est. 2007

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Open Letter to Prime Minster Mottley and Minister King

Open letter to The Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, Q.C., M.P. (Prime Minister) and
 The Hon. John A. King, M.P.(Minister of Creative Economy, Culture and Sports)

 

Dear Prime Minister and Minister of Culture,

John_King
Minister of Culture, John King
mia_mottley
Prime Minister Mia Mottley

I am sure by now you are aware that people in Bristol removed the statue of slave trader, Edward Colston, and deposited it in a nearby river. With this act, people in that city sent a clear message to the world that they would no longer tolerate the glorification of accomplices in the commission of crimes against humanity and those who grew rich from their sordid involvement in human trafficking.

In the present climate when there is a heightened global awareness of the need for zero tolerance towards racism and its symbols, it is unconscionable that in Barbados, a country where over 95% of its citizens are descendants of enslaved Africans, that a monument like Colston’s in Bristol, sits in the heart of our capital city. It is an affront to the people of Barbados and to those all over the world who are standing up to speak out against racism that Nelson’s monument continues to sit in the heart of Bridgetown. It is long overdue that this odious tribute to racism be removed.

There are no longer any excuses that can be made for your government’s failure to remove it. I am therefore writing to you as a concerned Bajan to call on you to do the right thing and remove this affront to the people of Barbados and to all those who today are courageously raising their voice against racism.

It would be very fitting, if it was replaced with a tribute to Nanny Grigg and to the many thousands of unsung Bajan women whose self-sacrifice, ingenuity and struggle have played a decisive role in our people’s progress from the pit of degradation that the English slave masters threw us into.

Yours

Tee White

595 responses to “Open Letter to Prime Minster Mottley and Minister King”

  1. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Dear John,

    What you are missing is this – if you hit me with a twig for insulting your mother and I chopped off your head with a machete, I would be convicted of manslaughter.

    But you know that. No-one is allowed to use excessive force. Not me. Not you. Not the police.

    According to your convenient book, if these officers do not repent of these murders justice will eventually be meted out to them.

    But I don’t think we will have to wait that long. You and all those like you are on their way out. You will be defeated. Read the tea leaves.

  2. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    quote] Rwanda has used investment in science, technology and innovation as a springboard to grow and diversify its economy. Between 1996 and 2015, its per capita gross domestic product (GDP) more than tripled to US$1,756—outpacing some bigger and more resource-rich African countries with fast-growing economies, such as Kenya, whose per capita GDP merely doubled over the same period. As a result, Rwanda is often held up as a model of what can be achieved if clear ambitions are backed up with strong political leadership. Although the country’s economic activity remains modest—its private sector is still largely informal—the rapid modernization of its infrastructure is attracting both foreigners and Rwandan expats to the country. [unquote

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rwanda-from-killing-fields-to-technopolis/

  3. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    TheO,

    Poor fellow got daubed with the tar brush. He’s ALMOST white.

  4. WURA-WAR-on-U Avatar
    WURA-WAR-on-U

    Greene…Rwanda also got RID of every evil colonial slave law on their statute books and everything colonial in their constitution…so now they are truly FREE TO MOVE FORWARD and progress and generate wealth for their Black citizens…

    Every bit of evil done in the dark, must be revealed to the light….only black, corrupt idiot leaders would want to keep these stinking, cursed blighted symbols of slavery, hatred and racism around their people..

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/13/jefferson-davis-statue-removal-kentucky-jim-crow?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR1VVWA9JMc8tQMgVjzGiRmlUi70_Ww2AV6cwQaRtB_6fI_PKCpZGNxl6lk

    “Officials supervising the removal of a statue of Jefferson Davis from the Kentucky state capitol on Saturday found items left in its base.

    Those who put up the marble statue of the Confederate president left a Glenmore Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey bottle and a newspaper – dated 20 October 1936.

    Davis was born in Fairview, Kentucky in 1808 and became a soldier, a senator from Mississippi and US secretary of war. From 1861 to 1865 he led the Confederacy through the American civil war.

    “African slavery, as it exists in the United States, is a moral, a social and a political blessing,” he said.”

  5. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “I think JK is white.”

    the Bajan version of white, which ISN’T WHITE AT ALL as they all find out when they go to white countires and they are laughed at and disliked with their stupid small island wannbe white behavior, no one can stand them…….but John’s familial Blackness is very visible, he can fool no one.

  6. Disgusting Lies and Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies and Propaganda TV

    Anybody that can justify lethal force against a man RUNNING AWAY truly has a depraved mind. Lethal force is a LAST RESORT to preserve life and not to flippantly use to enforce law. I suspect Johnny ma Boy just love these modern day lynching of black people because he cant do it himself for fear of being arrested and put in jail with a whole lot of “people of colour” that are willing to give him a good time…….
    This hiding behind a badge to justify murder is the main reason why there are calls for police reform and “defunding the police”. Mind you i believe in a law enforcement office…but there has to be a better way…The officers that pushed the 75 year old gentleman and didn’t not even stop to see if he was alright cannot be good policing. Police easily using lethal force is based on that backward USA constitutional amendment of the “right to keep and bear arms” without proper regulation. If firearms were not so easily available in the USA then there would be less need for police be callous enough to use lethal force.

  7. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    It is called warrior policing and Barbados is going down that route. That is why I have called for separating the uniformed officers from the detectives; banning the so-called task forces and squads; employing more uniformed officers and, ideally, establishing a CARICOM investigation service.
    Stop sending our police to the UK, US and Canada for training. The training they get is that the people are the enemy. Communities become theatres of war.
    A person running away from you is no threat. Shooting a man in his back is cowardly.

  8. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    @Hal

    i agree to a great extent especially a Caricom FBI type service. we have had this discussion before so no need to go in-depth if you reply

  9. Freedom Crier Avatar
    Freedom Crier

    They are many Black Voices that Need to be Heard and they are many Leftist Whites that fund BLM and Tell them What to Believe and What they should Say and How they Should Act and What they Should Do. We in Barbados are in the same Boat, we only hear the Voices that have been Told what to Believe rather than the Voices who are Independent, that have something to Say of Worth.

    HERE IS ONE EXAMPLE.

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/88-dV9K_cHE?wmode=opaque&fs=1&rel=0&autohide=1

  10. WUURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WUURA-War-on-U

    Racism has to be addressed at the highest levels. You have black maority countries and tiny islands with an even tinier population of reject jokers calling themselves white and other minorities .practicing racism against the black majority and evil black leader elected by the majority populstion HELP THEM demean, ROB and degrade their people….something is very wrong with that picture, so by all means, take it all up with the UN.

    https://www.myafricaupdates.com/2020/06/14/the-un-must-address-systemic-racism-against-black-people-african-leaders-demand-in-unity/?fbclid=IwAR37axUn2s9hwhxtT1iGNYWO0WFBh9H43YWH2OF6G-Rk2DkN_azMfMIBhMc

    African countries on Friday called on the U.N. Human Rights Council to organize an urgent debate on racism and police violence, in the context of global mobilization after the death of George Floyd in the United States.

    “In a letter written on behalf of the 54 countries of the African Group, of which he is coordinator for human rights questions, the ambassador of Burkina Faso to the United Nations in Geneva, Dieudonné Désiré Sougouri, asked the body to the U.N. to organize an “urgent debate on the current racially-inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality against people of African descent and violence against peaceful demonstrations.”

    “The tragic events of May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, USA, which resulted in the death of George Floyd, sparked worldwide protests over the injustice and brutality faced by people of African descent daily in many regions of the world,” wrote the ambassador.”

  11. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    Re “Rayshard Brooks takes the weapon (taser) from the policeman and injures him with it…What am I missing?”

    YOU, are missing nothing.

    YOU, think like those who lynched young Emmitt or any of the jurors in multiples cases like that of Walter Scott’s police killer that believe strong retribution for taking a Black life is invariably a little too harsh.

    YOU, simply cant see the absurd contradiction of a ‘peace officer’ whose life is NOT threatened effecting a violent, fatal ending to a contentious encounter…. PARTICULARLY with Black folks.

    YOU, are whatever you are…
    a liar for a conservatism founded on racial white supremacy, a psychopath or just an educated bamboozler!

    In your mind space YOU absolutely are missing nothing… as YOU are incapable so to do!

    You obviously miss that daily hundreds of police officers lie as pathologically as the same ‘suspects’ they encounter in their reports.

    Neither do you miss that they are willing to use lethal force when the threat is contained or fleeing from them unarmed.

    Nor that they often escalate rather than use their extensive training which guides how to deescalate difficult situations.

    Yep, YOU are missing nothing …

    Let police reforms be focused, purposeful and implemented ASAP; let’s banish illogical debates about ‘disbanding/defunding’ and adding social programs as a practical reformative tactic.

    We will not miss this opportunity !

  12. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Now that is a statement from Hal that I can agree with. When I went to complain about an officer’s unnecessary manhandling of my son, I was told that I was lucky he did not pull his gun. But actually HE was lucky he did not pull his gun.

    He knew my son was unarmed. When he arrived on the scene he saw him dropping the wood he had picked up to defend himself against a group of rock throwing schoolboys.

    Would a thug with a gun use a stick for defence???

    I soon made him change his tune.

  13. Freedom Crier Avatar
    Freedom Crier

    Here is the Video …he is Spot ON…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEYobbkZjtU&feature=emb_logo

  14. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Greene

    Now is a good time for our dynamic world-class leader to introduce a radical transformation of the criminal justice system, not just the police. We talk about police brutality in the US, but in Barbados we have a police officer who has been on bail for about three years for shooting his neighbour.
    Was the gun used a police issue gun? Is he still on full or part pay? Does he have to report to a nearby police station regularly? Why are these questions not being asked, and more? Why the secrecy?

    On another matter,, this is what someone just posted on a majority-black blog:

    They are many Black Voices that Need to be Heard and they are many Leftist Whites that fund BLM and Tell them What to Believe and What they should Say and How they Should Act and What they Should Do. We in Barbados are in the same Boat, we only hear the Voices that have been Told what to Believe,,……..

    Black people are incapable of thinking for themselves. When we talk about racism, it comes in may guises.

  15. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    See, John? It is YOU who can no longer hide. You HAVE been unmasked FINALLY – for the depraved creature that you are.

    You have joined Looney Tunes in the scroll past zone. Nobody but a few mixed up souls will take you seriously!

    So sad!

  16. Freedom Crier Avatar
    Freedom Crier

    Fair Argument Against “Systemic Racism”.

    By A Son Of The Soil…

    It’s funny how the most intelligent most accomplished and most brilliant black people say that you can do anything, there’s no one out to get you, the mysterious systematic racism is not there. But people don’t want to hear that because it takes hard work, culture change, and a huge amount of self-belief.

  17. John Avatar
    John

  18. John Avatar
    John

    YOU, simply cant see the absurd contradiction of a ‘peace officer’ whose life is NOT threatened effecting a violent, fatal ending to a contentious encounter…. PARTICULARLY with Black folks.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Which of the two cops shot Rayshard Brooks, the one that was incapacitated by the taser and in imminent danger or the one who was not.

  19. John Avatar
    John

    Miller

    That Bouncer was too swift for Hal and TSLN and you?

    Hal and TSLN ducked but you weren’t smart enough to get out of the way.

  20. John Avatar
    John

    If you resist arrest you are fair game.

  21. John Avatar
    John

  22. John Avatar
    John

  23. John Avatar
    John

    If you resist arrest you are fair game.

    If you manage to get away the police have no idea if you are armed.

    If you then turn around and point your finger at them you are dead.

  24. John Avatar
    John

    … even if it is your pinkie!!

  25. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Hal Austin June 14, 2020 11:08 AM “A person running away from you is no threat. Shooting a man in his back is cowardly.”

    It is also murder.

  26. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    You sick soul,

    This is not what is written in the police handbook or the law books.
    Nor is it a principle found in the Bible which you have been quoting.

    I have told you more than once that he had already been searched. They knew that all he had was the taser.

    PS. I told you your language betrays you. Fair game sounds like a hunting term. Are black men animals in your book?

    I believe you are alone and getting your jerk on watching videos of black men dying.

  27. John Avatar
    John

    DonnaJune 14, 2020 2:01 PM

    You sick soul,

    This is not what is written in the police handbook or the law books.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    How do you know?

  28. John Avatar
    John

    JohnJune 14, 2020 1:16 PM

    YOU, simply cant see the absurd contradiction of a ‘peace officer’ whose life is NOT threatened effecting a violent, fatal ending to a contentious encounter…. PARTICULARLY with Black folks.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Which of the two cops shot Rayshard Brooks, the one that was incapacitated by the taser and in imminent danger or the one who was not.

  29. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/14/rayshard-brooks-shooting-protesters-set-fire-to-restaurant-where-black-man-shot-dead

  30. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Tron June 13, 2020 8:57 PM “Barbados will never become a formal banana republic. Unlike Prodigal Son has ventilated, no titles like “Sir” are awarded in a republic. The previous titles expire automatically. It’s no longer “Sir Richard” but simply “Mr Cheltenham” or “Citizen Cheltenham.”

    Right now we call him “Johhny” so republic or not he is Johnny.

  31. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Enough of you and your sick self for the day! Time to talk to healthy humans.

  32. John Avatar
    John

  33. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Hal Austin June 14, 2020 2:58 AM “The Kenyan uprising happened in my lifetime. I grew up hearing about it. And as children, in our childish games we identified with the rebels….(Quote)

    ???? The \Mau Mau uprisings ended 60 years ago.”

    I know.

    So without knowing me you are insinuating that i don’t recall things from 60 years ago?

    I have an exceedingly memory. I recall things that happened before my 2nd birthday. When I started recalling, a sibling 8 years older was quite shocked, had no idea that I had remembered. For example I recal my mother nursing my subsequent sibling, sitting on a bench against the partition in the “back-house” My subsequent sibling is only 22 months younger that I am.

    So “yes” I recall the elders talking about the Mau-Mau rebellion more than 60 years ago.

    Just curious. How far back do your earliest memories go?

  34. John Avatar
    John

    DonnaJune 14, 2020 2:01 PM

    You sick soul,

    I have told you more than once that he had already been searched. They knew that all he had was the taser.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Look at the body cam footage and tell me when the officers searched Rayshard Brooks.

    You are not even ducking, you are lying.

  35. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    How do I know????

    The man was fired, ya Johnny!

    Are you lonely? Got only me to keep you company?

    Why else would you ask such a stupid question? You need help, dude!

    Now enough!

  36. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    The same figures who dressed in African shirts during the Nelson riots yesterday are running around again next week like domestic servants in black suits, white shirts and ties. We urgently need to work on the credibility and consistency of such lip service here.

    I put on my colorful shirts and trousers all year round. Even when I visit the public administration or the high lords of the island. No wonder that many see in me the last African on the island.

  37. John Avatar
    John

    Here are some geniuses in BLM.

  38. Disgusting Lies and Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies and Propaganda TV

    I still don’t see a justified reason for lethal force from these videos…If some running away points two fingers at an officer, is it a good reason to justify deadly force? The sad reality is that this officer MAY NOT be CONVICTED of murder because he was in “reasonable fear of his life”. The problem is in this loose application of deadly force….it can’t continue. It is still the “Wild West” in the USA combined with “Trump’s America” it is a dangerous mix

  39. John Avatar
    John

  40. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    John, respectfully but your posts are idiotic. You say that your comments are sound when eany well informed teen can identify your gross absurdities of racist folly.. yet u parade the garbage daily before well educated, well traveled, experienced mid-age folks. SMH.

    Every cop before he gets on the street completes training at a police academy… it’s a certainty that they relentlessly role-play all types of interdiction/arrests scenarios thus for you to opine that “If you then turn around and point your finger at them you are dead’ is no more that a remnant of your RACIST ethos … fact is that,undoubtedly many police depts. likely did encourage THAT style of policing in Black naves for years and despite CHANGES in training practices many LIKE YOU still abide by that when they see a BLACK face…

    I suppose you will opine that cops who carried ‘drop guns’ were awesome, goody-guys/gals also and had excellent motives for carrying that unauthorized weapon.

    I further suppose that you accept that cops are justified in accepting the right to bear arms by a rifle-waving, drunken white man at a Dairy Queen (not a Wendy’s this time) in Michigan as cool breezing and no threat to their life and limb … just as with Rayshard the police spoke for some time with the man… UNLIKE Rayshard – who did NOT have a lethal weapon but an irritating, stolen Taser – he waved a loaded rifle around and angrily shouted; he cursed them; he told them he had a legal right to “threaten” police officers and their families. He lived that day… Rayshard died!

    Philando also clearly told the cop that he had a Gun CARRY PERMIT and and indirectly affirmed HIS RIGHT to have a gun as he reached for his certificate… yet unlike privileged white HE DIED that day…this man was safely relieved of his weapon … mind you, unlike this man Philando had his girlfriend and their child close to him and WAS UNLIKELY to initiate ANY violent act that could endanger their lives… but alas Black Lives Don’t Matter even if a pinky is pointed, right.

    Not trying to swap stories with you… rather, will as best as possible continue like others to unmask your abject “pretzel” logic and odious verbiage. You are entitled to your opinions NOT your TWISTED FACTS!

  41. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @ WURA-War-on-U June 14, 2020 9:43 AM

    I watched the video put out by the police. Things seemed to be going okay until the fellow started to wrestle with the cops, got hold of the taser and fired it and missed. He then ran away with cops in hot pursuit: he then turns towards them. The cop is only being fired to placate the black population. In America ,which is basically a wild west country( gun play is the norm and it is best to get one’s shots in first or suffer the consequences), one needs a lot of faith even when some one is armed with a taser not to retaliate. It is interesting to note the reaction of the people. The business place Wendy’s had nothing to do with the shooting and it is burnt to the ground. One presumes blacks were also employed at the place. There was no waiting to ascertain facts. Strictly a case of mob rule which is not going aid blacks. After the November election, no one is going to give two farts about BLM.

  42. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    In America ,which is basically a wild west country( gun play is the norm and it is best to get one’s shots in first or suffer the consequences), one needs a lot of faith even when some one is armed with a taser not to retaliate.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    YOU DO REALIZE THAT AMERICA (USA) HAS 50 STATES AND TO SAY EVERYWHERE IS WILD WILD WEST IS TOTAL BULLSHIT.

    SEEMED LIKE YOU STARTED DRINKING THE RUM/WHISKY WAY TOO EARLY TODAY.

  43. John Avatar
    John

  44. John Avatar
    John

  45. Disgusting Lies and Propaganda TV Avatar
    Disgusting Lies and Propaganda TV

    Ahhhh…… Faux News with its circus clowns in red, white and blue telling jokes making it seem like news. throwing silly interference. All crime is wrong…….a white police officer hiding behind his badge lynching a black man in full view with his hand in his pocket with no threat to his life is a heinous crime. It will NOT go unnoticed in a country that has a history of “apartheid” after centuries of slavery. The protests are against racism, police brutality and Trump’s ineffectiveness as a head of state. Black on black crime is a serious issue. If people want to demonstrate about it, more power to them…but don’t use it to TRIVIALIZE the issues behind why people are protesting in the USA right now.

  46. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    @ John

    GIVE IT A REST.

    BEN CARSON IS A TRUE EXAMPLE OF AN UNCLE TOM CARING ONLY ABOUT FEATHERING HIS NEST.

    NOT ONCE HAS HE SPOKEN OUT AGAINST TRUMP AND HAS KEPT HIS CABINET POST UNLIKELY MANY OTHERS WHO HAVE DEPARTED FROM TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LIKE A REVOLVING DOOR,

    BEN CARSON IS ALSO A CLASSIC POSTER CHILD OF SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T HAVE A BACKBONE WHILST BEING A STOOL PIGEON.

  47. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    The incident was over forty minutes long. I am going by the report of others who watched all of the footage.

    You would have us believe that white police in the USA spent all that time with a drunk black man without searching him????

    🤦🏽‍♂️

    YOU are BUs resident liar! I would not dare try to challenge you for that title.

  48. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Know your human rights under international law when your governments are corrupt, sell you out, oppress, brutalize and rob you generationally.

    http://www.humanrightspolicy.us

  49. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ John June 14, 2020 1:21 PM

    “Miller
    That Bouncer was too swift for Hal and TSLN and you?
    Hal and TSLN ducked but you weren’t smart enough to get out of the way.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Just because the others weren’t armed with the ‘facts’ and local knowledge of the long-dead man!

    What bouncer? How can a leg-break ‘slow’ bowler pitching outside the off-stump deliver a bouncer to a batsman wearing a helmet made of titanium?

    But you are the one who is always mistaking a real Yorker for a bouncer by evading the direct questions about the basis ‘behind’ the massive compensation package paid to the slave owners of the Bajan plantations.

    Why not give us some background to the Alleyn(e) dynasty in Barbadoes?

    Why not check your well-endowed archives and tell us who was/were the beneficial owner(s) of the Alleyn(e)dale estate(s) in St. Peter?

    You might just uncover some ‘madly’ hidden secrets which would startle even a consummate weirdo like you to death.

    Here is a bit of remorsefully moral food for you to chew on while you regurgitate your asinine justification for its existence:

    “Slavery, an unhappy sight which leaves an immense debt upon us to clear the obligation of human nature”. ~ Baronet John G. Alleyne.

    Time for you too, Sir Johnny, to get on the right side of history!

    “Allis Non Sibi”.

  50. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @ BAJE June 14, 2020 3:20 PM

    I am curious: Aren’t there lots of cases where officers are called to residences or stop cars to investigate and are met by gun fire and are shot and killed? You seemed incensed by my stating that America is a wild west country and informs me that there are fifty states in America. To show your lack of intellect, because you do not agree with my point I must be drinking. To make a statement like that because you do not agree with me says a lot about you lack of rational reasoning and how petty and small minded you are. I watched the video, the man wrestled with the cops who wanted to hand cuffed him, got hold of the taser, fired it and missed the officer and ran away before turning towards the officer. It is all there on video and cannot be disputed. A mob then burnt down Wendy’s. Wendy’s did not cause the confrontation. These are the facts. And I state again that after the elections no one is going to care two farts about BLM. You can get as annoyed as you want. I have stated my position.

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