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Keeping racism alive

June 17, 2009

Dear Sir,

I was dismayed at the blatant racism of the Ewart Brown supporters at yesterday's protest rally. I am a "white" person who was told by Dr. Brown's supporters, at the Cabinet building, that I do not belong in Bermuda. They believe this is so, apparently because my skin is a different shade than theirs.

If I object to Brown's style of government, they point to the colour of my skin. They say my opinion doesn't matter because I am white. I would like to propose that this paper no longer talk about race, no longer publish letters about race, no longer publish quotes about race.

This issue is kept alive by vehicles like "the Big Conversation" that are not truly designed to improve race relations, but to keep racism alive.

Dr. Brown's supporters seem to be filled with anger and hatred towards white people, and dedicated to spreading this hatred. If people disagree with them, they use racially charged rhetoric, such as "lynching".

May I remind you that this is the same tactic that was used by Hitler to rise to power.

I AM BERMUDIAN TOO

Paget

Unfit to govern

June 18, 2009

Dear Sir,

Any PLP MP who fails to support the no-confidence motion is demonstrating that they are unfit to govern us. We value our democracy and our constitution safeguards it. Dr. Ewart Brown, by his actions in blatant disregard of the constitution is a threat to our democracy and must be removed. Now is the time for the PLP MPs to abandon blind voting along party lines and listen to their constituents and their consciences. Are they all so desperate to cling to their ministerial jobs and MPs salaries that they will be party to any and all kinds of (mis)behaviour without having the gumption to stand up and be counted?

If Dr. Brown remains at the helm of government our future looks very precarious indeed.

ELSPETH BREWIN

Hamilton Parish

Hazard to democracy

June 14, 2009

Dear Sir,

So the worthy Premier has gone off at half-cock again, displaying a total ignorance of the rule of law and the basic principles of the Bermuda Constitution so far as it relates to external relations. He has managed to put Bermuda on the front pages of the international press in a most unfortunate light.

He is not, as yet, a dictator. He does not have the power to dispense with or suspend statues he does not like. Some of us recall that in the historic struggle between King and Parliament, Charles I arrogated to himself such a power and ended up in 1649 without his crown and his head. In the course of a few weeks the Premier has purported to dispense with the provisions of the Employment Act (hustle truck), the Trade Union Act (forgiveness of BIU bond and submission of BIU accounts) and now the Bermuda immigration and Protection Act and the Bermuda Constitution. While the nonchalance with which SDOs are invoked is discreditable they at least are contemplated by the Planning Act. The gentleman is a hazard to the health of democracy.

WISDEN

Charlottetown, –Prince Edward Island

Overlooked

June 18, 2009

Dear Sir,

My name is John Moreira and I live in Canada. For years I have tried to move back to Bermuda where I was born in St George's some 41 years ago. I left Bermuda with my parents, not by choice, by age eight or so. My father worked for the St. George's Corporation for many years but was never a Bermudian.

I have always considered Bermuda my home and still do. Yes, even with all the crime and bad rap, I still would love to make Bermuda my home again for good. Bermuda was my place of sunrise and I wish it could be my place of sunset.

I have tried for years to obtain employment in Bermuda in landscaping and recently for the BFA Technical department. I have plenty to offer Bermuda especially in Football, I hold a USSF National A licence in coaching and the highest credentials in coaching soccer. Bottom line, I could never and still to this day cannot get into where I was born. I am a law abiding citizen of Canada and contribute to society.

How does someone like myself get overlooked and the Premier allows these Guantanamo Bay Detainees into Bermuda to savour the benefits of a beautiful life, that others like myself should have the right to pursue and be granted? My parents contributed to Bermuda for years, not these guys.

JOHN MOREIRA

Ontario

Constitutionalism

June 17, 2009

Dear Sir,

I have followed the interesting debacle resulting from Premier Brown's actions which culminated in a secret night-time flight to Bermuda, many headlines on major news networks throughout the world, and many upset Bermudians. Although some people appear to want to look at this as a great favour to the US and the Guantanamo prisoners, I want to consider the interests of Bermudians, and how Premier Brown's unilateral decision has affected our Island.

No one is perfect. Even the most intelligent people make mistakes. For Premier Brown to decide on his own to bring the Guantanamo prisoners to Bermuda without consulting his Cabinet, the House of Parliament, the Governor and the Commissioner of Police (let alone the people who elected him) isolates our leader as a man who is reckless and has no respect for the PLP or Bermuda.

I believe Premier Brown should resign on the basis that he is capable of creating and perpetrating a lawless dictatorship that international business and tourists will want no part of. If the Premier refuses to step down, section 59 of our Constitution states that if the majority of the House of Assembly vote that they have no confidence in the Premier, the Governor shall revoke the Premier's appointment.

The vote of no confidence is not a threat to the PLP Government according to our Constitution – if the Constititution still applies.

SARAH TOMLINSON

Smith's

Fearmongering

June 18, 2009

Dear Sir,

I write to express dismay at your story, "Tourists upset by Guantanamo issue threaten to boycott Bermuda". If you're going to pander to this kind of groundless fearmongering, you really should do more to present the other side of the story than just mentioning that the Uighurs were "twice cleared of being enemy combatants by the United States". You should spell out that they were cleared of being enemy combatants by the Bush administration and by the US courts, and that the only reason that rumours persist regarding their supposed danger is because certain politicians in the United States decided to score political points by campaigning to resist their release into the care of communities in Washington D.C. and Florida, who had prepared detailed plans for their resettlement.

These men pose a danger to no one, but, like the many hundreds of innocent men who were imprisoned in Guantanamo because of the incompetence and arrogance of the Bush administration, they will forever be tainted by their ordeal, unless braver voices than those who whine about "terrorists" are prepared to point this out, and to congratulate the government of Bermuda for doing the right thing and offering a home to these men when others in America were not prepared to do so.

ANDY WORTHINGTON

London, UK

For tolerance

June 17, 2009

Dear Sir,

The protest march yesterday was a great day for activism in Bermuda! It clearly underscored that Bermudians can get engaged when they fully realise the gravity of a situation. The downside of all of this is that it took this long for this kind of action to happen. But to be specific about this particular event, I was worried (as was a group of white friends of mine who chose not to attend) that it would appear to be a xenophobic rally. It turned out to be the opposite (as I will report back to them) but my fears would arise again when religion entered the picture.

If there was a blemish on the speech given by Ms Battersbee, it was that she inserted religion into this when I believe it should not have. We all know what it looks like when someone is in prayer no matter the religion or denomination so I can only imagine what the four Uighurs might think when they see 1,000 people in Christian prayer when related to an issue that involves them. I can imagine it troubles them.

TOLERANT

Smith's

Embarrassing Britain

June 18, 2009

Dear Sir,

Our Premier's and Lt Col Burch's knees must be sore right about now after a week of being on them thanking the Powers That Be for the great gift of not two but three birds to kill with their one stone. In one swift throw they have engineered:

(1) a Gandhian act of civil disobedience that has put the Brits in a very difficult situation and garnered international attention to British "rule" in Bermuda;

(2) a quid pro quo ingratiating Bermuda to the US Government when we sorely need a big favour in light of the very real threat of their striking a serious blow to the major pillar of our economy; and

(3) a PR carpe diem, appearing to worldwide audiences and groups such as Amnesty International as supremely magnanimous in providing refuge for the four illegally-detained Uighurs.

While the Bermuda populace is diverted by personal issues such as Bermudian status and jobs and all the other "hullabaloo", the Premier and his right hand man have not lost sight of their ultimate objective – Independence for Bermuda. It's textbook stuff which would without a doubt earn them an A+ in Strategic Management at Harvard!

Whether the majority want it or not, these few people are determined to coerce Bermuda into independence in just the same way that Gandhi engineered independence for the East Indians – by embarrassing the British Government into cutting us loose. If it didn't smack so much of a shameful manipulation of what could have been a truly humanitarian gesture on behalf of the Bermudian people, maybe Bermudians could also be proud of what our Premier has done.

NOT SATYAGRAHA

Hamilton Parish

Take a stand

July 18, 2009

Dear Sir,

Carpenters, taxi drivers, electricians, masons, bus drivers, plumbers, truck drivers, waiters, garbage disposal collectors, insurance workers, white and blue collar workers, it is time to stop talking and complaining of Dr. Brown's leadership style and policy making. Now is your chance to stand up for your beliefs and be counted. Down tools and come to the House of Assembly at 12 noon on Friday, June 19, 2009. Bermuda has reached a crossroad when it comes to its' leadership, come out and support the " vote of no confidence."

DEMOCRACY

Smith's

If nothing else

June 17, 2009

Dear Sir,

"It is the economy (stupid)", the letter by an Englishman, Victor Lyon, QC, in The Royal Gazette on June 17, makes very interesting reading after listening to Dr. Saul on TV News on June 16. All should read it for its educational value even if nothing else.

EVA N. HODGSON

Hamilton Parish

Slayton must go

June 14, 2009

Dear Sir,

Never has Bermuda's international reputation sunk so deeply into the mire as has happened as a result of the events of the past week. In an effort to repair some of the damage three things should be done as soon as possible:

1. The British Government should make it clear that never under any circumstances will the four terrorist suspects be granted British nationality. All four are involved in Islamic extremism and their protestations of innocence are nonsense. All that has happened is that the US Government has decided that they do not have sufficient evidence to found a successful prosecution in a Democratic court.

2. Gregory Slayton must go. Never has the US Government been represented in Bermuda by such a publicity seeking incompetent and for him to knowingly involve himself in the illegal transfer of these four men from Cuba to Bermuda is a disgrace.

3. Ewart Brown who prides himself on masterminding the conspiracy must cease to be Premier and preferably not hold any other Cabinet office.

WILLIAM M. COX

Devonshire

Very, very wrong

June 18, 2009

Dear Sir,

As a concerned Bermudian, I attended the rally yesterday at the House of Assembly and marched down to the Cabinet Building.

As I watched and listened to Mrs. Battersbee's speech, I cheered and chanted along with the other hundreds of Bermudians there. We had come together as a united front. It was made completely clear that this was not about race, but about our saving our democratic island from dictatorship.

As I stood there, I was approached by a uniformed immigration officer, who had taken his badge numbers off his shirt so that he was unidentifiable. He proceeded to rudely ask me what plane I had gotten off of. I was too stunned and appalled to respond, so he said it again in an even more derogatory tone: "I asked you a question!What plane did you get off of?" I turned to him with my head held high and told him that I was Bermudian, born and raised!

This pathetic immigration officer assumed that I was an immigrant because I am white and don't have a Bermudian accent. Well he is wrong, very, very wrong. It saddens me to think that this kind of racism is still more important to some, than the problem at hand.

If this insulting and disrespectful question was not about race, then I only have one question for this man: What plane did you get off of?

DISGUSTED AND

DISRESPECTED

St. David's

Patronising

June 18, 2009

Dear Sir,

I am referring to the rally/speech on the Cabinet grounds aired on both local stations. I thought Ms. Battersbee expressed with great dignity and poise the root of this Island's discontent with this Premier.

On the other hand, the Premier was occasionally smirking and sometimes laughing. Mrs. Brown also. Behind Ms Batterbee, we saw Lt Col Burch looking bored and picking his teeth and Senator Bean was laughing most of the time. It was extremely patronising and arrogant.

That picture says it all on how these people respect others which was the essence of Ms Battersbee's speech. As far as Laverne Furbert – she missed the point (again) because she had her 'Black and White' glasses on (again).

NO RESPECT

Pembroke