September 27, 2012Dear Sir,This morning I ran into a former member of the United Bermuda Party who is now a member of the One Bermuda Alliance. (He said he was a pragmatist, practical). In addition to the usual comments, he said he believed that in a democracy Governments should alternate between political parties then, unlike most of the current discussion, he raised the issue of race and contended that those voting for the Progressive Labour Party should support the “integrated” OBA to minimise the role of race in politics. However they were not blacks who imposed the racial divide. Moreover it is evident that blacks have “integrated” everything and anything that they could “integrate”. They were whites who imposed the racial divide because they believed blacks were inferior in every way and they are whites who will have to heal the racial divide if ever it is healed. But it is something that (with notable exceptions) they have shown no inclination to do. Their attitude is as it has always been, even though racism is neither as overt nor as crude as in the past. They still see us as they have always seen us.As blacks we know very well the role that whites have played in imposing the racial divide in order to maintain their racial supremacy. We have been far less aware of the ways in which we have responded. In my view most of the mistakes which the PLP have made and yes, I do believe that they have made some is because they were trying to prove something to the UBP (the white community that believed that they were inferior) rather than concentrating on adopting “black affirmative action” policies to counteract the damage done to the black community as a result of centuries of “white affirmative action”.Recently the Swan-Burchall Forum gave what they believed to be another example of black response to white racism when they introduced the term limit policy. That may not be true but even Swan-Burchall recognise that the centuries of racism is having a long-term impact on the black Community even if racism is both less overt and less crude. It is for this reason that I would hesitate to put political power back into the hands of the white community, no matter how many Blacks are in the OBA, and regardless of how many mistakes the PLP have made. If the OBA were to win we would simply be reinforcing the attitudes that have been so destructive not only to the black community but to the entire country.In my view the moral and social decline within the black Community that has led, and is leading, to so much violence in the black community is a direct result of a sense of alienation among so many in the black community who feel unrepresented. This is a direct result of the division within the black community. This divide is very much a response to the centuries of racism and the doctrine that blacks are inferior. Some blacks have tried to address the problem by accommodating and supporting the white community, while others, spending too much time in worrying about the white community, have spent their energies on trying to prove something to the white community rather than spending their time on creating black affirmative action policies to relieve the most disadvantaged blacks. Both groups have been too concerned with whites, rather than uniting to bring justice to the black community as they did when they united to bring desegregation to public places and united to bring universal franchise to the entire country. Unity among Blacks to bring justice to the black community has always benefited all. Poor landless whites and Portuguese both benefited from the black struggle even though they never participated in the struggle.The same would be true if blacks were to unite to address the condition of struggling blacks today. The fact that Bermuda may have been more prosperous at the time was of no consequence to those blacks seeking justice because the prosperity was doing them no good. Even if, in the face of world conditions, the OBA could solve the financial challenge, it would do the country no good in view of the continuing attitudes that imposed the racial divide that has been so destructive to the black community and the entire country.EVA N HODGSONHamilton Parish