Revisit Workforce Equity ActDecember 10, 2011Dear Sir,When Government introduced the draft 2007 Workforce Equity Act, Bermuda’s first attempt to create a form of Black affirmative action, the legislation did not make it past the consultative stage. Initially the Association of Bermuda International Companies appeared to be okay with the proposed legislation, as working in international jurisdictions they were used to being socially responsible and working with affirmative action policies in countries around the world. However it was not long before the pushback began, with people talking about “quotas” and “reverse discrimination” etc. All of which was a long cry from the actual Act itself, lifted and adapted from Canadian legislation, it had no quotas and detailed a very mild form of affirmative action. The Act was about equal opportunities, a levelling of the playing field, and not about creating a reverse imbalance.One has to wonder why, when the first tentative step towards creating a level playing field was proposed, a certain segment of our community rose up in horror at the prospect of what they considered to be black affirmative action? For 350-plus years, we had white affirmative action, when legislation and policies were passed to ensure one section of the community stayed in power and the other was oppressed and disenfranchised. This started in 1623, when a law was passed to prevent the growing black population from going into business without the permission of their white masters, and thereafter legislation was systematically and routinely passed to ensure the status quo stayed in place and power remained with one group.As late as the 1960s to 1980s, policies encouraging expatriates from British Commonwealth countries resulted in a huge influx of (predominantly white) international workers, many of whom eventually received Bermuda Status and the right to vote. For a period of time British Commonwealth citizens were also able to vote after having been resident in Bermuda for only three years, but this was eventually stopped in 1976. For those who say these things were done for the economic growth of this country, I would counter that it was also to ensure the power balance remained with the paternalistic oligarchy.I was one of those who arrived in Bermuda in 1974 as part of that influx and easily got my first position working in a company as a secretary. At that time I thought naively I was the best candidate for the job but, when I look back at that period with a new understanding, I realise I was jumped ahead of a long line of qualified black Bermudians simply because of the colour of my skin, and the biases, stereotypes and prejudices that existed. Those others who arrived in Bermuda like me around the same period, worked hard and many had considerable success, however I would ask them to consider the fact that their current success or well-being today, and of their children, may very well be a direct result of those discriminatory policies of the past, ie the opportunities they were offered upon arriving in Bermuda were heavily biased towards them and against people of colour. This is not to say they are to blame, however there is a moral responsibility to acknowledge that history, and be responsive in a way to correct that past.The debate on whether or not affirmative action is a necessary and effective strategy to correct the ongoing economic disparity between the races has raged overseas since US President Kennedy first introduced the term in 1961. In Bermuda it took us until 2007 to even consider our first piece of affirmative action legislation, almost 50 years after the US. Many would argue that this one small law will still not overturn Bermuda’s legacy of 230 years of slavery, 130 years of segregation, and 50 years of prejudice, stereotypes and ongoing structural racism that continues to exist in our society. This unwillingness to look at a form of affirmative action as a positive way to correct the imbalances of the past and to bring about a fairer and more equal society, is itself an example of continuing structural racism that continues to inhibit us from truly creating equal opportunity for us all. CURB would support and welcome a revisit of the 2007 Workforce Equity Act or the consideration of something similar.LYNNE WINFIELDCitizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda