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Re-Defacing of NELSON Statue in Bridgetown

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Submitted by David Comissiong, President, Clement Payne Movement of Barbados
Nelson statue defaced on the eve of Independence Day.
The person left a message.

Dear Sir / Madam,

I wish to remind Barbadians that it is not only the usual Afrocentric activists such as Trevor Marshall, Anthony “Mighty Gabby” Carter, Sir Hilary Beckles and David Comissiong who have been persistently calling for the removal of the Lord Nelson statue from its central and prestigious location in our capital city of Bridgetown.

In the year 1999 the then Barbados Government established a governmental “National Heroes Square and Gallery Development Committee” to consider and decide upon this issue of the correct location of the Nelson statue (among other issues).

I was a member of that National Committee.

The Committee held three Town Hall meeting on the issue and also solicited and received scores of written submissions from the people of Barbados.

In May 2000 the Committee issued its Report and recommended the REMOVAL and RELOCATION of the Nelson statue to one of two possible alternative locations.

The Committee also recommended that the statue be immediately taken down and kept in storage pending its relocation, lest it provoke “public controversy.” (See page 15 of the Report)

Membership of the Committee consisted of several very eminent and qualified Barbadians.

Sadly and regrettably the Recommendation of the Committee on the Nelson Statue has never been implemented.

I say that it is never too late to do the right thing, and hereby Call upon the present Government to take immediate steps to implement the recommendation of this National Committee by removing the Nelson Statue from its current prominent location in the heart of our capital city.

PLEASE  FIND  THE  RELEVANT  EXTRACT  OF  THE  REPORT  ATTACHED  HERETO.

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233 responses to “Re-Defacing of NELSON Statue in Bridgetown”

  1. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    This is the demon in the mirror staring back at all those who still practice it, when it should be as dead as those who designed it.

    “Racism is the belief in the superiority of one race over another, which often results in discrimination and prejudice towards people based on their race or ethnicity. Today, the use of the term “racism” does not easily fall under a single definition.[1]

    The ideology underlying racist practices often includes the idea that humans can be subdivided into distinct groups that are different due to their social behavior and their innate capacities as well as the idea that they can be ranked as inferior or superior.”

  2. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Face it, confront it, address it and see it staring right back at you.

  3. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ dp D at 11:17 AM

    ” Let us not run from the reality ” “it is what it is and ALWAYS has been.”
    Reality is a creation of the mind. It is only real because your mind determined it is real . So your reality is not necessarily mine.
    Yesterday you reminded me that I should never say” never” . Today it is my turn. Never say ‘always”. Subsequent research will prove you wrong.
    There was a time in this millennia and the previous millennia when the scribes did not think it important to record the colour or race of a man. He was known by who his father was and which tribe or nation he came from.
    So to say that race is a reality for us all is an hyperbole. But if it is your reality ;so be it. I certainly will lose no sleep about it, until your kind of thinking take root and cause problems for the majority of Barbadians.

  4. John Avatar
    John

    Bernard Codrington November 30, 2017 at 11:11 AM #
    @ Bush Tea at 10 :41 AM
    Do you really think that the root of the current Barbadian problems is the colour of our skins?
    Why are we keeping this fiction alive?
    Whose purpose is it serving?
    Whose agenda is being completed?
    Do we not have bigger and better fish to fry?
    This is another diversionary tactic .Please do not fall for it again.
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    This fiction comes I believe out of Trinidad, starting maybe 100 years ago!!

    It has its roots in communism and its root philosophy, atheism.

    It’s purpose is division!!

    The idea is to put the valuable assets of “the white people” into play!!

    However, most of these “white” people are not white at all!!

    Just like most of the “black” people promoting the fiction are not black at all!!

    The irony is that the value of the assets is not in the assets themselves but is based on their efficient use by “black” and “white” people acting together as Bajans.

    That’s why I think Barbados is falling apart.

    It was apparent from the Duffus Commission days, it just took 10 years for EWB and the DLP to compromise the country’s existence.

    All of the statues built after independence were built by the BLP starting in 1985.

    The first was called the “Emancipation Statue” which evolved into Bussa, a figment of imagination.

    Instead of addressing the cancer of division, the BLP just facilitated its spread.

    O$A’s obsession with making Barbados a first world country is as clear an expression of the complete idiocy that informs and informed the thinking of or past “leaders” as you can get.

    They all believe somehow that “white people” got rich of a 2X4 country and their turn should follow as “black people”.

  5. John Avatar
    John

    It is real easy to expose an atheist!!

  6. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    @ Bernard Codrington at 11:11 AM

    “…the root of the current Barbadian problems…” is the history of Barbados. This is axiomatic. The most important document of the history of that history is the Barbados Slave Code of 1661. Read it. Understand it. Only then will you have any chance of coming to grips with current Barbadian problems.

  7. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Give it up John….you are not relabeling anyone to suit ya sick fantasies…like those really sick ones now twirling around in Vincent’s head….you will leave the earth as you found it, with people. .

    It’s not about who got rich,….as much as .it is the parasitic means they used to get rich…

    ……..get rich all you want…but do not use the majority to do so….see if ya can do it on ya own without the help of the population and ministers…since ya so superior.

    Now this came up, there was this white dude decades ago on the beach needing help to lift a boat, none of the dudes would move to lift a finger…..so I said to him…..show me how superior ya are why dont ya….let me see ya lifting the boat by yaself.

    The same principle applies here John.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    Robert Mugabe did as you are suggesting, he will leave office, die and the natural tension of race, class and creed will remain.

  9. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    BC

    Yuh shotting…..you and John are on top of the bowling,no need for any assistance.

  10. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Peter Lawrence Thompson November 30, 2017 at 12:24 PM

    The most important document of the history of that history is the Barbados Slave Code of 1661.
    …………………………………

    Important to who and does it still apply today?

  11. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    @ Vincent

    It is the cornerstone of the history of Barbados. No understanding of that history is possible without understanding that pivotal document, so it is important to all Barbadians.

  12. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Peter

    Could you answer my question.

  13. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    @ Vincent

    I answered. Important to all Barbadians because the history applies to all Barbadians.

  14. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Peter

    You did not answer the question I asked and that tells a whole story in itself.

  15. John Avatar
    John

    The foundation document is the Bible!!

    There would have been no Puritans or Quakers to settle the New World were it not for that Book!!

    … no religious persecution to flee.

  16. John Avatar
    John

    …. and the Bible applies to all of us today!!

  17. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    Bullshit Vincent! You are trying without success to pretend that because the law is no longer in effect that it has no relevance. You are as transparent as you are mistaken. You asked “does it still apply today” thinking that “apply” could only refer to jurisprudence… but that is not the case, “apply” refers also to historical understanding.

  18. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
    — George Santayana

    We have been condemned to repeating our colonial experience for the past 51 years.

  19. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Apply…..is relative…

    Racist slave code…practices never died along with their designers, it has been refined, become more overt, more covert…just like the wicked relabeling of Black Bajans John and Vincent were attempting hoping it would catch on here on BU….

    ……then we would have done their dirty work for them…..of relabeling the majority population..

    And they thought no one noticed.

  20. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Peter

    Idiocy of the highest order…….I presume that you will suggest that Hammurabi’s laws also has something to do with our colonial experience…..what about the laws of Rome.

    Something known as evolving…..keeping the baby and throwing out the bath water…..civilisations change over time despite having individuals who wish to fight yesterdays wars with todays weapons and knowledge.

    Chuckle….Santayana’s quote coming from an individual who wants to bury the past in an obscure place……wonders never cease to amaze.

  21. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    PLT at 12:24 PM

    Please explain to me how a Slave Code written in 1661 ,over 350 years ago by Europeans trying to acquire material wealth through keeping in bondage other human beings inform me about the issues in Barbados in the third decade of the 21st century.
    Are Barbadians in bondage ? Are the slave codes still in place? Is that your reality?
    My man, slavery finished in 1838. Barbados had adult suffrage since 1951. You are responsible for what ever problems you see or manufacture in Barbados. Deal with them . Any slavery that you perceive is a figment of your mind. Only you can deliver yourself from mental slavery. You are looking for excuses not to roll up your shirt sleeves and do some serious work. Your children and my children are not buying into that myth.

  22. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    Excuse me but I took an morning break to make my conkies.

    @John at 9 : 12 AM ” if” Bussa died”

    John has a problem with the historicity of 19th century Bussa.

    But none at all with the historicity of [1st century?] Jesus.

    Why?

  23. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    Fer Chroist’s sake Vincent, how ridiculous can you get? It’s the BARBADOS Slave Code, not the Babylonian one. It is a fewer than ten generations since it was in force… that’s the blink of an eye historically.

  24. David Avatar
    David

    The Anthony Bryan that received the Sir is the owner of the Advocate?

    #ifyesjesustakethewheel

  25. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    For one person? we have not a hair, not a bone, not a thread, nor a scrap of physical historical evidence.

    For the other person? we have not a hair, not a bone, not a thread, not a scrap of physical historical evidence.

  26. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ PLT
    Surely it must be clear to you by now that both Vincent and John are simply dumb. They do not mean ill, they just do not get it.

    The Bible is the foundation of NOTHING in this world…. certainly not of anything about Barbados. The Barbados Slave Code takes that cake…
    The Bible was provided for a SPECIAL, SELECT set of people who have inhabited this world – BUT REALLY ARE NOT ‘OF’ THIS WORLD …and to everyone else, it remains an enigma wrapped in an unsolvable mystery.

    The REAL problem with Barbados is reflected in Bernard’s attitude…
    The ATTITUDE that thinks that the past does not matter; that political correctness trumps common sense’; and that maintaining ‘peace’ trumps fighting for justice …is the fallacy that leads us into brass bowlery…. and to downgrades …and destruction via renewed SERFDOM…

    As Peter Tosh says … we don’t want no damn peace …
    WE WANT JUSTICE.
    THAT is how we get real peace….

  27. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    @Bernard Codrington November 30, 2017 at 12:13 PM “There was a time in this millennia and the previous millennia when the scribes did not think it important to record the colour or race of a man. He was known by who his father was and which tribe or nation he came from.
    So to say that race is a reality for us all is an hyperbole.

    For ALL black people and ALL white people in the Americas and the Caribbean race WAS a reality, IS a reality, WILL be a reality long after you and I have both turned to dust. These societies were ALL build on the presumed inferiority of black people, and the presumed superiority of white people.

    Historical fact.

  28. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    WW & C at 1:20 PM

    The only two persons that are trying to relabel the “majority population’, in this blog, are you and Peter. You are the only ones who have the gospel, who have seen the light and all others are besotted clowns.
    The good thing is no educated Barbadian will follow you.

  29. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    Bernard Codrington at 1:30 PM said “Please explain to me how a Slave Code written in 1661 ,over 350 years ago by Europeans trying to acquire material wealth through keeping in bondage other human beings inform me about the issues in Barbados in the third decade of the 21st century.”

    OK, I will. You yourself intuited the answer in your own post Bernard. “Only you can deliver yourself from mental slavery.” It has been almost 180 years since the Slave Code which defined some of our ancestors as non human ceased to be legally enforceable in Barbados, but the mental and cultural damage that it inflicted has lingered across many generations. Why do Bajans refuse to be on time for anything? meetings, fetes, they are certain to be late for their own funeral. Has this not puzzled you? Do you dismiss it with a shrug and just adapt to the dysfunction? These behaviors and many others are not mysterious in the light of our history, but in order to make progress as a Nation we have to heal these in order to “to roll up [y]our shirt sleeves and do some serious work.”

    You mistake my intent if you think that I’m making excuses for Black Bajans. It is our responsibility to build a better Barbados, and we will accomplish that only if we look into the mirror of our history and seek to really develop our self understanding. Simply putting more effort into the broken patterns of our trauma distorted culture is not good enough… we need to change and evolve and grow our culture. We can do this only if we understand the deep roots of that culture, dysfunctions and all.

  30. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Dr SS
    do you put raisins in conkies?

  31. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Peter

    More idiocy&myths…..how come a Bimmer is productive and on time when he is in foreign lands?

    In Bim I worked for an international organisation many eons ago and time keeping was never an issue.

  32. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    John November 30, 2017 at 12:15 PM “It has its roots in communism and its root philosophy, atheism. It’s purpose is division!”

    Dear John: Why don’t you let poor Karl Marx rest in his grave. Why are you blaming communism for that which it has never done.

    I was not Marx or the Russian communist who created a divided societies in the Caribbean. These Caribbean societies wer divided societies long before poor Karl was born.

    The divisions were created by the white people who came. The British, the Spanish, the French, the Portugese, the Dutch.

    Not a German in the lot. Not a Russian in the lot. Not a communist in the lot. Because remember Marx was not yet born.

    So even though it is not popular nowadays to defend Marx/Germans/Russians/communists, and even though the Germans, the Russians and the communists did their evils in their time and in their place, please let us not defame poor dead Marx, let us not blame him or them for the evil deeds of the British, the French, the Spanish, the Portugese, the Dutch and the Christians.

    May Karl Marx and communism continue to rest in peace.

  33. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Dr SS PhD

    You may have point….this king only on 14…

    https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.africanews.com%2F2017%2F09%2F27%2Fswazi-king-grabs-14th-wife-after-september-s-reed-dance-ceremony%2F%2F&h=ATNxM2rQCr4mkYHrIldCCnryt5rVGTnRLk5CK1Y2n6toSfJgmfks09b6z_qWRMfO1LNNBrRj1naNxJXp3_93UQqUvJnQUS0MSpmkAkYHc6QaP-UU7mVVlD4EmEfhohjHyJwMaqEF8BPzCEAoiFBEJ1HICWESqYBzhA8cL9ZmYWEY1ALc0OyNmV3S4OYdelM-5N0VZLiDyNpYyeHkmYE81Xwin2GXbEYA3WjsBXyiLQDuS7L8ZnHuOukUGf2C8GwQKyxH

  34. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Bernard…ya wrong on both counts, not only do we have the most intelligent of followers because intelligent people never follow dumb people…..but…..and this ya will not like….we dont need to label anyway….that is why we fight white racist practices in Barbados, in US and everywhere, to rid the earth of that white cancer…..

  35. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Dr SS PhD

    For ALL black people and ALL white people in the Americas and the Caribbean race was a reality.
    ……………….

    Hmmm…..so was witchcraft…….if it is an anathema why perpetuate it…..unless you are madly in love with the concept.

  36. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    Correction: It was not Marx nor the Russian communist who created divided societies in the Caribbean. These Caribbean societies were divided societies long before poor Karl was born.

  37. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    If you, John, are looking for somebody to blame for the divisiveness of Caribbean societies you just need to take a long hard look in the mirror, and there you will find your man.

  38. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    From our past

    https://www.facebook.com/LioninZion/videos/10104235985358181/

  39. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    @Peter Lawrence Thompson November 30, 2017 at 1:50 PM “Why do Bajans refuse to be on time for anything? meetings, fetes, they are certain to be late for their own funeral. Has this not puzzled you?”

    It was a form of resistance.

    Shakespeare’s schoolboy went unwillingly to school, because he did not want to go to school.

    Bajans went unwillingly to work because they did not want to go to work all day in the hot sun for no wages.

    Why would any sensible person willingly work all day in the hot sun for no wages.

    Would you?

  40. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    Bush Tea at 1:39 PM
    “Surely it must be clear to you by now that both Vincent and John are simply dumb. They do not mean ill, they just do not get it.[…]The REAL problem with Barbados is reflected in Bernard’s attitude…”

    I feel sorry for Vincent so I try to treat him kindly. John is more complex a problem… I have gone through the gamut of sympathy, sorrow, incredulity, alarm, anger, contempt… now he is beneath contempt so I do not dignify his ravings with a response.

    As you note it is Bernard who embodies the real problem, but I have some hope for him. I think he has pigeonholed me as some pseudo Marxist who poses an existential threat to Black respectability. Well it is true that I am not respectable in the Bajan sense, but I thinkl that he and I have a similar objectives: to make Barbados better. In many ways Bernard reminds me of many of the clients I meet in a professional capacity: these are entrepreneurs and business [people who ask me for counsel. Much of the time they are convinced that they simpl,y nedd to work harder, for their staff to work harder, but the real problem is not that the need to exert themselves more, but that they are working on the wrong thing. Bernard seems so afraid to look backward to our history because it seems he fears that effort will distract us from building a better future; the reality is that we are entangled in our history in ways that prevent us from making any progress, so looking back and disentangling ourselves is the only way to make any forward headway.

  41. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    The Johns and Vincents who are not long for this world are wicked…a lot of the destructive mentalities the black population picked up….did so in the houses of these minority demons….much of the distorted culture and practices were picked up from mimicking these demons…

    The children and grandchildren of the majority population, should not be working in these demon’s houses…do not clean their houses, look after their children or their elderly…move above and beyond that….that is why they show such disrespect.

    There are onky 7,500 of them…you do not need to work for them, particularly in their houses especially in their businesses….encourage your children and grandchildren to start their own businesses, support each other’s businesses….finally become independent. ..and your own person.

    Bernard…but…..and this ya will not like….we dont need to label ANYONE….that is why we fight white racist practices in Barbados, in US and everywhere, to rid the earth of that white cancer…..

  42. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @David
    The Anthony Bryan that received the Sir is the owner of the Advocate?
    +++++++++++
    List all the people with knighthoods in Barbados and you will notice that alignment to a political party is the norm not the exception.

    Not sure why you are acting surprised.

    If the BLP takes the reins next Independence it will be “‘Rise Sir Elliot”, never mind that Bermuda thing…….

    BTW howcum the DLP didn’t confer a knighthood on Arthur? As a multi term former PM isn’t he deserving? Unless Arthur told them to take a hike.

  43. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    @ Vincent Haynes at 2:05 PM

    Did you take the time to listen to the Selma James presentation that you posted? It supports everything that I have been saying about the importance of history.

  44. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    That’s the best advice to give bajans on this day…self autonomy…freedom from working for others, particularly racists…..easy to implement with time.

    …..it’s been drilled into my grandchildren, be your own boss…strengthen your own communities…first and always…the island has mainly black communities that need to be strengthened….rebuild your communities….

    Black Americans are learning the hard way they have to rebuild their black communities, support their black communities…and strengthen their black communities….spend your money ONLY in your black communities…….something finally worth copying.

  45. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    a lot of the destructive mentalities the black population picked up….did so in the houses of these minority demons….much of the distorted culture and practices were picked up from mimicking these demons…

    And all of the lies and misinformation you hear black people on the island speak generationally….came out of these minority demon’s houses, the brainwash and mindwash nonsense.

    Stay out of their houses.

  46. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    Dr. Simple Simon Phd. at 2:07 PM
    “It was a form of resistance.”

    You are correct of course, but this resistance is now self defeating… the contemporary economy functions by dividing each second into many thousand parts for discrete digital operations; how will we prosper in that environment if hours slip by without our noticing. Furthermore this pattern is used as a cudgel by racists who wish to perpetuate and deepen our marginalization. We need to comprehend the roots of this and many other self destructive behaviours if we hope to make the progress we dream of.

  47. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    @David November 30, 2017 at 1:34 PM “The Anthony Bryan that received the Sir is the owner of the Advocate? #ifyesjesustakethewhee”

    That’s why I salute the Nation for running the Bim’s Best competition this November. Just this morning I was talking with friends and we remarked how national honours are always given to a bunch of elderly politicians, lawyers and their friends…the Bim’s Best competition celebrated the honest-to-goodness hard work of real, real young Bajans.

    Hip, hip hooray!!! to Bim’s Best.

  48. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @Sargeant
    “BTW howcum the DLP didn’t confer a knighthood on Arthur?”

    or Worrell? You realize the issue on another thread, is W’s comments about firing a bunch of civil servants and GP comments on senior public servants either adopting ISO or taking a hike, led to cross pollination. OAS is set on destroying the B’s under Mia, the despot.
    They remain the two most potent allies in the D arsenal. They get press, they are not seen as D’s, and they issue statements which hurt the B’s.

  49. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    Sergeant
    You forgot one of the last things Arthur did in a wrap up of one of his Budget debates was to to put some warm lashes in Philip?You think he would take a chance to kneel before the same Philip now wielding a bigass sword in his right hand?

  50. Dr. Simple Simon Phd. Avatar
    Dr. Simple Simon Phd.

    @NorthernObserver November 30, 2017 at 1:52 PM “Dr SS do you put raisins in conkies?”

    I aim to keep everybody happy. I prefer mine with raisins, but can eat them without. We made 4 pots full for 4 households to share with extended family, friends and neighbours. So we made some with raisins and some without.

    I’ve put some in the freezer for the extended family who live up your side. When they are home for a winter break a warm golden “fresh” conkie will greet them.

    As soon as they are cool, put in a ziploc bag in the freezer. Later defrost in the fridge, and warm in the banana skin in the microwave for 3 minutes or so.

    Steaming hot and lovely.

    Grew the coconuts, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and banana leaves myself, so fairly “cheap” to make a big batch.

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