October 29, 2012Dear Sir,Dr Eva Hodgson responded to my Letter to the Editor the most effective way she could. She called me a racist.For more than twenty years, leading American racial-equity advocates such as Dr. Cornell West, Tavis Smiley and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., have strongly advocated that blacks no longer vote for someone simply because they are black or a member of the “black party.” Instead, they should examine the track record of the candidate.Was the candidate honest and competent? Did he stand up for what is right and just? Did he help the struggling and disadvantaged? Or did he just use race as a way to enrich himself and his connected friends and family?These racial-equity advocates also warn that voting for someone simply because he is black undermines black self-worth because it implies that blacks would not earn the vote of other blacks if they were judged solely on the basis of integrity and intelligence.As a student of the global racial equity struggle, Dr Hodgson would know well the teachings of these highly respected American racial-equity advocates. She would know their collective warnings that voting for someone simply because he is black leads to corrupt politicians because if a politician knows that he has your vote no matter how badly he performs and no matter how deeply he lines his own pockets, then he will govern only for the benefit of himself and his connected friends and family.Dr Hodgson would also know, as would anyone who has been paying attention, that there has been massive waste and cronyism under the PLP Government, as reported by two successive Auditors General.Yet Dr Hodgson chose to completely ignore these warnings and instead dismiss the entire discussion by calling me a racist.She then pretended that the warnings of political corruption and harm to the racial equity movement originally came from me, a white person, instead of from Dr Cornell West, Tavis Smiley, Henry Louis Gates Jr and other highly respected black scholars who passionately care about the plight of struggling blacks.Then Dr Hodgson stated that “(Mr. Comeau) has never had any words of advice to whites on how they should behave.“In fact, the opposite is true. In my Racial Equity speech that was carried on the radio and TV this summer, I spoke at length about the problem of white privilege and suggested that whites contact CURB to learn more about the problem. (A copy of the speech can be found at www.bdagoodgov.org.)Dr Hodgson is very aware of this. She not only told me she has read my speech, but shortly after I delivered the speech, she, Cordell Riley and I sat down in CURB’s offices and discussed, among other racial problems, the issue of white privilege.So it was sad to see that Dr Hodgson had conveniently ignored these facts when she chose to personally attack me in order to defend a PLP method of campaigning that black scholars have warned will not only lead to more political corruption and incompetence, but also undermine the racial equity movement.It is understandable that Dr Hodgson, who has received significant funding from the PLP Government, would want to see the PLP re-elected. But I hope she has not chosen to put that interest ahead of the interests of the racial equity movement, a cause she has fought for so valiantly all her life.For the record, I do not doubt that in addition to lingering racial inequities, Bermuda’s racist past has left many scars that I, as a white person, can never fully comprehend no matter how hard I may try. The fact is that the race issue is complex and filled with justified sensitivities, making discussion between the races all the more difficult.But that does not mean that Dr Hodgson or any other person has the right to undermine the racial equity movement by twisting the race issue to suit their own personal goals, particularly when such action flies in the face of the warnings of prominent black scholars.To simply ignore what these world thinkers are saying by calling the messenger a racist will not only make predictions of continued political corruption a greater certainty, but also undermine any hope for real progress in Bermuda’s racial equity movement.KEVIN COMEAUCalifornia