It seems fairly clear that the Brown-Gibbons dispute in the House of Assembly during the motion to adjourn was triggered by aspersions made by Dr. Gibbons with respect to Wanda Brown — the very charming, very intelligent and highly skilled wife of Dr. Brown. If Dr. Gibbons understood anything about black Bermudian men, he should have known that negative comments about women important to us is a direct invitation to a physical encounter. Yet this is what he threatened by making unkind remarks about the wife of Dr. Brown.

This is not the first time that Dr. Brown has been accused unfairly of corruption. Several years ago, the UBP took exception to the fact that a friend of Dr. Brown had organised a fund-raiser for his re-election, at $2,500 a plate, which was attended by a number of investment dealers. It was boldly stated by the UBP and their supporters that, in return for the sum of $2,500, each investor could be offered the opportunity to invest a multi-million dollar piece of the Bermuda Pension Fund which they called "Pay to Play".

At the time, I seemed to be the only person to point out that Dr. Brown had no control over the Pension Fund and that the investors attending the Dinner were aware of that. Hence, they would not have expected any financial advantage by patronising the fundraising dinner.

The position taken by the UBP generally, was expanded upon by Christian Dunleavy writing in the Opinion section of The Royal Gazette. He claimed that Dr. Brown had sufficient clout to persuade his Cabinet colleagues to go along with his suggestions as to who should be permitted to invest the Pension Fund. In the meantime, he and others assumed that Finance Minister, Mr. Eugene Cox would sit idly by while Dr. Brown carried out this scheme. What made Mr. Dunleavy's opinion all the more amusing was the fact that only the Minister of Finance can invest the Pension Fund and the Minister of the day, Mr. Eugene Cox, was not likely to take advice on that matter from Dr. Brown with whom he was barely on speaking terms.

Why then did the UBP keep on charging Dr. Brown with the introduction of the "Pay to Play" scheme in the light of such obvious untruths? It is because the UBP have never given much credence to the intelligence of the PLP supporters who are overwhelmingly black. In addition, the racists among them also believe that UBP blacks are equally stupid but at least they have white people to guide them.

The ancient UBP strategy for dealing with the PLP has been to point out the great superiority of the UBP in managing the country's financial affairs. It was proclaimed quite loudly that if the PLP were to take over the country, the hotels and international companies would flee to other climes and Bermuda would be reduced to a third world country. In other words, under the black leadership of the PLP, the country would collapse.

It was a case that was easy to make. The leaders and managers of the banks and other major corporations were nearly totally white. Blacks had faced a long history of blatant racial obstruction when they tried to acquire funds to invest in real profit making ventures. In cases in which they did acquire the funds, the forces that ran the island made certain that they did not secure markets to go along with the investment. Hence many failed in what should have been lucrative business developments. Thus, the myth was firmly implanted in the minds of Bermudians of both races that the inability of blacks to run a major business was a result of their genetic origins.

So convinced were the UBP by their own lies that they did not even bother to mount a political campaign in 1998, relying instead on the 'old chestnuts', if you elect the PLP, the international companies would flee the island and the Hotels would soon follow. And as if to cement the point home, former Budget Officer, Mr. Delaey Robinson was portrayed as some fearful creature that would become the Finance Minister if the PLP were elected to power.

Well the PLP were elected to power and not only did the International Companies remain in the island but many more were storming the gates in order to set up businesses in the newly well-governed island of Bermuda.

With the myth wearing thin, the UBP changed their strategy from PLP blacks are stupid to PLP blacks are racists and corrupt. How they managed to make the 'racists' charge appear to stick can be taken as proof that if a lie is told often enough without rebuttal, it will eventually be accepted as truth. Today, it seems as if white Bermudians and some black Bermudian followers of the UBP have bought into the racist charge with respect to the PLP.

To hear the UBP tell the story of Bermuda's racism, I am surprised that they have not yet made the claim that blacks instituted slavery in the first place. Is this ridiculous? I think not! Dr. Brown is being called a racist because he took objection to Dr. Gibbons' charges that Wanda Brown was helping Ewart down the road to corruption because of her undoubted skills at raising large amounts of money. Evidence of her fundraising skills is the money she raised to bring Ms Kathleen Battle to Bermuda.

But rather than credit Mrs. Brown with being in possession of great skills in raising money, the UBP and their de-facto leader, Dr. Gibbons, have chosen to accuse her of taking her husband down the slippery road of corruption and racism.

If the PLP is corrupt because of its fund raising activities, than this road has been paved beautifully by the UBP during its long stay in power. As Julian Hall pointed out on the Shirley Dill show on December 5, 2006, during his stint as Chairman of the UBP, that party raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from the major banks and other local corporations. The UBP were able to do this because there were no laws setting out how money should be raised for political purposes.

That does not concern the UBP; they already have some members of the voting public questioning the integrity of Dr. Brown because he, like US president George Bush, changes his mind. The UBP calmly accuses Dr. Brown of a lack of integrity because he decided to challenge the PLP leadership after saying he did not intend to do so. Yet, Mr. Bush's decision to fire Donald Rumsfeld just a week after he stated emphatically that he would keep him around until he retired has not been commented upon by the UBP one way or the other.

Those of us who supported Dr. Brown's election to the leadership of the Party, did so because we believe that he will get things done and will not back off from attacks by Bermuda's remaining white racists. All Bermudians need to understand that although there was a time that the great majority of blacks took any insult from white Bermudians, it was because they believed this was necessary in order to survive. Thanks to the advent of the PLP government (even if under the ultimate control of the UK Government), Bermudians realise that they no longer have to take insults from racists or others who think they can behave in that way because they have economic and/or political power.

Those among us who are still under the illusion that black Bermudians continue to be afraid to confront Bermuda's racists need to "Wake up and smell the coffee". Let all of us quickly accept that with respect to black attitudes in the face of blatant racism "it is indeed a new Bermuda".