April 26, 2011Dear Sir,I find it odd – and somewhat tragic – that some are critical because the Big Conversation has only “focused on racial issues” when that was the specific and sole reason for its formation! (RG April 25, Portuguese). It is tragic because those who were critical were likely to be those who do not wish to have racism discussed at all. Blacks who do not wish to have the issue discussed do not realise that their attitude supports and reinforces racism and its long term impact.In reality any discussion of black/white relations and white privilege covers everything else, as well as racism, because centuries of racism and segregation and their continuing impact underlies and influences every issue in this society.The fact is that racism has determined, in one way or another, the very foundation of this society and all of the resulting social problems. I would agree that perhaps the Portuguese might have a Big Conversation with their white European cousins. But not this one. This Big Conversation was for the descendants of the enslaved and those who both owned and benefitted from their enslavement. While Portuguese did also enslave Africans, those who initially came to Bermuda were not those who were likely to have benefitted. The Portuguese were brought here in 1849 to undermine the relatively recent freed black slaves, because the white community resented having to pay those whose recent labour had been commanded for free for so many centuries.Beginning in 1834 the Government introduced all kinds of proposals and plans to bring in European labour. Failing to bring in enough British for their purpose, they did not succeed until 1849 when they were able to import Portuguese. Beginning in 1849 the Portuguese were used as pawns to serve the purpose of those who benefitted from their arrival. As white Europeans, their issues of periodic discrimination were not as a result of enslavement and centuries of policies and practices that stated that blacks were so inferior that they were less than human. For them it was a matter of a difference of class and culture from their white Anglo-Saxon cousins.The tragedy for the black community is the extent to which many in the black community have themselves accepted their inferior role rather than challenge the assumptions, policies and practices established in 1834 with the emancipation of the slaves. Almost no one wants to address the racist philosophy which has been so destructive to the black community. That is what is so striking about the current film by the “Coalition for the Protection of Children”. It describes the poverty in the black community without once addressing the centuries-old racial policies and philosophy which has created this historical economic gap between those in Bermuda with enormous wealth (like the Coopers?) and the desperate poverty of so many blacks.The fact that a black Government, even after a dozen years in power, has never even uttered the words “affirmative action” is a reminder that their leadership has said in no uncertain terms that they “feel no obligation to address the racial injustices of the past”. Many black Bermudians would be justified in concluding that everyone in the PLP Government lacks both the “grit and character” to challenge the “politics of appeasement” of whites who do not want the economic status quo to be modified in the least.Richard and Elizabeth Voight (Royal Gazette, April 25) felt that the transportation policies which so inconvenienced them was the result of a lack of competence and sensitivity. How much more might not many black Bermudians feel that they are suffering even more from this lack of competence and sensitivity of a Government that has failed to address the economic disparity which had been imposed on us since 1834. Is there any wonder that so many young black males are so alienated from a Government that does not even seem to have an understanding of their issues. This is particularly true since the consensus values of the black community has shifted from a concern for social justice for all, undergirded by Christian principles, to a success judged by affluence and an ever higher level of material abundance.DR EVA N HODGSONHamilton Parish