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Open Letter to Prime Minster Mottley and Minister King

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Open letter to The Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, Q.C., M.P. (Prime Minister) and
ย 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 Colstonโ€™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 Nelsonโ€™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 governmentโ€™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 peopleโ€™s progress from the pit of degradation that the English slave masters threw us into.

Yours

Tee White

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

  1. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “Others says if he enlarged the store, then Bajans would stop patronizing his business. I wonder if this is true or if it is an excuse for the business owner to just play it safe.”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    When I was a youngster about 9 or 10 years old, there was lady who used to live in Grazettes and had a small ‘one door shop.’ My Great-Grand Mother used to send me there to purchase items for her. One day, I heard the shop-keeper telling a customer her children overseas sent money for her to repair the house. A few mornings later, I saw two ladies while walking to my Great-Grand Mother’s home. As we approached the shop, one lady said, “Wait, you she building a wall house? Dat is all uh we money. I done gine dey.” That comment remained with me to this day.

    A guy I know whose name is Stanfield, used to sell chicken. pork, fish and chips on Friday and Saturday nights. He became fed-up of taking a taxi to collect stock and against the advice of his father, he bought an old Suzuki van. Within 2 weeks he was forced to ‘shut shop.’ People were saying he just started business and was able to buy an old Suzuki van, it means he was making too much money. His father told him that was one of the reasons why he was discouraging him from buying the van.

    Additionally, based on my experience as an ‘appallingly ignorant bookkeeper that learnt by rote,’ I can provide this forum with several examples of ‘small businessmen/women’ who had to close their businesses because of that ‘mind set.’

    And, I’ll give another example of some black people think. A friend of mine was driving a hired vehicle for a few months. This raised several questions and comments. Some people asked if her car was in an accident or she sold it. People told her they always knew she ‘had nuff money,’ because of the length of time she had the vehicle; she ‘could as well buy the hired car;’ one guy told her about cars he knew that were about to be sold.

    She asked a guy what conclusion he would come to, if he saw an Indian or a white man driving a H vehicle. The guy said he would think they owned it or the white man was a tourist. To which she asked him why he can’t believe the vehicle is hers and black people could own H cars.

    Not one so called friend or acquaintance asked if the vehicle was hers or she invested in H vehicles.

    And, ‘speaking’ of hired vehicles. A guy I knew asked me to set-up QuickBooks for his small car rental business. While accumulating the financial data, I noticed how he struggled to start and maintain the business. In those days, one could have paid down around $6,000 on a vehicle from a used car dealership and pay $600 per month. His aunt also helped him with a vehicle, he sold his personal vehicle and fortunately, the company he worked with ‘paid him out.’ He used the money to invest in his business.

    A mutual ‘friend’ of ours asked me if I knew X was a ‘buller.’ I asked him how he came to that conclusion. He asked me, “So how you think he get all uh dem cars?”

    The typical ‘mind set’ of some black people.

  2. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Miller June 12, 2020 8:02 PM

    If you like, we can put old Nelson in the museum.

    But we’ll still have several Barrow monuments on the island. Shouldn’t they be in the museum, too, because old Barrow and his hubris has done so much bad to Barbados? I’m just giving you a few examples: The peg to the US dollar, the radical politicization of our public service, the formation of the crime syndicate called DLP, etc., etc.

    Why not replace this self-absorbed figure with a real hero like Grand General Bussa? He’s a great role model to us all, because he gave his life for freedom. Quite unlike Barrow, who died peacefully in bed.

    p.s. We should replace the Bussa statute on the traffic island with a new, better designed version. The sculptor of the current statue was obviously a blind man.

  3. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    By the way, we all know it was the Russians who drove the final nail in Hitler’s coffin but Churchill did play his part. And i did not say we owe him a thing, just that I am happy for his contribution which did have the unintentional effect of helping to save our lives. No matter what he did after that, i believe i would not be here without his contribution. So, though i would not erect a statue in his honour in Barbados, i would not ask the Brits to give him up.

  4. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “The Morgan Lewis windmill is a symbol of human exploitation just like the pyramids of Egypt.”

    “The Nelson statue is symbolic of racism and colonial subjugation which Barbados claims to have outgrown.”

    @ Miller

    I hope you’re aware, in some cases, plantation owners were “neither Bajan or a friend of Barbados or even a โ€˜loverโ€™ of its black population, based on their personal views as documented in many letters from the heart.”

    Nelson FOUGHT to ENSURE the status quo, at that time, REMAINED the SAME. He fought to MAINTAIN whatever was ‘symbolic of racism and colonial subjugation” and so that “Morgan Lewis (and other windmills on the island, could REMAIN) symbols of human exploitation.”

    Some people may ask if anyone has the right to deny the descendants of those Barbadians who paid for the statue to be sculptured and erected, of their legacy?

    Perhaps the best option would be to sell Nelson and use to money for the benefit of all Barbadians.

  5. John Avatar
    John

    Miller
    June 12, 2020 8:21 PM

    Why do you think that the legendary Moses destroyed all images of the golden calf or bull? Wasnโ€™t he doing the same symbolic smashing of images of evil and oppression which the people of todayโ€™s generation are doing?

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

    There you go.

    Get rid of all statues, from Barrow to Bussa,!!

    Could not agree more.

    Exodus 20:4 King James Version (KJV)
    4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

  6. John Avatar
    John

    Miller
    June 12, 2020 8:21 PM

    @ John June 12, 2020 7:39 PM
    โ€œWhen will the BLM/Antifa coalition decide to call for the pulling down of the Pyramids of Egypt?
    After all, slaves built them!!โ€
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Where is your evidence to support such a claim?

  7. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    On that we can agree. Who needs ’em except Sobers just because his is so elegant and is only about sport. Nobody is worshipping Sobers, just admiring his elegance.

  8. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    And as for fighting police brutality, i gave a whole police station a lecture all by myself and would be quite willing to do more butโ€ฆ.

    Barbados is full of frighten people and i can find none to join me

    Not in ANYTHING!

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    WHY ARE YOU TELLING LIES ON @peterlawerencethompson aka PLT.

    YOU MEAN THE CHARLES HERBERT BROWN NOSE BULLSHITTER WOULDN’T JOIN YOU BUT WAITING FOR FURTHER IN THE SUMMER TO BE IN THE USA TO JOIN THE PROTEST MARCHES BECAUSE HIS WIFE IS A BLACK AMERICAN.

    GTFOH.

  9. John Avatar
    John

    Artax
    June 12, 2020 3:41 PM

    Nelsonโ€™s statue was sculpted from bronze by Sir Richard Westmacott and erected in Trafalgar Square on Monday, March 22, 1813.

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

    Can you think of any other statue in Barbados erected prior to 1813?

    I can’t.

    Why would that be?

    Didn’t Rodney also defeat the French fleet at the Battle of the Saintes?

  10. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    I have made no overtures towards plt. He is not in my orbit. I have not tried to organize a march. My statement referred to the fact that when i bring up these issues with the people i meet they shrug as if to say ‘wuh yuh gon do?’ They believe it is only guilty thugs who get thumped. I happen to know that is not true. If somebody gives them a tip and you have an association with a guilty party that can make you look suspicious, a fishing expedition can take place that results in your home and business being raided, your body being publicly strip searched and your head being thumped with a telephone book during interrogation. And after all this nothing is found, there is no apology and complaints to the Authority go nowhere.

    These guys don’t seem to do surveillance before they pounce. They ruin lives during fishing expeditions.

    I know a young lady whose life was ruined in just this manner.

  11. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    I have made no overtures towards plt. He is not in my orbit. I have not tried to organize a march. My statement referred to the fact that when i bring up these issues with the people i meet they shrug as if to say โ€˜wuh yuh gon do?โ€™ They believe it is only guilty thugs who get thumped. I happen to know that is not true. If somebody gives them a tip and you have an association with a guilty party that can make you look suspicious, a fishing expedition can take place that results in your home and business being raided, your body being publicly strip searched and your head being thumped with a telephone book during interrogation. And after all this nothing is found, there is no apology and complaints to the Authority go nowhere.

    These guys donโ€™t seem to do surveillance before they pounce. They ruin lives during fishing expeditions.

    I know a young lady whose life was ruined in just this manner.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    I WAS JUST BEING FACETIOUS WITH THE @PLT COMMENT.

    HOWEVER WHAT YOU HAVE OUTLINED ABOUT THE LOCAL POLICE ABOVE IS 200% TRUE.

    MANY ARE NOT ONLY BRUTAL BUT ALSO VERY CORRUPT.

    I ONLY KNOW TOO WELL FIRST HAND WHAT YOU HAVE SPOKEN.

    BARBADOS DOESN’T NEED TO LOOK AT USA THEY HAVE THEIR OWN DEMONS IN THEIR BACK YARD WITH TOO MANY POLICE INVOLVED IN A PLETHORA OF CRIMES TO MAKE MANY BOYS ON THE BLOCK LOOK TAME IN COMPARISON.

  12. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    Artax
    June 12, 2020 8:35 PM

    Generally many stories that contain much truth and incisive understanding have humour. While there is a serious side to Artax’s stories there, they were actually amusing.

    But incisive that people could be so wicked minded, jealous and spiteful. But yes, that is the Barbadian mentality and please reference Lyall’s post yesterday.

    The only one that gets a free pass is a fast food place, that everyone worships. Maybe because they were never really seen as part of the plantation.

  13. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    PS I may have been unfair using the term free pass. Not quite, but you get the idea. That spiteful attitude does not exist.

  14. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    ….the cousins in the palace really need to return those stolen statues to Zimbabwe and pick up the vile, evil remains of Cecil Rhones from African sacred ground, more than enough curse from his blighted dead presence has consumed African lives.

    “While the removal of a statue of Cecil John Rhodes at Oxford University will eventually become reality, it is ironic that the decapitated heads of 19th century Zimbabwean leaders (victims of his callousness) are still kept in some hidden vaults in British museums.

    “As the poster boy of British colonialism in much of Southern Africa, Cecil John Rhodes was a vile human being in the same genocidal WhatsApp group as Christopher Colombus, Belgian King Leopold and Adolf Hitler.

    Cecil John Rhodes is wholly responsible for the murder and massacres of many indigenous people in Southern Africa including the 27 decapitated heads of 19th century Zimbabwean leaders being kept as war trophies in British museums close to his statue at Oxford.

    As you are reading this post, the remains of Rhodes are interred peacefully at Matopo in southern Zimbabwe.

    For those who do not know Matopo (Njerere) is a sacred shrine revered by the people of Zimbabwe since time immemorial. Thus, the choice of Matopo as a burial place by Rhodes was a deliberate affront to the customs of the indigenous people and a desecration of it’s sacredness.

    Even in death Cecil Rhodes wanted to and has his knee choking the breath out of his natives spiritually.

    To put things in perspective, Rhodes lying at Matopo is the equivalent of Adolf Hitler being interred at Westminster Abbey.

    To cut a long story short.

    When will our leaders remains be returned? They deserve decent burials.

    #BlackLivesMatter #BringBackOurHeroes #RhodesMustFall

    ๐Ÿ“ธ Burial of Cecil John Rhodes at Matopo, Zimbabwe, 10 April 1902, “

  15. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    Every youngster needs to read about someone just as bad as Hitler, King Leopold. A despot.

    Same way they build statues to these people, maybe they need to build manure statues too. Had a walk of shame where a young sculptor is paid periodically to sculpt one of these fiends out of manure. Just so the world does not forget.

    Time the rain and elements break one down, time for the next one.

  16. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “I have seen similar reasoning for a Barbadian selling in New York. The guy has a thriving business but keeps it small (one-door). Others says if he enlarged the store, then Bajans would stop patronizing his business. I wonder if this is true or if it is an excuse for the business owner to just play it safe.”

    rest assured that Bajans have a very nasty mindset toward each other regarding wealth and progress, same backward, stagnating mindset that can be found across the Caribbean and even on the African continent, they can’t stand to see each other progressing, that is why they spend all their money with whites, syrians, indians etc and much prefer see them wealthy than their own people even though they know they are enriching minority criminals and giving them the power to rob them over and over, even if they end up in poverty themselves, as long as you, a black skin person like themselves don’t become wealthy, they don’t care that in doing so you may be able to help them and others in the community too….that jealous, envious, covetous stinking curse follows them everywhere and they prefer keep it like that into future generations rather than to change that self-defeating. self-destruction, they don’t care even if it means generational poverty for them and their descendents…just the thought of another black like themselves becoming wealthy eats at them…

    ….same stinking mindset in Barbados’ parliament where they pick up black people’s tax dollars and pension money and give it away to criminal minorities rather than see the people to whom it belongs with it, they absolutely hate to see black people like themselves with their own financial wealth and would much prefer give it away and steal as much of it as they can for themselves…same blight following them too… then everyone wonders why the island has become so bankrupt and degraded, ya don’t need to look any further than the stinking destructive minds of the leaders and those who are just as likeminded..

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

    The british and french are world class thieves who exist to steal what does not belong to them and then claim in as their own….time to give back what you stole over the centuries, have you no shame, you enslave African people then not only stole from them and their future generations, but also stole from the ancestors of indigenous people in the colonies you enslaved and their future generation…christ, looks like someone cursed you that you cannot stop tiefing..from other people.

    “A Jamaican government minister has demanded that the British Museum repatriates objects in its collection taken when the island was a colony.

    The culture minister, Olivia Grange, wants the museum to return artefacts including a 500-year-old carved wooden figure thought to represent Boiyanel, a rain god; and a carved figure of a bird-man spirit found in a cave in 1792.

    The demand adds to a growing debate over whether institutions such as the British Museum should hold on to objects culturally significant to their country of origin.

    Grange made her demands in the Jamaican parliament last week. The Jamaica Gleaner reported her as saying the artefacts were taken during early archeological digs when the island was still a British colony. She said the pieces were made by the Taรญno, the indigenous people of the Caribbean encountered by the 15th-century western explorers.

    โ€œThey are not even on display,โ€ Grange said. โ€œThey are priceless, they are significant to the story of Jamaica and they belong to the people of Jamaica.โ€

    British Museum ‘has head in sand’ over return of artefacts

    She said ministers were working with the National Commission on Reparations, a group established in 2009, to have them returned.

    Taรญno objects are in a number of European and north American collections. The British Museum artefacts arrived in the early 20th century from a collection built up by William Ockleford Oldman.

    A spokesperson for the museum said it had not received any official communication from Jamaicaโ€™s culture ministry.

    โ€œTwo Taรญno objects, a stool and a standing figure have been on public display in the Enlightenment gallery since 2009,โ€ the spokesperson said. โ€œTaรญno objects in the collection have been lent extensively to India, Japan, Spain, France, Singapore and the Horniman Museum in London. The Taรญno ritual seat was part of the A History of the World Tour which has been seen by more than a million people at multiple venues from 2014-18.

    โ€œThe British Museum has a number of ongoing collaborative research projects with colleagues and island governments in the Caribbean.โ€

  18. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    The same strategies being used over and over on weak Black minds that they can never seem to understand because they are always so consumed with pleasing and serving others and other utter self-defeating bullshit….am sure the next refined and invisible strategy will be an even more POWERFUL and DESTRUCTIVE thing of beauty DIRECTED AT weak ass minds of the mentally enslaved African descended, ah can’t wait to see it rolled out and many will not even be aware nor recognize it when it appears.

    https://www.facebook.com/ekkanemr/videos/3041467319265760/?t=46

  19. Lack of ‘Exposure’ in Creates Vacuum for Some Barbadians in the Black History Debate | Barbados Underground

    […] as a comment by Lyall to the Open Letter to Prime Minster Mottley and […]

  20. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    When I talk about the Barbadian (Bajan)Condition, the predictability of behaviour in certain social circumstances, I am bitterly criticised. It is nice to see even those who criticise have had experience of the awful negative behaviour of some Barbadians when dealing with fellow Barbadians. We often get it here on BU.
    It goes beyond the crab in a barrel behaviour; it goes right to the root of our culture, an inexplicable, poisonous, destructive, hateful form of behaviour that has its roots in slavery. There is no excusing it.
    No matter how sophisticated it expresses itself, the fundamental problem remains the same: self hate.

  21. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    The problem with some black people is that they do not believe they can compete with the other races. They are willing to concede defeat in that respect. And so competition for self- esteem takes place only among their own. So they don’t want anybody else pushing them lower down the totem pole in their minds. Instead of using the progress of a neighbour as inspiration and evidence that they too can succeed, they look at the short-term effect of another person being able to ‘look down on them’.

  22. TheOgazerts Avatar
    TheOgazerts

    Let me begin my day with a positive note.
    Wishing every Barbadian a very pleasant day.
    We may have differences of opinion and the some of the bridges may be too far for us to cross or even meet halfway but I wish you good health and happiness.
    Have a great day Barbados

  23. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ June 12, 2020 9:15 PM

    You are not going to get away with dragging that red-herring over the BU trail.

    The question still remains:
    If the pyramids were built with “slave” labour where did these slaves come from?

    We know for a fact that the people who worked as slaves in producing the sugar and building the physical structures in the West Indies were from West Africa after being rescued from their Muslim captors (according to your โ€œroteโ€ learning).

    So where did the slaves come from to build those pyramids?
    Were the slaves made up of the Israelites as recorded in your Judeo-Christian book of myths and legends whose descendants consider themselves to be โ€˜whiteโ€™ or from the โ€˜blackโ€™ lands of Cush?

    But we take your point about the making of graven images as forbidden by your Yahweh.

    How then do you explain the many cases of images of your white Jesus dying on a cross which can be found in too many Christian churches and to which too many ignorant black bow down in hope of salvation to go to heaven for free milk and honey?

    Are you saying that the KKK followers who use the โ€˜burning crossโ€™ to frighten stupid black people are really the children of darkness and the worshippers of Baal?

  24. Freedom Crier Avatar
    Freedom Crier

    SOCIAL COMMENTARY

    โ€ฆ 9,350 facebook signatures. Barbados population is 286,461 give or take a few.
    it’s unfortunate that the poll is not a “Yes/No” reply.
    I would send a vehement “No”….
    These votes are cast by people who do not know anything else of Nelson other than that he was white. He certainly had a complex character as with many men of his era. But we live in an era of ideologues, not logic.

    โ€ฆOur Lord Nelson was there before the one in London!!! What people seem unable to understand is you cannot change history by screaming and shouting. It is what it is…now go and make your own history!

    โ€ฆI will say it because IT needs to be said, is Horatio Nelson being removed because he was a loyal servant to his monarchy/country and all it stood for at that time, or is he being removed because he is white. If itโ€™s the first reason, by todays standards Nelson would be considered a patriot and willing to serve and die for his country and all it stood for. If itโ€™s the second reason, today this sort of thinking would be considered racial hatred. Bear in mind if you take down one statue and replace it with another, whatโ€™s to stop that replacement being replaced again and again to suit the flavour of the day.

    โ€ฆWe have come to a fine pass…books, movies, Telly shows and statues are now being removed…shortly there will be the burning of same! Remind you of anything? Fairly recent history back in the 1930/40โ€™s and look what happened then!!!!

    โ€ฆIt all starts with one thing and there’s always a group of people who are so willing to go along in agreement. Then more things are removed to force the agenda along and before you know it, itโ€™s too late to do anything as you will be silenced. Book burnings are already happening, cartoon characters are being altered or replaced, movies being removed. Be very careful whose wagon you jump onto, you may soon find they throw you out and then run over you.

    โ€ฆ I do not defend any statue or monument, I defend history’s cold hard facts. Those who attempt to change the past to suit their own narrative are bound to repeat the same mistakes made before.

    โ€ฆI agree one thing Barbadians have always been the more thoughtful, understanding and perhaps you could say enlightened people. For the most part debates, discussions are amongst learned, respectful people and I mean that on a whole…black, white, green, Indian, Christian whatever. The shining light of the Caribbean no doubt. Our leaders and education secure that destiny. Bumps on the road but upwards, onwards, together. I think that was what Barrow wanted for Barbados at least.

    โ€ฆ PM Barrow was a personal friend of my father whose office was near Government Headquarters. I was an admirer of the Dipper as were a lot of my friends at Lodge School where Earl Glasgow was our Classics Master. I experienced leaders who united more than divided , today sadly we follow the American model of divisiveness and it is tearing us apart. It is so sad to see when human compassion and understanding is second to partisanship and personal drum beating. We have a great mission to achieve , future security and a sound economic base . So far tourism is one of the industries the PM Barrow and Peter Morgan nurtured, so let’s keep our infrastructure in place, our historic offerings . Any person can pull and tear down, it takes a greater person to build.

    โ€ฆLook to the models of our past leaders, Grantley Adams, the Dipper, Tom , Bree etc and of course MAM Great leaders who were Statesmen. Remember Dipper always said , politicians think of elections , statesmen think of future generations. Onward and upward. Sometimes hurt is like a poison, if you let it you can let it poison you but best to transcend and work for a bright future for our nation . Past is Past ,we are the greatest nation on earth despite everything we have triumphed

    โ€ฆAgreed 100% I just hope this ideal of unity and education will transcend from your generation to mine and the future. Sometimes, looking around I can doubt it. As you say we become obsessed with divisiveness and identity rather than our common goal – the future.

    โ€ฆIt does have its place , but Bajan common sense will prevail in the end , Bajans aren’t stupid we know how to work things out . We are cleverer than the intellectuals . We got good common sense about life and that’s why we are the smartest and cleverest Nation on earth. Ask any real Bajan, God is a Bajan .
    Don’t follow the overseas role models ,we got more sense than them
    Be Bajan and be proud

    โ€ฆMy Issue is not Black or White. It is not good person or bad person. It is not Supported slavery or did not support slavery. It is not Liked black people or not. It is not supported white people or not. It is that I strongly believe that History should not be rewritten. The history may reflect the good the bad or the ugly but it is still history. The good we should emulate. The bad and the ugly we should educate ourselves about it and put things in place so that it is never repeated again. Someone wrote. Nelson should be kept and not destroyed because it is a work of art. It is an even greater celebration of history. I visited Germany some years back with a singing group and we met a medical student who had a vacation job telling us about the history of Germany. It was very informative. He then asked about our history We said that we only knew about just over 300 years but nothing before that. He was silent, but such a sad look came over his face and he was actually holding back tears. I believe that he was thinking. “how could a people exist without knowing their history”. The Germans were still suffering from the scars of the second world war as if they were there on the battle fields. They strongly believe that the only things that will unite the world is music and sport and they go all out to develop those areas. They were amazed at our performances (Cecillian Singers) and actually wrote a critique saying that even though we performed their music so well that it was as if a sway of the hip was not too far away.

    โ€ฆYou are so right , education so it is not repeated, human rights are important and they are universal. It is easy to judge from our time line and yet in other aspects of human rights beat the same times be as guilty as they ones we judge. Eg gender equality, women’s rights etc. Like covid we must always approach a topic by first admitting we too own guilt. If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves….. do easy to condemn and judge and it is in our nature. Bless xx

    https://cdn.quotesgram.com/img/39/37/1548816750-292385_389677544474256_1045872130_n.jpg

  25. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Some Bajans are frightened. Some Bajans are apathetic. Some Bajans are mentally enslaved.

    There are many different reasons for the signature count.

    PS. And at least one Bajan does not do facebook but will investigate before tomorrow is past.

  26. TheOgazerts Avatar
    TheOgazerts

    “These votes are cast by people who do not know anything else of Nelson other than that he was white. He certainly had a complex character as with many men of his era. But we live in an era of ideologues, not logic.”

    Were you a Barbados scholar? It is becoming tiring to see some boast of their intelligence relative to the rest of the population. Let me add, that their words usually does not confirm this superior intelligence.

    You cannot change history “it is what it is” but you can record history. And who is to say that the record is always accurate. There is truth in the expression that history is written by the victors and you know as well as I do, that the victors often omit their misdeeds and magnify what good if any that their did. You cannot change history, but given a chance, you should correct the record..

    ” I visited Germany some years back with a singing group and we met a medical student who had a vacation job telling us about the history of Germany. It was very informative. He then asked about our history We said that we only knew about just over 300 years but nothing before that. He was silent, but such a sad look came over his face and he was actually holding back tears. I believe that he was thinking. โ€œhow could a people exist without knowing their historyโ€.

    It pains me that you were not able to describe the horror of the 300 years; the brutality, the torture, the destruction of families. But then again, that is not your history.. Sometimes silence is a more sensible course of action.

  27. John Avatar
    John

    Miller
    June 13, 2020 6:55 AM

    @ June 12, 2020 9:15 PM
    You are not going to get away with dragging that red-herring over the BU trail.
    The question still remains:
    If the pyramids were built with โ€œslaveโ€ labour where did these slaves come from?

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

    Across the Sahara Desert โ€ฆ DUUUH.

    The Trans Saharan slave trade was rocking from before the birth Islam in the 7th century.

    The followers of Islam then took it over but long after the Pyramids were built.

    Mali, Ghana, the Gold Coast, etc.

  28. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ John June 13, 2020 8:30 AM

    So you are effectively confirming that the Jews of your bible who were enslaved in Egypt were not the ancestors of the modern โ€˜pale-skinโ€™ people calling themselves Jews and occupying the seats of economic power across the Western world or even those who traded in African slaves in the “New World”.

    Is the biblical story of โ€˜whiteโ€™ Jews being enslaved for over 400 years in Kemet another example of cultural cooptation โ€˜stolenโ€™ from Africa?

    Or is it just another downright lie like the โ€˜Creation and Floodโ€™ tall tales stolen from long-established Mesopotamian cultures?

    In addition to Egyptology what next would the European invent as โ€˜hisโ€™ focus of envious admiration?

    โ€˜Israelologyโ€™ or the Great Zimbabwe โ€˜ologyโ€™??

    Or the anthropological findings to support the โ€˜factโ€™ that all human civilization started in Africa?

  29. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @TheOgazerts at 8:09 AM
    The author could not describe the “horrors,torture etc. ” simply because she/he did not experience them. Did you by any chance experience them or had them orally related to you or in writing? Or are they figments of an overworked imagination?
    In this blog we are using “writing history” in two senses. We ”write history” by our activities/exploits in the sense intended by our National Anthem or we record history by telling stories, like Mr Hutt/ Sir Fab Hoyos and Trevor Marshall..

    Of course we are free to choose which version of our history to believe. Some of us are merely looking for excuses not to write a meaningful paragraph in Barbados’ future history. TheOgazerts, I hope sincerely that you are not one of them.

  30. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ The Fibbing Croaker June 13, 2020 7:15 AM

    How, as a self-confessed Christian believing every word and instruction written in your โ€˜holyโ€™ Bible, can you support the retention and adoration of an idol called Lord Nelson statue when the very Bible demands that you do No such acts of obeisance?

    โ€œYe shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary.โ€

    Can we simply conclude you are nothing but another garden variety hypocrite holding a โ€˜black crucifixโ€™ of Jesus and hiding behind the cult of white Christianity?

    BTW, Mahatma Ghandi was not a Christian but a Hindu who neither believes in your bible or worships your Yahweh or recognizes his only begotten son Jesus.

  31. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Miller at 8:09 AM

    You are unintentionally giving the BU household the impression that the Bible assigned the colour of skin and texture of hair to the Jews. When the bible was written colour of skin and texture of hair was not an issue.
    Yes there were slaves all over the world and they came in all hues and with a variety of hair textures. Slavery was a part of the social and cultural landscape in Africa and Europe before the 13th century.

  32. John Avatar
    John

    When were the Pyramids built and when did Joseph get sold into captivity in Egypt?

  33. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Vincent Codrington June 13, 2020 10:17 AM

    So you are stating without contradiction that the Jews are a โ€˜religiousโ€™ grouping and not an ethnic-based morphological classification?

    Good! Then they cannot be your Godโ€™s โ€œchosen peopleโ€. Christians like you would have to be and entitled to live in the Promised Land called Israel.

  34. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Miller at 11:24 AM
    I am happy to be living in God’s promised land – Barbados.

  35. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ John June 13, 2020 10:18 AM

    The more important question to ask is not โ€œWhen the pyramids were builtโ€ which has been established by science i.e. carbon-dating techniques.

    But who built those structures of astronomically significant engineering feats.

    As for the tale about Joseph and his multi-coloured coat to fit any bodyโ€™s culture here is the short answer:

    โ€œThe story of Joseph is one of the oldest and most enduring stories in the world’s religious and secular literature. It has been told and retold, and variously interpreted, serving as an endless reservoir of spiritual meaning for diverse cultures and religions.

    Most people in the West know the story from the book of Genesis in the Old Testament where it is generally recognized as “a masterpiece of biblical narrative” and the most sustained narrative in the Old Testament.

    But it holds a no less significant place in the literature and teachings of Christianity, Islam, the Bรกbรญ religion, and the Bahรก’รญ Faith; and it had analogues in ancient Egyptian literature and Zoroastrian texts as well.โ€

  36. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Vincent Codrington June 13, 2020 11:32 AM

    Lol!!

    Good for you, even with 70% of the population born outside the ‘sheets’ of Christian holy matrimony!

    Hope you are making sufficient room for the encroaching โ€˜foreignโ€™ tribes from the illegitimate offspring of Abram called Ishmael.

  37. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    “How Ghana paid tribute to George Floyd”
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52996849

  38. Freedom Crier Avatar
    Freedom Crier

    Battle of Trafalgar Timeline

    The Battle of Trafalgar is one of the most famous naval battles in British history. Nelson led Britain to victory over a combined French and Spanish fleet, but was shot and died during the battle.
    https://www.nauticalia.com/images/blog/HMS_Victory.jpg

    When and Where was the Battle of Trafalgar?

    The Battle of Trafalgar took place on 21 October 1805 during the Napoleonic War (1803โ€“1815), as Napoleon Bonaparte and his armies tried to conquer Europe. Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson, commanding the British fleet, devised an ambitious plan of attack, which involved ambushing the Franco-Spanish fleet off the Cape of Trafalgar, in south-west Spain. His attack was to prove a decisive victory for the British.

    When did the Battle of Trafalgar Start?

    At 6am on 21 October 1805, the two fleets sighted each other and at 6.40am Nelson gave the order to โ€˜prepare for battleโ€™. The French were sailing in line off Cape Trafalgar, while the British came in from the west, gradually forming two lines. The British fleet was outnumbered, the enemy totalling nearly 30,000 men and 2632 guns to Nelsonโ€™s 18,000 men and 2148 guns.

    At 11.45am Nelson ordered a special signal to be flown from his flagship Victory. It read: โ€˜England expects that every man will do his dutyโ€™. The signal was greeted with delight by the ๏ฌ‚eet.

    Finally, at 11.50am, French commander Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve sent the signal โ€˜engage the enemyโ€™. The French vessel Fougueux ๏ฌred the ๏ฌrst shots at Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwoodโ€™s flagship, Royal Sovereign. The battle had begun.

    What Happened during the Battle of Trafalgar?

    Collingwood was the first to reach the enemy line, firing a broadside into one of the Spanish flagships, Santa Anna. The ships in his division followed him, approaching in a slanting line, spreading the force of the impact and enveloping the allied rear as Nelson had intended.

    Nelson meanwhile headed towards the great Spanish ship, Santissima Trinidad, but spotting that Villeneuve was flying his flag on the Bucentaure, the next ship astern, he ordered Flag Captain Thomas Hardy to attack her first. The Victory passed under the stern, firing a broadside as she went, giving the Bucentaure a knockout blow.

    As the Victory moved on she became entangled in the Redoutable, and the two ships drifted away. This created a large gap in the Franco-Spanish line through which Nelsonโ€™s division then poured, splitting the enemy fleet in two โ€“ again, exactly as Nelson intended.

    The battle developed into a ferocious pounding match but the British had the advantage thanks to Nelsonโ€™s strategic pre-planning and the fact his men were better trained in delivering rapid, accurate gunnery. When firing finally ceased at 5.30pm, 17 enemy ships had been captured and another was a blazing wreck. Four managed to escape but were captured a few weeks later, and 11 managed to struggle back to Cadiz.

    A total of 449 British sailors were killed and 1217 wounded. French and Spanish losses were heavier: 4408 were dead, 2545 wounded and some 20,000 taken prisoner.

    The Battle of Trafalgar cemented Britainโ€™s reputation as ruler of the seas and demonstrated that the Royal Navy had superiority in training, professionalism and expertise in naval tactics that set it apart from its rivals. By 1809 there were over 140,000 men serving on 732 ships, more than ever before.

    https://ospreypublishing.com/media/wysiwyg/Battle_of_Trafalgar_1.jpg

    LORD HORATIO NELSON, THE BRITISH ADMIRAL WHO IN THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, GAVE HIS LIFE FOR THE FUTURE OF BRITAIN.

    A TRUE HERO AND A PATRIOT.

  39. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Barbados could create an undersea museum starting with Nelson statue.

  40. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    BLM march

    https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/246098/black-lives-matter-march-underway-bridgetown

  41. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Oh oui…US is moving steadily along with their reparations bill…

    ah wonder if the thieves in parliament told the the taxpayers in Barbados, the majority Black ones, that by 2023…they should hear something about any reparations…and no, lying Mia is not going to get away with pretending that she organized any of it..or get away with pretending that she is doing the Black population any favors.

    https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ffox40.com%2Fnews%2Fcalifornia-connection%2Fafrican-american-reparation-bill-passes-california-assembly%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3IgmqEhSfOIep_LnFU8QgXy8ItOzSBKmAa91eplBFzs3olmFIH9vDiO1s&h=AT3I1uaqrsB5OmoegVcnpU0oUxvH9gTDvek5TQ_5Oo1WM5PMpugRNloAEswioOJHXy9el552lG9FPUdiSMO0Sm_eIUttrGY5aNTFQrhbama5MLuXKTTo5IjT8fKs0w_6fYYAot6-o_455rFslRZWWB9nzntMwWkWBpgydwz4o9vo

    “SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) โ€” A proposal to establish a task force to study and prepare recommendations for how to give reparations to African Americans passed the California Assembly on Thursday.

    The bill advanced with a 56-5 vote as protests nationwide over police brutality re-energized the movement for racial justice and activists pressed for sweeping reforms. It is a top priority for Californiaโ€™s Legislative Black Caucus.

    If the bill passes the Senate and is signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, eight people with backgrounds in racial justice reforms would lead a study into who would be eligible for compensation and how it should be awarded.”

  42. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Something has to be done about the no good sellout negros in the parliament. None of it is sustainable nor progressive.

    https://youtu.be/tQjXX3KjJbg

  43. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ WURA-War-on-U June 13, 2020 12:07 PM

    Those who have been seeking reparations for the vicious exploitation of black chattel slavery (including the wholesale raping of the Nubian women) in the British West Indies must use the current BLM campaign to strike while the iron is hot by putting this long outstanding matter back on the front burner of international politics.

    The Brits must no longer be allowed to evade their Waterloo for this gross maladministration of justice.

    The payment of compensation to the slave owners for their property losses still has a massive credit of a moral liability outstanding to the descendants of the victims.

    But please, no cash to settle this debt!

  44. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “But please, no cash to settle this debt!.”

    LOUDER, LOUDER!!…unless they are going to put that cash in each individual from the African descended’s hands which is not such a good idea either, because many would just spend wild and it will just end up in the same hands of theiving minorities anyway………..they also can’t put tens of billions of dollars in the hands of the thieves/lawyers/ministers of parliament either, because they will …tief it of course……..so another way to pay reparations to the African descended to stretch into and last another 20 generations in payment for the crimes committed against them in the last 20 generations….will have to be found..

  45. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Only a really, really evil and STUPID black government would keep a disgraceful, disrepectful statue of a well known long dead racist and hater of African descended people on display in the city square ….placed there by even more evil, racist long dead slavemasters…centuries ago…and they claim that their education system is the best in the Caribbean, if not the world…f-ing laughable..

  46. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    When you have oppressed your own people for decades, continue to allow racism and apartheid to be practiced against your own people, help rob generations of your own people tens of billions of dollars and the elderly and generations of their descendants robbed of all of their estates, lands and bank accounts leaving them in generational poverty that you are so proud in advertising your people as beggars after robbing them, helped by wicked people who look nothing like them nor you….then you got the nerve to believe that it will continue into another generation…verdad? well, more fool you…

    some say ya wanted to be famous by running around everywhere…well now ya famous for real….for all the wrong reasons…even the fowls have run off the blog and left ya…

    http://www.afrikanheritage.com/oh-mia-oh-my-black-lives-matter-more-than-words/?fbclid=IwAR3m4XmZBXn_x4VNtun3K89B1ADvPo8x0qJFp7WzDjwwDBeKe7FLdj3QLB8

    “Dr Deryck Murray, the last Director of the Governmentโ€™s disbanded Commission on Pan-African Affairs, said he believes that the protest, organized by the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration, was undermined even before it began. In an article published recently in the Barbados Today he said โ€œThe first response a country with over 95 per cent of its population being black, the first response we should have given should have been from our leadership and so the Prime Minister really should have commented on the situation and expressed Barbadosโ€™ concern.”

  47. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Yo Piece, Miller…she wanted to be famous, now she is from coast to beautiful coast..

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

    How many years have we warned the negro shitehounds in the parliament that the crimes they collude with the toxic racist minorities to commit against their own people, while lying and calling them (pretend) social partners….will not end well…

    NB: that international law ALSO makes provisions for and demands that oppression, racism, apartheid and THEFTS from the African descended be prosecuted….these are not only violation of human rights, yes, remember the UNs 30 Articles of Human Rights that the wicked lawyers in Barbados love to ignore….well am sure you will find some criminal acts which cannot be hidden with all those BILLION DOLLAR THEFTS from the treasury, pension fund and all the hundreds of millions of dollars of borrowed money in the people’s names over the decades, that yall and the minorities thought belonged to you and ya could set up and TIEF IT TOO.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/international-law-demands-reparations-for-american-slavery-11591744294?fbclid=IwAR3U-1hVIBwN1xIzzJm24htLMks1sFFHsNVu8rz_XyrWmri5qlc8jv3pq3E

    “After the death of George Floyd, BET co-founder Robert Johnson argued that โ€œnow is the timeโ€ for the U.S. to pay $14 trillion in reparations to American descendants of African slaves. Heโ€™s right. But while the issue in the U.S. is seen largely as a domestic affair, international law creates an unequivocal basis for reparations.

    The failure of successive U.S. governments to pay reparations paved the way for the Trump administrationโ€™s impunity. It has meant that the intergenerational trauma inflicted by the slave trade over…”

  49. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    The following extract supports what I predicted. It is interesting to note that both parties engaged in disruption of law and order; one set is referred as thugs( one has to be a thug when defending one’s heritage) and the other activists. One is left to assume that there are no thugs among the activists (last week’s set-to does not lend credence to this hypothesis). The unrest seems to be fairly wide spread. Ex-military types have organized to defend the monuments. As I said the natives will drive out the recent comers it is only a matter of time .

    Far-right thugs and violent BLM activists fight running battles and attack police in London as rival statue protests descend into clashes driven by 1,000 troublemakers – while other anti-racism marches pass off peacefully around UK with huge crowds
    Hooligan groups and Black Lives Matter protesters descended on London today, leading to scenes of violence
    Far right fans and thugs clashed with police and BLM in Trafalgar & Parliament Squares and Charing Cross
    People were seen punching and kicking officers, and cops doled out their own punishment with batons
    Violence broke out between members of the two sides who managed to break the police’s barricades
    Police chiefs imposed a 5pm curfew on all demonstrations in a bid to quell the unrest seen throughout the day
    Around 1,000 protesters ignored requests to go, instead staying in Trafalgar square as officers watched
    By JEMMA CARR and JACK ELSOM and RYAN FAHEY and JAMES FIELDING FOR MAILONLINE

    PUBLISHED: 08:10 BST, 13 June 2020 | UPDATED: 19:30 BST, 13 June 2020
    This morning, a senior BLM organsier said Churchill’s statue should be removed from Parliament Square.

    Imarn Ayton, 29, a figurehead of the movement who has given speeches alongside Star Wars actor John Boyega, said a monument to anyone who has made racist comments – including the wartime PM – is offensive and belongs in a museum.
    Ayton is naive and over playing her hand.

  50. John Avatar
    John

    Looks like Trump may have to convene a session of the UN to deal with this new nation!!

    It even has a king.

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