The various ways in which class divides us

“I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.” —  Margaret Thatcher

I feel particularly sorry for my mate Bryant Trew [The Toxic Distraction of Racial Rhetoric, BDA Sun, Wednesday]. We are discussing a social challenge that all Bermudians need to address. Yet he sees fit to make it racial, political and personal. Well I have no time for pettiness, so I will offer this quote: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”—  Eleanor Roosevelt.

Moving along — let’s continue to look at various forms of classism in Bermuda.

• There are many of us who have reached a level of success in life, yet feel that if we share what we have with those who are in need, we will have “fewer marbles to take home”. 

So instead of sharing like we did when we were all poor, we will now be more selfish when we can afford to be very generous.

• There will be those business owners who would rather hire a non-Bermudian over a Bermudian because they can get more out of a guest worker than a Bermudian; they are neglecting a fellow Bermudian and exploiting a non-Bermudian.

• There will be those who consider others who have measures of success as “uppity, snobbish, sometimeish” or just ”stuck up”. A degree of social prejudice is applied against those that appear to have “made it in life”.

• In a country with 70 per cent blacks, one could naturally assume most businesses will be black owned — but it’s not so. Many black businesses fail because of lack of support from the black community. In some people’s minds, they do not wish to make “another black person rich” by supporting their business. Reverse classism? Self-Racism?

A prime example — many Bermudians do not patronize businesses north of Victoria Street.

On the flip side you have successful business owners who do not give back to the community from which their profits come from. No donations no community participations. Exploitation?

We as a country cannot pretend that we wish for equality and don’t practice it. We cannot say: “Oh, but I have white friends so I can’t be a racist,” whilst simultaneously putting down other blacks because of their economic income or neighbourhood.

We need to be honest with ourselves. Elections come and go, yet the divisions are getting wider when we need to be closer to one another. We shun our own Bermudians, yet some say we are xenophobic. Many Bermudian landlords reject Bermudian tenants in favour of renting to non-Bermudians.

Stumbling block

We cannot say we now own our own businesses and willfully disregard our West Indian or Azorean heritage, because we deem that as a stumbling block towards being accepted into some fancy social circle. What social message are we telling those hard working parents or grandparents of ours from the Caribbean or the Azores?

We cannot have politicians begging us to vote for them, if they refuse to socialize with all of us. We cannot sing “Proud to be Bermudian” whilst refusing to embrace other Bermudians based on social status.

This recession is going nowhere anytime soon and redundancies are set to be par for the course. 

Be mindful because on any given day you may become one of “them”.