April 3, 2007

Dear Sir,

It was so refreshing to see that the majority of Bermudians (according to Gazette’s poll) do not share Minister Burgess’s views on foreign workers voicing their opinions in the workplace. As a foreigner in Bermuda, I understand that foreigners must respect the laws of their host country. However, Bermudians can’t expect foreigners to sit on the sidelines and not speak out against what they perceive as injustices. Do we really want to receive care from foreign doctors or nurses whose main priority is to serve the company and not the patient? I think many of us would want to be treated by a nurse or doctor who wouldn’t go along with policies that they did not think was in the best interest of their patients. I am sure that the family members of patients at the Indigent Clinic respected Dr. Wakely; she spoke out against what she believed was not in the best interests of her patients. Unfortunately, speaking out contributed to her to resignation.

Would Bermudians want their children taught by foreign teachers who did not believe in the curriculum they were teaching from? Would they want their children’s teachers to simply collect a pay cheque and not believe in what they were teaching? While doctors, nurses, and teachers have professions that affect the lives and minds of Bermudians we can not overlook the blue collar foreign workers. Imagine going into a restaurant and the chef won’t speak out about poor sanitation conditions because if he does he may lose his job.

In my opinion the views of Mr. Burgess’s represent a shared mindset between him and the Honourable Premier, as reflected in the Honorable Premier’s comments at the March rally protesting the closing of the Indigent Clinic. As written in the Gazette and according to others that were at the rally, the Hon. Premier questioned the protest organiser, Jennifer Brooks’ ability to speak on behalf of the clinic’s population. The paper quoted the Honourable Premier as saying to Ms Brooks: “Are you a patient? You speak on behalf of some of the people here. I don’t know how that happened, but OK”.

I can’t help but see a connection between the Hon. Premier’s comments towards Ms. Brooks and Mr. Burgess’ comments about foreigners staying out of Bermuda’s politics. I find it hard to understand how such elitist comments can be made by members of the PLP, which was a party that was founded to be a voice of the disenfranchised and oppressed.

Just because Ms. Brooks might not have been a patient at the clinic; does that mean that she cannot speak out on behalf of the patients at the clinic? Robert F. Kennedy was a very rich white man, but many African-American loved him and shed tears when he was assassinated in 1968. They loved him because he spoke out on their behalf. Should the white freedom riders from the North not have travelled to the segregated South in the 1950s and 1960s risking their lives for oppressed blacks because they were not of the same color or economic background? Should tennis great Andre Agassi not have opened a private school for inner city children in Las Vegas, because he grew up in the affluent suburbs? Should W.E.B. DuBois have stayed out of the civil rights movement and not helped organise the NAACP because he was a well educated and wealthy black man?

As for the Members of Parliament who want foreigners to stay out of politics they should remind themselves of the contributions foreigners have made to societies worldwide. Should Marcus Garvey have stayed out of the early American Civil Rights movements because he was Jamaican? Should Dr. E.F. Gordon have stayed out of Bermudian politics because he was from Trinidad? Should Stokely Carmichael have stayed out of the Black Panthers and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) because he was from Trinidad? Should Harry Belafonte just have made movies and sang love songs during the Civil Rights movement and kept quiet because he was from Jamaica? Should Gandhi not have spoken about the injustices he saw wile living in South Africa? Should America have stayed out of German affairs and not intervened in the First and Second World Wars?

It’s hypocritical for some Bermudian politicians (of either party) to want foreigners to stay out of local politics, when both political parties have routinely hired foreign political consultants. I also see a further connection between the Hon. Premier and Mr. Burgess’s comments to those of Minister Burch who used the term “house nigger” some time back when referring to another black person. I really wonder if Minister Burch understood the use of the word “house nigger”. You have to really have contempt for another black man to call him a “house nigger”. How would he (or members of his party) have felt if a black member of the UBP called him an “Uncle Tom” or a “Sell Out” because he pledged his allegiance to the Queen of England during his service in the Regiment? Of course such comments directed at Minister Burch would also have been grossly inappropriate. To use such terms as “house nigger” in this day and age is still having a slave mentality. It was the white slave master who created such divisive thinking among his slaves (Dark vs. Light Slave, House vs. Field slave). My family roots are in the South in the United States. The South has a violent racist history towards blacks. Growing up in my town in the in the 1980s, I got called a “nigger” too many times to remember. Even though the 1980s were a lot better than the earlier decades before, I was still pulled over and approached by white police officers numerous times for just minding my own business. My only offence was “JBB”, “Just Being Black”. Racial tension was just a way of life for me growing up.

While Bermuda does have its racial problems, the racial harmony that exists in Bermuda is far better than what I’ve experienced in some parts of America. After only being in Bermuda for a short period of time I discovered so many examples of subtle, but positive race relations in Bermuda. For example the number of times I’ve been standing in line next to an elderly Bermudian white woman and she doesn’t clutch her purse thinking I’m going to rob her. I haven’t witnessed a white lady or man nervously getting off the elevator because I get on.

Growing up in Bermuda, my son will have very different experiences from me growing up in the South. I’m more likely to have to worry about him one day getting jumped by other black teens because of where he lives (i.e. “Town” or “Country”) as opposed to him getting harassed by white police officers, being chased and called a nigger by a group white teens, or being made to feel very uncomfortable by receiving the cold racist glares from the patrons of a white owned racist establishment. I sometimes wonder if Bermudians who have gone to school in parts of America where racial tension is very high have a better appreciation for the present racial relationships that exists in Bermuda.

After living in Bermuda for eight years I feel that Bermuda is a wonderful country and is truly another world in so many respects. It’s imperative that the government leaders I’ve mentioned in this letter should be mindful of their use of elitist and ethnocentric language in this global society. Other parts of the world should be looking towards Bermuda as an example of where race relations are quite good while the black community is also doing exceptionally well politically and economically.

KEVIN GRIGSBY

A Proud American Loving Bermuda

Warwick