Writer was dismissive and ignores our history
Dear Sir,
In your publication of November 9, your correspondent, Peter Sanderson, referred to my recent letter and stated that I echoed what he had heard repeated by many concerning how Bermuda’s immigration laws have penalised black people and favoured Portuguese.
He went on to dismissively assert that this narrative is “wheeled out” to justify denying status to certain Portuguese residents.
He then goes on to presume to give a lesson on Bermuda’s immigration policies in the 1950s affected the very people who lived the experiences a quarter-century before he was born in Cornwall.
He should know there is no equivalence between the British citizen from the Commonwealth or Caribbean and those from the Azores or Portugal.
The latter were from a sovereign country. The former, Caribbean people, were from colonies that were collectively referred to as British West Indies.
That, however, did not prevent the government of the day from compelling them to leave, even though many had relatives here. While he thinks he is alleging discrimination against the Portuguese, he is in fact advocating for Portuguese to be treated more favourably than other “aliens”.
My original letter referred to the many who were embraced by the black community.
The dark-skinned Bermudians with Portuguese names bear eloquent testimony to that. To write that “once again” Portuguese are being excluded begs the question: By whom?”
I wrote of those who excluded themselves from the bulk of our population and then excluded the bulk of the population from their clubs.
Many blacks know of the Santoses who anglicised their name to “Saints” to gain advantages.
I am not certain that Mr Sanderson can claim to be objective in his observations and comments on the matter.
It may be that since the Cornish were recognised as a “minority” in Britain in 2014, he has an affinity with those he deems as minorities. Who knows?
WENTWORTH CHRISTOPHER
Sandys