words so often offend white Bermudians
We need a 'big conversation' on race. But people need to speak more softly if they want it to work
It was an apt occasion to reflect on Bermuda's racial past, and to note the ignorance of many Bermudians on its significant moments.
"To those who would bid me and others to 'get over it' I say I cannot forget that which has formed me and you cannot deprive me of doing that which you have done so well: teaching your own their history."
And in that the Premier is completely right.
We should not "get over it" because, like it or not, our past is our history.
It is, as Dr. Brown stated clearly, what made us who we are today: not just those who lived through the days of rigid segregation but those who followed after. It is who we are.
Damage of the past
But in a broader and more immediately compelling way sense, we will not "get over it" until the damage of the past has been made good.
We will not "get over it" until we are equal, until wealth and income and position and opportunity and education are equally shared and enjoyed. And we will not "get over it" until our race-based social and political separation has been obliterated.
There is no such thing as "separate but equal": Separate never can be equal.
Maybe our racial problems and inequities will slowly evaporate over time, completely on its own, with the passing of a generation or two, or three or four.
But that is too long for most of us to wait. And it is clearly the Government's mandate, and its obligation, to push forward.
If Dr. Brown ever did "get over it", he would - and should - be kicked out of his job.
His Government is obliged to tackle this issue with energy. And along with a lot of other things (many of which simply aren't happening) that requires a lot of talking about the subject of race.
The question isn't whether we need a "big conversation" is necessary.
We do.
The question is, is it working?
Are the Premier, and others in his party who speak on this issue, being as effective as they could be?
I fear they frequently hamper their important efforts, not so much by what they do but by the way their words so often offend or irritate white Bermudians.
The most egregious examples occur in the run-up to elections - the "back to the plantation" fear-mongering.
But it occurs regularly throughout the year, like the Premier's statement that white Bermudians would never have supported Barack Obama if he was a PLP candidate in Paget West.
Or the routine insinuation that criticism of the PLP or its leaders or policies is based on race.
In a country riven with suspicion between races, they often speak in ways that seems designed to increase resentment and distrust among white people.
They seem to forget that an offensive comment - even one made in an accidental offhand kind of way, or spoken in the passion of an election rally - is remembered and remembered and remembered.
The point is that these things accomplish nothing, besides a marginal kind of "venting", or rabble-rousing. They don't educate anybody and they do nothing to reduce inequality
But I think this kind of talk does make a lot of white people pull back. It makes a lot of white people feel greater discomfort with the PLP Government, feel less inclined to participate in any kind of "big conversation" or any effort whatsoever to tackle our social and political separation.
I am sometimes told that I need to be more understanding of the anger and frustration that blacks Bermudians feel, and it is hard to argue against that.
I try my best to accept and understand the anger and frustration expressed by "ordinary" people - and even from "ordinary MPs" - even on occasions when it seems offensive or unfair.
But it's harder to accept it when it comes with such regularity from political leaders, because it's interfering with the work they were elected to do.
Holding back progress
It's holding back the progress of the country, prolonging the separation of whites and blacks in Bermuda, alienating too many white people who need to be drawn in, and accomplishing nothing worthwhile in return.
It would be nice, of course, if we didn't have to worry about the reaction white people so often have. It would be nice if they, not Dr. Brown, would just "get over it."
But that's simply not the way it is.
White people - and black people too - need to know and understand the truth about race in Bermuda. Not just in the past, but in the present.
We must collect and distribute truthful, unvarnished facts about race in Bermuda, past and present.
We must develop and support programmes to fix the inequities that exist today.
We must come down hard where racism and prejudice reveals itself.
But the task that faces us is harder than that. It means coaxing a divided society to come together, despite its history and its fears and suspicions.
That requires firm action, but far more gentle talking than we are used to getting.
We are a long way from being ready to "get over it". But we will get over it, far more quickly, if we talk softly and carry a big stick.
What do you think? Send feedback on this column to editor Tony McWilliam: tmcwilliam@
bermudasun.bm
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