Govt. must preserve land

June 7, 2007

Dear Sir,

In our classroom we have been talking about the need for preserving Bermuda’s natural habitats. We are very concerned about losing our beautiful green land in this country. Bermudians need to realise that our island will soon be taken up by all the building of houses and businesses. Soon enough, tourists are no longer going to want to come to Bermuda because it is not going to be as beautiful as it once was. It will most likely look like the countries they have come from. Where will the excitement be in that?

More Bermudians need to protest, before it is too late and nothing natural is left to enjoy. Many of the buildings in town have empty spaces; so why are new places being constructed? Is it really necessary to overpopulate our land with concrete jungles? We think that it would be a great idea to knock down all of the unused buildings and houses. These parts of unused property should be restored to becoming beautiful greenlands again. We would like to know what job the Minister of the Environment actually does. The Government needs to take action before Bermuda is stripped of its natural beauty.

We are the Primary 4 class of Heron Bay Primary and these are our concerns and suggestions for a brighter, more beautiful Bermuda to be enjoyed by all people inhabiting the land. If anyone from within the Ministry of the Environment can help us to understand what exactly is being done to preserve the land, we would like to extend an invitation to come in and discuss this issue with us.

HERON BAY PRIMARY 4 OLEANDERS

Southampton

Apples do not fall far

May 12, 2007

Dear Sir,

The following was taken from an article written in the Mid Ocean News, July 17, 1922 regarding Clarence Orrister Darrell. The article was obviously written before Tim Hodgson became the editor and Garreth Finnegan became a reporter there.

“For nearly half a century, Mr. Darrell had been one of the prominent and substantial businessmen of Bermuda. As a young man he started a provisions business at Flatts, Smith’s Parish in the premises which he later acquired; and in the years that followed he gradually acquired other property in the same parish as well as in other parishes until the time of his death. He was possessor of considerable and valuable real estate throughout the Islands besides personal estate. After conducting the provisions business for a few years, Mr. Darrell entered the livery and grain business and later the dry goods business — all on a more or less extensive scale, being at one time the largest importer in the island. At the time of his death, as well as for many years before, he was one of Bermuda’s prominent and most substantial merchants.

“In 1911 Mr. Darrell opened a provisions business in Hamilton and Warwick. He had associated with his son Ambrose Gilbert Darrell in the building on Front Street East, which property he afterwards acquired. As fully occupied as he was with business, Mr. Darrell nevertheless found time to devote to civic and social affairs. At the previous election he was a candidate for a seat in the Corporation of Hamilton as a Common Councilman. He was a member of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce and took a lively interest in all things pertaining to the general welfare of Bermuda. He was active likewise in social affairs and was deeply interested in Friendly Society work. He was a member of the Building Committee of Loyal Flower of the Day Lodge I.O.F.M.U; and through Mr. Darrell’s instrumentality and assistance the present site on which the Colonial Opera House was erected was afterwards purchased.

“As a citizen Mr. Darrell was highly esteemed by his fellow citizens among whom he exercised a great deal of influence. In tribute to his memory flags were set at half-mast through the City on Monday when his body arrived by the S.S. Fort St. George from New York. This esteem was further manifested at the funeral which was witnessed by hundreds of people from all parts of the Island including many of Bermuda’s leading businessmen as well as other well-known citizens. His general manner, his willingness at all times to help those in less favourable circumstances than himself and his reliability as a business man won for him the admiration and respect of all classes of the community. The funeral service was held at St. Mark’s Church, Smith’s Parish which was filled to overflowing before one half of the procession had arrived there.”

In a letter to the Editor of The Royal Gazette dated April 24, 2007, Michael Fahy, one of the more prolific letter writers, whose disdain for our Premier, Dr. Ewart Brown can only be matched by Christian Dunleavy, used the following quote by Ira Philip with regards to L.F. Wade: “Special honours and distinctions should be reserved for exceptional people who die in the service of their country, and moreover, whose lives deserve to be prominently highlighted for their extraordinary contributions.”

Mr. Fahy then went on to question whether Mr. Wade would be supportive of Dr. Brown as Premier of Bermuda. He spent several paragraphs criticising Dr. Brown, in fact Mr. Fahy, like Christian Dunleavy seems to be obsessed with Dr. Brown. It is because of the writings of men like Fahy and Dunleavy that I believe it is imperative that our Premier has all the security possible, as their writings can be considered incitement. But I digress. I used the above quote from the Mid Ocean News to highlight the fact that the apple does not fall from the tree, and in this case, Dr. Brown is the apple, and Clarence Orrister Darrell is the tree.

The words written to describe Clarence Orrister Darrell in 1922 can be written in 2007 to describe his great-grandson, Dr. Ewart Brown, now Premier of Bermuda. However instead of a merchant, Ewart Brown is a physician, and can be described as one of Bermuda’s most prominent and substantial physicians, a fact he should be proud of as he has worked hard to obtain such status. As fully occupied as Dr. Brown was with his medical practice, “he nevertheless found time to devote to civic and social affairs”. As a citizen Dr. Brown is highly esteemed by his fellow citizens, both in Bermuda and abroad, “among whom he exercises a great deal of influence”. Dr. Brown’s “general manner, his willingness at all times to help those in less favourable circumstances than himself and his reliability as a business man (doctor) won for him the admiration and respect of all classes of the community”.

I say all of the above to say that Premier Brown could not help but become a dedicated physician, an outstanding leader and highly esteemed in the minds of most Bermudians as he is the grandson of Clarence Orrister Darrell. I believe that Dr. Brown has become the political leader that Clarence Orrister Darrell could not become, not because he did not have all the attributes required of a leader, but because of the colour of his skin. Certainly if his mother, Helene Brown, or his aunt Gloria McPhee, both Members of Parliament as well as members of the UBP’s Black Caucus, were alive today, they would concur with me. By the way, a message to the UBP’s Shawn Crockwell and Donte Hunt — Clarence Orrister Darrell was the son a white man and a black woman and he had no option as to whether he would chose between his whiteness and his blackness — the racist society that Bermuda was made that choice for him, and certainly there was no Progressive Labour Party in 1922.

LAVERNE FURBERT

Hamilton Parish

Hold politicians accountable

June 10, 2007

Dear Sir,

Now that covert capitalism has become acceptable amongst Bermuda’s new upper-middle class and party loyalists since 1998, the Government that I voted for seems to confuse economic opportunity with black empowerment. South Africa’s black economic empowerment strategy states one significant fact. That is, “no economy can grow by excluding any part of its people, and an economy that is not growing cannot integrate all its citizens in a meaningful way”.

The point I’m making, and what South Africa finally learned, is that black empowerment is important, but it has to go far beyond just an economic initiative to redress the wrongs of the past. It has to go far beyond selective redress to benefit just a few or select individuals. As a black man, I am discouraged that my Government is creating narrow-based economic opportunities and not broad-based growth opportunities for everyone. A more serious issue is that they are leaving fundamental inequalities intact, or just sidetracking the old and present white elite with a new black one.

The benefit white and some black people received due to white privilege and black elitist privilege in the past, was done and is history. We cannot change anything about the past and the pain associated, other than remember, learn from and respect it. Reparations will not help, but we as black people have to stop justifying the improper behaviour of our present Government ... because they were born black and now represent a black political party publicly, but privately represent a few black and white individuals economically.

Sadly, they publicly encourage black empowerment, but privately “sleep” with those we consider white privilege. No wonder, we can’t get white people to talk about race, racism and institutional racism when privately they know our character. Are they really the ‘Head N****r’?

We need to hold our politicians accountable and stop them from taking advantage of economic opportunities and information they are privy too for financial gain. Because politics and our present law does and cannot justify prosecuting individuals for unethical and improper activity, we need to be honest with our politicians, question the content of their character and use our vote to send a message that, no matter what colour your skin, we want you to be accountable, responsible and honest. Let alone ethical.

That being said, Bermuda’s Ombudsman has a mandated responsibility to do what Bermuda’s law could not do... let alone draft an accountability policy and code of ethics for politicians. To-date only a few individuals have seen the Scotland Yard Report re the BHC scandal. I can only assume that it will say more than, “it’s just a case of bad ethics. If investigated and reported according to English law, which considers ‘bad ethics’ a crime, the report has to read that the BHC affair was criminal. Maybe they and the DPP’s office apparently misunderstood Section III of the Criminal Code and considered ‘bad ethics’ totally different from improper and unlawful activity. If only the ex-property officer and thief, T. Smith used bad ethics and not engaged in unlawful and improper activity, he’ll still be employed by the BHC!

SAM

Warwick

We don’t settle scores

June 27, 2007

Dear Sir,

I’ve noticed that in recent years that everyone from Bill Clinton, to Tony Blair, to the German government and various southern US states have apologised for slavery and/or their treatment of blacks during a particular period of time. Some blacks and whites applauded these moves and some did not. I feel that in these instances the group doing the apologising were still the “majority”, still in a position of power, therefore making it easier to be contrite. I don’t think that same level or grand gesture of contrition has been attempted by the UBP in Bermuda — I put it at the feet of the UBP because for better or worse, the UBP, still remains synonymous with the white power structure of Bermuda — seeing that whites vote almost as a bloc for the UBP.

My take on this lack of contrition is that in Bermuda’s case, the whites are a shrinking minority and are not in power, making it an odd situation for them to express contrition over slavery and racial discrimination the way that the UK or the US have. Also, if we are to take an extreme view of Bermuda’s racist past — it would mean that the rich white families in Bermuda only have what they have due to the colour of their skin and nothing else (which is obviously not true.)

Since white Bermuda is in such a precarious situation both because their numbers are shrinking and their political party is moving further and further away from a time when they were in power — it makes them have to affect a certain cautious, state of denial stance. This cautious stance makes it difficult for the UBP etc. to be sympathetic to the pain that they caused in the past — it’s as if there is some mental black spot that makes them forget how vicious it was for blacks up until even the 90s. Last week, Michael Dunkley went so far as to say: “I will also not allow you to blame the UBP for the inequality of the past, that is nonsense that the PLP has taught people to spout.”

That a white Bermudian in his 50s will not admit in 2007 the past sins of his party points to a disturbing mental state of revisionism on that party’s part. He is basically saying that what we as black Bermuda know to have happened to us actually did not happen to us and it’s just some mental trick that the PLP has played on us.

As I said, the white leaders in other countries have come out and admitted their past wrongdoings against blacks — yet the white Opposition leader here in Bermuda says: “ I will also not allow you to blame the UBP for the inequality of the past, that is nonsense that the PLP has taught people to spout.” Strange. As I said, the reason for this non-contrition when it comes to racism I believe is because of their shrinking numbers and the fact that they will probably not be in power again (the way they were in the past at least) — and it probably makes them believe that it’s dangerous for them to come out and admit to their racist past because it will somehow make a bad situation worse. It’s as if they have to hold firm in their beliefs and not admit to anything — that’s why you never see white UBP members ever criticise their party on race even when black UBP members are screaming about how racist the UBP still remains.

The truth is that black Bermuda for the most part is not vindictive and has no interest in settling scores — that’s a figment of the UBP’s imagination — the PLP and black Bermuda just want what’s best for the Country and their friends and family and are glad that the “bad old” days are over and want to look fwd to the future. Unfortunately the UBP is stuck in the past and is holding on to five-year-old non-issues for dear life because it knows that in its current state, the UBP have no place in Bermuda’s future.

VANZ CHAPMAN

Toronto, Canada

Enjoy your brunch!

June 18, 2007

Dear Sir,

How many places in the island would you consider your favourite to go for brunch on Sundays? I have one in mind. I would always have considered the place my favourite and was really disappointed when my toddler (16 months old) decided to try the soup I was having. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the soup was good and I probably gave him six spoonfuls of it as he had already had his lunch before hand. Since it was my turn to treat the family I was prepared for the bill but what I was not prepared for was that I had to pay $20 for the six spoonfuls of soup had by my toddler.

I have been to many restaurants around the world and have not been charged child rate for a toddler who had six Spoonfuls of Soup. Again, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind paying but they should have a sign saying, as soon as your baby can eat, they will be charged. I just found it ridiculous. I know of restaurants that charge child rate for age 2 years and above but this is the first I have encountered paying child rate for a 16-month-old baby. That was the most expensive “six spoonfuls of soup” I ever paid for! I will still patronise the place but, I will make sure to make my toddler eat as much as he can so it is worth it or, maybe we should just bring his lunch with us. Now, if “Corkage” is charged for bringing your own bottle, what do you call bringing your own lunch to a restaurant?

HOLES IN MY POCKET

St. George’s

Just suppose

June 7, 2007

Dear Sir,

So let me get this straight. If I am running a housing business and we do renovations on someone’s house to the tune of $150,000 but then they don’t pay us back this money. Am I hearing there are no legal grounds for me to recover this money? At the same time this person sells this same house to this housing business at a ridiculously inflated price and profits another $150,000. Just suppose that this missing money belonged to you and me, the innocent taxpayer? And the person who has “made out” is the leader of my country. How would that make you feel? The Premier should resign.

CLAIRE A. SMITH

Warwick