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. David Avatar
    David

    @Tee White

    This is why we must never say die, never lose hope. It only takes a single event to be the tipping point.

  2. Tee White Avatar
    Tee White

    https://www.facebook.com/turunesh.raymonnd/posts/3717343894951844

  3. Tee White Avatar
    Tee White

    This is why we must never say die, never lose hope. It only takes a single event to be the tipping point.
    ###########
    And we don’t have to justify our drive for freedom to the white supremacists and their lackeys

  4. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @ WURA-War-on-U June 9, 2020 12:09 PM
    How about that 77 years-old black retired policeman Dorn? A suspect has been arrested (black by the way) and the search is on for another six or so black. I saw endless videos of blacks looting. In one there was even a dispute among them over the loot.

  5. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    Mia and her young side kick must be reading the majority of these comments and chuckling to themselves.

    Why should Mia raise her voice and offer her moral support to the supporters of George Floyd and destabilise “Little England” when it is clear that Barbadians remain a timid risk averse people. A people too cowed to question those who govern them and too proud of their connection to the “mother” land.

    As a boy growing up in the UK, I could never quite understand why other Caribbean people viewed Bajans as a suspicion group not to be trusted. We Bajans are viewed as a sell out people.

    We must look to our young African people to advance our nation.

  6. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @ David June 9, 2020 12:33 PM
    T am aware of that, but since I have watched videos ( NBC,CNN, MSNBC and read the WP and NYT ) which claimed that the protesters were peaceful and which failed to state that looting, arson, beatings and killings were taking place, then I am at a lost to decide who caused the looting: bearing in mind according to the news, there was no looting and that there were only peaceful protesters. Since looting, arson and beatings have subsequently been established as having happened and only protesters were on the streets, then one must ask oneself who did the looting? This is taking things to a logical conclusion

  7. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @TLSN

    It is cultural. The Bajan Condition.

  8. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “I saw endless videos of blacks looting. In one there was even a dispute among them over the loot.”

    i never said anything about Blacks not looting, what i was saying you are only moaning and groaning about Blacks looting and you obviously had no clue that the real upmarket looting was occuring else where….but just like the media, you would never want to mention anything about those …. in addition, in that middle class to working class group there were endless videos of hispanics and whites looting too…funny you have a problem mentioning them…

    just suffice it to say that the blacks and other looters were looting from the families of those who were real busy looting uptown…..you would get lost in the maze..

  9. Tee White Avatar
    Tee White

    https://youtu.be/sb9_qGOa9Go

  10. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @ WURA-War-on-U June 9, 2020 12:09 PM
    “..because you do not break into the diamond district and certain areas as a Black person or HIspanic, you just don’t….and ya sure as hell don’t advertis ”

    Have you ever watched “The FBI Files” ? You would be disabused of the dogmatic statement which you have made.

  11. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    The savages, liars and frauds in the parliament want something doing about them..they do not want to remove the structures of racism, nor protest or oppose it, so they themselves must be REMOVED.

    https://www.instagram.com/tv/CBLpMbLg3Si/?igshid=v4gckrtcl7km

  12. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Oh dear! You guys sure do get simple things muddled!

    Normally we erect statues to honour those who have served the citizens of a country well. Nelson did not serve the majority of this country’s citizens well.

    The history of this island was written from the white man’s perspective. It is high time it was rewritten from the perspective of the majority of its citizens. The removal of the statue would not erase Nelson from the history books but simply remove his designation of hero. It should be relocated to the museum where the history can be told in detail from its new perspective.

    I swear! Some of you must still cling to the old narrative of Columbus discovering the Americas! Do you think there is a statue of him on the reservations????

  13. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    For the last time Robert. It was not black or hispanic people broke into that upmarket area during this situation and created havoc. What until u hear how much was lost. You are so intent on criminalizing black people for what is happening, BTW u do it all the time as though there are no other criminals but Black ones in US…that now u are starting to sound deranged. Try and get a grip. U are on your own when the only people u can see to criminalize are black people like yaself.

    Oh i have seen the FBI files..but did u notice that there were MORE WHITE CRIMINALS…i would bet that u pretended u did not see them. It’s like a disease.

  14. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    BLM in the UK backed by Sadiq Khan want to remove monuments. As a matter of fact, some institutions have given in and started to remove them . I am going to predict how this is going to end: there is in time going to be massive backlash against BLM. For example in the US there is Pelosi kneeling; such kowtowing guarantees a backlash.

  15. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @ WURA-War-on-U June 9, 2020 4:14 PM

    The point I keep on making, which you seem not to want to address, is the fact that blacks need to stop blaming others and address their problems themselves. I have alluded to the fact that the areas governed governed by black suffer from neglect. Who is to blame for this state of affairs? the whites? Now if you want to accuse me of thinking that all blacks are crooks because I have said that blacks leaders ought to pay more attention to the welfare of their black constituents, your are free to do so. You have blacks leaders who have been feathering their pockets and ignoring the needs of their own people. Who is responsible for black on black killings, is it the whites?

  16. Tee White Avatar
    Tee White

    I would not entertain any white supremacists or their lackey coming to lecture me about Black people ‘looting’. Let them go and lecture their white supremacists friends who been looting whole continents for the last 500 years and haven’t stop up till now.

  17. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Too close to the elections to do politics, i stay well away from that and it’s obvious this one will be a doozie…i will leave you, Black John, GP, MoneyB etc to handle that and sit back and enjoy the parade….am quite sure it will meet all yall expectations and more…politics is just not my gig,..

  18. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    How long it has taken you folk to see this man for what he is – a clown/liar!

  19. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Sorry! That was meant for Grenville’s jobby blog!

  20. bk Avatar
    bk

    @Robert Lucas, good points, take a look at Baltimore, been run by Democrats and Black elected officials for decades, yet it is a run down, crime ridden, poverty stricken drug and rat infested shithole. Yet the goodly sheeple keep on electing the same corrupt people to administer their affairs. No i didnt see it on tv or the internet, i actually have family who live there. I will never return to visit there.

  21. Tee White Avatar
    Tee White

    Shooting and looting started: 400 years ago

    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    03 Jun 2020

    Shooting, looting, scalping, lynching,
    Raping, torturing their way across
    the continent—400 years ago—
    Colonial settler thugs launched this
    endless crimson tide rolling down on
    Today…

    Colonial settler thugs launched this
    endless crimson tide leaving in-
    visible yellow crime
    scene tape crisscrossing Tallahassee
    to Seattle; San Diego to Bangor…

    Shooting Seneca, Seminole, Creek,
    Choctaw, Mohawk, Cayuga, Blackfeet,
    Shooting Sioux, Shawnee, Chickasaw,
    Chippewa before
    Looting Lakota land; Looting Ohlone
    Land—
    Looting Ashanti, Fulani, Huasa, Wolof,
    Yoruba, Ibo, Kongo, Mongo, Hutu, Zulu…
    Labor.

    Colonial settler thugs launched this
    endless crimson tide—hot lead storms—
    Shooting, looting Mexico for half of New
    Mexico; a quarter of Colorado; some of
    Wyoming and most of Arizona; Looting
    Mexico for Utah, Nevada and California

    So, next time Orange Mobutu, Boss Tweet,
    is dirty like Duterte—howling for shooting;
    Next time demented minions raise rifles to
    shoot; Remind them that
    Real looters wear Brooks Brothers suits;
    Or gold braid and junk medals ‘cross their
    chests. Real looters—with Capitalist Hill
    Accomplices—
    Steal trillions
    Not FOX-boxes, silly sneakers, cheap clothes…

    https://www.blackagendareport.com/shooting-and-looting-started-400-years-ago

    © 2020. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

  22. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Robert

    I constantly warn about Googling and pretending one is informed. Sadiq Khan, the son of a Pakistani bus driver, is duplicitous when it comes to black people. He cannot be trusted. His original ambition was to be the first Asian (Muslim) leader of the Labour party and prime minister of Britain. Most people now see through him.
    Khan indeed pays lip service to Black Lives Matter, and removing what he considers to be offensive public statutes, after all it involves votes; but he is a big supporter of stop and search by the police. The biggest issue in the black British community is police brutality by the forces he is responsible for. Stop and search is aimed almost exclusively at black men.
    Khan tries to play it both ways as he would. Wait until the New Barbadians, who now talk about Black Lives Matter, grow in numbers and confidence.

  23. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    The black leaders in Barbados are the dumbest, most backward, corrupt and evil in the world if they believe they are going to keep a racist statue perched on a piece of blighted ground that once sold, humiliated, raped and brutalized our ancestors, they would have to be dirtier and nastier than even i thought..all they seem to be interested in is continuing hte systemic racism, apartheid, robbery of the pension fund, thefts of taxpayers money, thefts of estates and oppression against generations of the black majority, they can’t seem to think of anything else….and now the whole world knows it too…

    let’s see if they are waiting for UK to remove Nelson before they do it too with their evil colonial pimp selves..

    https://www.loopnewsbarbados.com/content/petition-remove-nelson-statue-gaining-steam?fbclid=IwAR3XyssgFzf_V5E3TXQQZcm4bCiXqWynzn0vCMK5Emq4Igib8mYPcVODbvQ#.Xt9jrG2JOIc.facebook

    “We all know what’s happening in the US with the Black Lives Matter protests and calls for change occurring across the entire world. This is a moment of reflection about racial injustices and I believe it also needs to happen here…with everything happening, I believe it’s time we really make a change and stop glorifying a man who was in favour of continuing slavery.” Downes said.”

    “Thousands of people have gathered outside an Oxford college to demand the removal of a statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes.

    A group of councillors earlier backed the campaign to remove it and called on Oxford University to “decolonise”.

    Twenty-six Oxford city councillors signed a letter saying the figure at Oriel College was “incompatible” with the city’s “commitment to anti-racism”.

    Oriel College said it “abhors racism and discrimination in all its forms”.

    Campaigners said Rhodes, a 19th Century businessman and politician in southern Africa, represented white supremacy and is steeped in colonialism and racism.”

  24. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “The point I keep on making, which you seem not to want to address, is the fact that blacks need to stop blaming others and address their problems themselves.”

    and you keep repeating the same bullshit without addressing the root cause, ya even have the gall to complain about what you experienced in Barbados and other places, but you actually believe that it’s not systematic to achieve an agenda….so it’s all about you and your experiences and complaints and no one else’s right?

    you should be one of head ones leading a movement against systemic racism and police brutality and in Barbados’ situation downright corrupt evil and repulsive sell out politicians and thieving lawyers, etc…..but no, blame the other black dude for what the system continues to generate generation after generation…and all will be well….yet you never sound like all is well with you..

    just sit back, relax and let the adults handle this Robert…

  25. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @ Hal June 9, 2020 5:46 PM

    I know that he is an opportunist. My data normally from the Daily Mail. Sometimes the Guardian, the Telegraph, The Independent and now and then the The Spectator. He was conspicuous by his absence from the BLM protest. That says it all.

  26. David Avatar
    David

    Could be he is waiting to join the ALM movement.

  27. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Sometime in the future ?

    His original ambition was to be the first Blasian (Muslim) leader of the ? Labour party and prime minister of ?

  28. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    I can actually remember that slave gate just a short distance from where Nelson’s racist statute blights the earth, just by the side of Chefette or whatever is there right now.. and that would have to be in the late 60s to early 70s that slave gate was still sitting there…am surprised the no good governments did not keep it to show off to tourists and to feel proud…..they all make you want to barf…

  29. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ David,

    Did you see the Obit in the Diaspora corner ?

  30. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Looks like Rhodes, Nelson don’t stand a change in UK… and another curse called Milligan was already taken the hell down, no one needs anymore blights in their lives…..not in the 21st century…

    “A statue of slaveholder Robert Milligan was earlier removed from outside the Museum of London Docklands after mayor Sadiq Khan said any links to slavery “should be taken down”.

    At the protest, organisers from the Rhodes Must Fall group drew chalk crosses on either side of High Street in Oxford outside the college’s entrance to enforce social distancing.

    Protesters chanted “take it down” and then held a silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in memory of George Floyd – the same length of time a white police officer was seen to kneel on his neck.

    The protest coincided with George Floyd’s funeral in Houston. In London about 50 activists gathered at Nelson Mandela’s statue in Parliament Square to observe a minute’s silence in his before marching to Downing Street.”

  31. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Robert

    There are about 18 British national publications. Some are so notoriously bad I won’t read them if they were free. We have a cut and past fanatic on BU who has not got a single original idea for his/herself. I hope you are not following him/her? Be selective.

  32. TheOgazerts Avatar
    TheOgazerts

    You have to give the cut and paste artist a break.
    In my humble opinion, her contributions are more valuable than many of the experts here.
    I would prefer to have her cutting, pasting and attacking the corrupt political class.
    You go girl!

  33. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    I consciously chose not to join this debate. Wow!! Just wow!

  34. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    @Hal

    you have a lot of patience with RL. Hearts courageous scorn defeat

  35. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Slave Hal the pretend journalist has also outlived his usefulness on BU, was not even that useful to begin with….just full of hot air….he has not done one thing to promote a protest or anything else against racism, oppression or any practice negatively impacting his own people in Barbados….the only thing i can remember him doing is trying to get Nathalie the Prostitute turned politician to contact him so he can give her some pointers and i guess training on how to be elected. to the parliament……well we all know how that ended…

    this is the same idiot telling others about cut and paste, ya can’t even invite him anywhere or he will start to name drop to impress…

    steuppsss…

  36. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    What really fascinates me is the simple fact that within an hour, Nelson could be taken down and sunk in the Careenage . Instead we are here defending his remaining in the prime location of our capital. Sad……very sad.
    Throw the damn thing in the Careenage!!!!

  37. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    Poor old slave trader Robert Miilligan statue has just been removed from Canary Wharf in London. Now there is talk of more statues being removed; as well as street names being renamed.

    Rumours have it that little England under the stewardship of Mia could be the final resting place for these discarded statues.

  38. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    @Hal

    @ Robert

    There are about 18 British national publications. Some are so notoriously bad I won’t read them if they were free. We have a cut and past fanatic on BU who has not got a single original idea for his/herself. I hope you are not following him/her? Be selective.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    @TheoGazert

    You have to give the cut and paste artist a break.
    In my humble opinion, her contributions are more valuable than many of the experts here.
    I would prefer to have her cutting, pasting and attacking the corrupt political class.
    You go girl!

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    THE CUT AND PASTE BULLSHITTER DOESN’T EVEN HAVE THE SENSE TO BE SELECTIVE IN THE INFORMATION PUT ON THE BU AS FACT.

    I HAVE NEVER SEEN @Hal OR MYSELF AGREE/ENCOURAGE CORRUPTION BY LOCAL POLITICIANS.

    HOWEVER LYING TO GET POINTS ACROSS CONTINUOUSLY @waru IS PUTTING HER IN THE SAME CATEGORY AS THE DEVIOUS AND DISHONEST POLITICIANS ON THE ISLAND MOST PEOPLE WITH SENSE WOULD LIKE TO GET RID OF UNLESS DRINKING THE BLP OR DLP KOOLAID.

  39. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ FC (The Fibbing Croaker) June 9, 2020 11:07 AM
    “It pre-dates the Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square in London by nearly 30 years. Very soon after his victory and subsequent death at Cape Trafalgar in 1805, plans were made to honour Horatio Nelson’s memory. Locals proudly believed they were the first to put up such a monument; however they were in fact the third, after Montreal and Birmingham.”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Does the ‘predating’ of the local Nelson erection explain the glaring omission of any image and acknowledgement of the role played by the black men onboard the HMS Victory as can be seen in plain sight on the ‘real’ statue in Trafalgar Square?

    What do you think those black men aboard the ‘Victory’ were ‘hired’ to do?

    As powder monkeys, galley boys aka sex slaves, deckhands or just black sharp shooters kept in the background when medals of bravery were being awarded?

    The Lord Nelson statue was erected in Barbados by the white ruling class of the time to honour Nelson and Nelson alone (himself a pro-slave trader) even though the Lord Admiral had no love of the island controlled by a white racist group of pompous people living in a place he considered the hellhole of the West Indies.

  40. Freedom Crier Avatar
    Freedom Crier

    Freedom knew a John Skinner once who was a Cyclist for Barbados and he is now Deceased. John was a righteous man and he was the Brother of Isamy King. You are the Exact opposite of what they were. You would promote Lawlessness, because you would take up what does not belong to you and throw it away. You Promote Tyranny because you have Swallowed the Propaganda that you have been fed. You believe in Freedom as Long as you have the Freedom, not another man having Freedom also.

    FREEDOM FOR ME AND NONE FOR THEE IS WHAT YOU BELIEVE. THAT IS WHAT IS CALLED TYRANNY.

    Admiral Horatio Nelson is Britain’s greatest naval hero. His determination, daring and humanity became a legend even before his overwhelming victory and death at the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson was Courageous, charismatic, passionate, ruthless, a true statesman – according to his admirers. – According to his critics he was Vain, self-important, melancholic, irrational, a modern day suicide bomber.

    Born in Norfolk, he experienced the death of his beloved mother at the age of nine, a loss he felt for the rest of his life. He went to sea at the age of 12, was a full captain at 21 and become overall command of British Naval forces in the West Indies by the time he was 28. He was one of Britain’s first national heroes receiving much adulation wherever he went. His victory over the French at the Battle of the Nile on 1791 established him as an immortal hero and he became known as ‘Nelson of the Nile’.

    His victories, however did not come without injury, most famously he lost the sight of his right eye, and his right arm was amputated during battle without the use of anesthetic. He predicted his death at Trafalgar, and had a coffin specially made. When he was shot he said ‘I believe they’ve done it at last’. He survived his horrendous wounds for three and a half hours – just long enough to learn that victory had been won. He was 47 years old.

    Leave him where he is. He owned no slave and did no transportation of slaves”.

    LORD HORATIO NELSON IS CREDITED WITH SAVING BARBADOS FROM SURE DESTRUCTION BY FRENCH INVADERS IN 1805,

    “This island has certainly never before, at least in the memory of anyone now living, been in such a perilous situation and had Lord Seaforth not declared the alarms and the French and Spanish fleets attacked Barbados as had been expected, Barbados might by today have been another province of France, at which time we might well have been taught by our conquerors what martial law is really all about.”

    The rest is history. Lord Nelson to the rescue… The French fleet destroyed at Trafalgar. Barbados saved. Grateful citizens raise public subscription to erect a statue in his honour not the Government. You might remember that many of the older generation named their children Horatio and the name Nelson is a common Barbadian name. We must remember our Hero’s even though their memory becomes dim. Nelson was a Hero to England and Barbados and the Statue of nelson in Trafalgar was erected before the one in England. He owned no slave and did no transportation of slaves.

    “We with little knowing of the true history of Lord admiral Horatio Nelson he was the protector of the West Indy’s His port was the filthy Collar-era ridden Nelsons harbour in the island of Antigua he protected merchants ships and destroyed the Napoleonic dictatorship of Frances navy at will. We in Barbados had shot cannon ports in the hope the people docking would pay us with materials we could use to protect our island. Without Nelson we would have changed hands serval time from Portage’s, French and Spanish Nelson was stationed in the Caribbean in his youth. He whipped the French in 4 major battles Copenhagen, Port St. Vincent, The battle of the Nile and Trafalgar. Why would you remove his statue. Neil Degases Tyson claims the true danger of today’s youth is not a lack of knowledge but misinformation excepted as irrevocable truth because they wish it was so.

    http://www.rmg.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/featured_x3/public/images/BHC2889_HoratioNelson_slider.jpg?itok=fk9kQlYn

  41. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ robert lucas June 9, 2020 6:17 PM

    Come on Robby, you need to respond to Tee White @ June 9, 2020 5:25 PM.

    You just cannot put the ‘art’ of looting and rioting squarely on the shoulders of the black people. They do not hold any patent or sole rights to it.

    The British people are past masters at rioting and looting and even in the burning down of their own towns and cities in order to bring about social justice and economic changes.

    Just look at what took place in Ireland over the years and even more recently in the mid to late 20th century.

    What about the French Revolution and the many uprisings in Europe against the monarchies and domination by the ruling classes?

    What do you think brought about radical and meaningful changes to the socio-economic landscape of Barbados of the 1930’s? The Moyne Commission only?

    If the white man diseases like the plague did not decimate the black slave population -as they did to the indigenous people of the Americas- do you think the still mentally-enslaved blacks will be ‘silenced’ by the guns of the Trumpeter or by the ‘Word ‘of the white man’s gods?

  42. Khaleel Kothdiwala Avatar
    Khaleel Kothdiwala

    I will reserve comment on Lord Nelson’s place in the former Trafalgar Square.

    I just wonder if the energies of the country would be better devoted to lobbying for progressive policies to further empower the lower classes of this country, particularly those who find themselves in the cycle of poverty with all of the attendant social, economic and political disabilities. Things such as education reform as well as economic reform.

    By focussing upon a divisive ‘wedge’ issue where many, many Barbadians support leaving Lord Nelson and equally, many believe he should be moved, do we not squander our time? By focussing on a wedge issue where there will not be a resolution that is satisfactory to the entire populace, do we not waste this moment? Wouldn’t it be much better to focus upon galvanizing action with real benefits to the marginalised in this country?

  43. Tee White Avatar
    Tee White

    Racism and support for its symbols is not a wedge issue. Only a racist thinks like that. Racism is a scourge and everybody should unite against it. Those who are against racism but are confused about the issue, we can explain things to them. Those who support racism, like a number of posters on this blog, are another matter. A real wedge issue in Barbados is the division of the people between the BLP and the DLP and the corruption and wickedness that flows from that.

  44. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Tee White June 9, 2020 8:48 PM

    The author of that dismissive retort to the boiling ‘race’ issue has his real ‘untouchable’ origins as a Dalit in his Indian caste system.

    He sees nothing seriously wrong with racism in Bim because it makes him feel liberated from his own original social entrapment.

    After all, black Bajans who classify themselves as mainly Christian are- in his Islamic eyes- infidels and kaffirs to be used only for economic gain.

    What would you call charging the same poor vulnerable black people twice the acquisition cost of a ‘cheap’ quality imported item other than downright usury?

    Yet he would see nothing wrong (and remain silent) with the wanton destruction of old libraries and artefacts like the Buddha statues in places like Timbuktu and Afghanistan deemed by his extremist brethren like the ISIS and the Taliban as un-Islamic.

  45. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    Will have a look.

  46. Khaleel Kothdiwala Avatar
    Khaleel Kothdiwala

    Forgive me but I’m tired so that is why I suspect I’m allowing this to perplex me.

    What the bloody hell are you talking about?

    Firstly, Nelson is a statue, a symbol which has a variety of different meanings which unfortunately many only try to see one of those meanings depending on their existing position. They will either think Nelson to be a canonised hero or a vilified demon. David’s submission on partisanship comes to mind. There are several perspectives. The point I was making that moments such as the present one often do not have a long shelf life. We ought to invest our energies thus into pursuing meaningful change. Wasting time on statues (on which there is a vast diversion of opinion) is the same as wasting time on analysing the semantics of forced savimgs or cooperative savings or optimal savings or BOSS or any of the other ones.

    I’ll just leave Miller because I’m not going to waste my time with a racist, more than that an ignorant one. It’s a little difficult for me to be both a Dalit and to have extremist ISIS and Taliban brothers. Now that’s quite a feat straddling the extremes of two religions which are fundamentally theologically different. So the caste system has no bearing upon me as a Muslim and a person who has never visited India. And well needless to say I have nothing to do with groups which I consider to be un-Islamic such as ISIS. And as a lover of history how I could ever countenance the destruction of historical artefacts and as a firm believer in liberal democracy and Islam how I could ever countenance destroying other people’s religious shrines is beyond me. So if persons of the ilk of Pachamama cannot detect Miller’s visceral racialism, I presume there is little help for him/her either. I read this blog sometimes and think what a terribly sad world we live in.

  47. David Avatar
    David

    How we live our lives, our identities is informed by many things we do and say minute by minute. Across the world conversations are being had how we should treat symbols representative of an oppressive past. There is no harm in it, at the minimum it is cathartic. At the maximum it will recalibrate our history. In these matters it is like a broken dam, there is a release. What do we do?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/world/europe/king-leopold-statue-antwerp.html

  48. GP Avatar
    GP

    RE I read this blog sometimes and think what a terribly sad world we live in.

    OVER THE YEARS I HAVE INVITED SEVERAL HIGHLY EDUCATED BAJANS TO COME TO BU AND GIVE THE BENEFIT OF THEIR EXPERTISE.

    MANY CAME ONCE, AND WHEN THEY SEE THE PROMINENT IGNORANCE AND LACK OF KNOWLEDGE BY MOST PARTICIPANTS, THEY RECOILED IN HORROR!

    BUT TO SPEAK THE TRUTH LIKE THIS IS INTERPRETED AS NEGATIVE

  49. Khaleel Kothdiwala Avatar
    Khaleel Kothdiwala

    @David

    I appreciate your point about catharsis and the importance of symbols. Without a doubt, I agree. But I like to look at the “grand scheme of things”. As far as I’m concerned leff de Admiral where he is. Because Lord Nelson’s presence or absence isn’t going to do anything to solve social injustice in this country. That’s fundamentally what this moment is about: social injustice. In Barbados, yes there is a heavy racial component but equally there is a very significant class component. Lord Nelson is long dead and his status won’t do anything about the fact that we throw away too many children too early at 11. It isn’t going to change the fact that too many young men and women in this country find themselves in the crosshairs of the Victorian-era criminal justice system, yes because of their own sins, but also because society has failed them. They, by the lottery of birth, are born in what the IDB calls “crime hotspots” and they fall into a life of seeming ease which surrounds them, because their parents might fail them, and because the community fails them by glorifying the ill gotten gains of crime and the criminals and society fails them because we punish the bottom of the criminal food chain and leave the wealthy (and by extension well-connected) criminals amd bankrollers of crime at the top (black, white, Indian and Arab) because those fish have too many friends in too many high places. Lord Nelson isn’t solving that. Removing Lord Nelson is not going to remove the social and economic disabilities which so many in this country are born with. Look, this country does well and its people do. But like every single nation on earth we have (and always will do) scourges of social injustice. We aren’t ever going to solve it but we can always try to ameliorate some aspects. So as I said leff out de Admiral and chew pun dem problems.

  50. David Avatar
    David

    @Khaleel

    Your opinion is yours, we all view life through lenses blasted by our life’s journey. How humans will behave cannot be seen as a transaction influenced by economic or some sterile priority. We are humans and by definition are are allowed to attach emotion to our actions. This defines us as humans.

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