Lord Nelson Put to Rest

Finally the symbol of an oppressed colonial past was laid to rest. Nelson statue for years positioned at the top of Broad Street and lately in Heroes Square was removed by the Mia Mottley government on the International Day of Tolerance. History the blogmaster suspects will view this act- delayed though it was- kindly.

The Removal of the Statue of Lord Horatio Nelson [ Nov 16 2020 ]

338 thoughts on “Lord Nelson Put to Rest


  1. It is hoped that the recent relocation of the Nelson statue and its plinth from the heart of Bridgetown would not attract possible sanctions from the UNESCO brigade responsible for the monitoring of the upkeep of the Bridgetown area which was awarded the much sought after designation of “World Heritage Site”.

    A status enviously used as a marketing ‘brand differentiation’ asset especially in those tourism-dependent destinations where places, buildings and things of historic significance tend to add some interest and attraction to the visitor’s menu other than the routine sea sand and sun.

    The removal of artefacts and demolition of structures can be considered as major alterations to a ‘designated’ World Heritage site.

    One can only hope the final decision to remove that unique piece of art predating its London-based Trafalgar Square manifestation- although it might have been popular in the vote-catching political circus of appeasement of vested interest groups- was informed by the prior advice sought from and support of the UNESCO heritage site quality controllers.


  2. @ Mariposa
    All of that happened because the cowards after all de long talk , refused to throw the piece of scrap iron into the Careenage! They still afraid of massa.
    The National Trust only protects colonial images. Why didn’t it fight to protect all those properties on Bay Street that belong to Black families and Black business people. Why didn’t they fight to protect all the quaint little churches in the villages of yesteryear? What about all those beautiful chattel houses with exquisite verandas etc?
    Black people in your country are still afraid to call out whites but they have no problem cussing Fruendel Stuart, Mia Mottley, a Chief Justice .They will go on a political platform and infer that any idiot can hold a bat and they only want pedigreed orators like Obama and Dr. King in parliament.
    In the meantime the white hoteliers telling them pay they must be paid to open ; not one pretty word or degree from Cave Hill can get them to properly represent their Black brothers and sisters ..
    Connect the dots.


  3. @WURA-War-on-U. You have to review who signed for the extension on the use of the chemical “Chlordecone” in Martinique.

    https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20191126-five-questions-about-chlordecone-pesticide-use-french-antilles
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/13/france-pesticide-health-scandal-chlordecone#:~:text=The%20product%20was%20banned%20in,in%20the%20US%20since%201976.&text=Only%20in%202004%20was%20allowance,in%20France%27s%20Environmental%20Health%20Plan.

    So it sounds like the E.U. should have overruled Martinique & Guadeloupe even if they claim not being able to use the toxin could have lead to job losses.


  4. William Skinner. Why didn’t the National Trust “… fight to protect all those properties on Bay Street that belong to Black families and Black business people. Why didn’t they fight to protect all the quaint little churches in the villages of yesteryear? What about all those beautiful chattel houses with exquisite verandas etc?

    Ummm. Protect it from whom? The black controlled government of Barbados?


  5. “So it sounds like the E.U. should have overruled Martinique & Guadeloupe even if they claim not being able to use the toxin could have lead to job losses.”

    the limited intellect and corrupt will always put job losses before health, put racism and slavery before freedom and wealth creation for the Black majority, as is happening in Barbados….those are the mis/uneducated placed to lead populations.


  6. “The National Trust only protects colonial images. Why didn’t it fight to protect all those properties on Bay Street that belong to Black families and Black business people. Why didn’t they fight to protect all the quaint little churches in the villages of yesteryear? What about all those beautiful chattel houses with exquisite verandas etc?”

    disgusting racists head the national trust, the head piece of shit is always gushing about St. Nicholas Abby, boasting because he knows and most don’t, that it was the breeding farm for African slaves, the nasty, disgusting trash that he is..


  7. I cannot speak to bay street but can about churches, In the early 70s I bought one up here from the Pentecostal people who had bought it from the Methodists and turned it into a really cool house. What was happening with both denominations at different times was the congregations were dwindling and they decided to centralize areas to keep the church afloat. They would pick a church in the middle of a district and sell off the ones in areas nearby reducing costs. Up here we take some of those older buildings that represent the way people lived and move them to an area so people can see a functioning town of the past like williamstown in the states, upper canada village in ontario .I am sure some buildings have been preserved in barbados but to be fair wood breaks down, the mortar of the time is lacking. and it takes a lot of maintenance. There is always problems every time I would plant a garden I was always pulling up a ribcage or skull.


  8. I take no questions or suggestions from the prince of lies. I do no more than scan your posts and do not click on your links. Furthermore I do not talk to you but at you. You are evil.

    But the son of a bitch is down and he is not going back up.

    You and others can continue to waste time crying over spilt milk.


  9. @ Caribdigita November 21, 2020 12:31 AM
    “Read about Rachel Pringle. She was born a slave, was bonded out, and she then owned slaves.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    That is well-known about the ‘mixed-up’ mulatto Madam Polgren. But that did not stop her from whoring at a very young age and making a fortune from the oldest trade in the world called selling pussycat(s) to those British soldiers and sailors not having easy access to the wenches on the plantations.

    Barbados benefited tremendously from her ‘booming’ enterprising activities and she is indeed deserving of a pride of place in that ‘old’ city which the same Lord Admiral Nelson (a contemporary of the same “hotelier” Madam) described as the ‘Hellhole’ of the West Indies.

    How about changing the name of the Nelson Street to the Rachel Pringle ‘Boulevard’ as part of the much needed gentrification of Bridgetown?


  10. rachel pringle blvd you could have erect statues of politicians around her………sorry you could erect statues of politicians with a statue of her whipping them.


  11. 😃I am against erecting a statue for Rachel Pringle, but if you do here are the words for the plaque

    “She was always a giver. Many erections during her life and one gigantic and lasting erection in death.”😃


  12. To suggest that Nelson is not going back up is not one hundred per cent accurate. Nelson will be back up in the Barbados museum. Tourists and school children will go there and he will be promoted as a savior of Barbados. This is the same thing that the white liars and some Black apologists were saying forever.
    In other words the piece of iron, that should be in the Careenage has been moved to more comfortable surroundings and will now be seen by more tourists and our school children will still be brainwashed.
    To paraphrase the pastors: “ Nelson will rise in glory with the help of a pack of weak Black leaders , who did not have the guts to throw the piece of junk into
    the Careenage. It was nothing more than theatre and a well executed blow job on the populace.
    Peace


  13. William…they even tried to make tearing down a symbol of slavery an international even on African Diaspora Channel…but that one got completely blown out of the water, becasue they are all known to be corrupt, liars, and enablers of racism and racist symbols against their own people….so they had to settle for the small time pagentry and still got laughed at..

    they don’t even care about their disrepect against the black population, against their own ancestors, but will still tell lies and brainwash the island’s children with their evil ways….

    they are stains on the earth.

    BTW..did you see the utter shite Grenville wrote on FB about activists this and activists that, it’s a good thing the people on the island are not dumb enuff to entertain that level of crazy…he was for the most part ignored but someone did tell him off…..they just couldn’t take the shite that most of us dismissed as ramblings of an idiot..


  14. I thought it would be a removal and paid no attention to where it would go.
    When I saw that it became a ceremony, I tuned out.
    They did thecdifficult task of pleasing those who were for removal and those who were for keeping it.

    TheO’s conclusion: Those when were for removal got screwed.


    • Trevor Marshall the historian who has been most vocal about moving Nelson statue and has written voluminously on the matter has explained that to destroy the statue would lead to Barbados losing the world heritage designation. It is no accident a decision was made to relocate the statue to the museum which is located in the geography of the designation. Some of the people here just like to spout uninformed nonsense.


  15. I am really beginning to wonder about those who value my “balanced” opinions while seemingly going off at the deep end.


  16. DonnaNovember 21, 2020 2:01 PM

    Nelson will NOT be displayed as a hero for Barbadians. His story will be placed in context.

    Next!

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

    So how are the 30 zeroes going to get over the problem that the plaque on the plinth clearly names him as a HERO!!

    https://imgur.com/4UhAns4


  17. Just read Lawson’s comment about my walk up Broad Street. Another “whore” reference, I surmise.

    Yuh stinking mudda who whored with yuh stinking drunken fadda.


  18. Poor LIKKLE Johnnie, loser on two counts. No Nelson statue and no POTUS.

    Spending his days and nights crying over spilt milk.

    CUHDEAR!


  19. @ John November 21, 2020 3:43 PM
    “So how are the 30 zeroes going to get over the problem that the plaque on the plinth clearly names him as a HERO!!”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    The same way they got over the problem with the lifeless statue itself. Simply remove the plinth or blot out the jingoistic Latin phrase on the plaque: “Esto Perpetua”.

    For nothing in this world is everlasting; not even your god Yahweh which will soon be replaced on Mount Olympus like many before; for the Internet will be Yahweh’s undoing in the new Age of Aquarius.

    Every thing must fall at the feet of the Master of Time.


  20. A simple new “plinth” explaining that he was deemed a hero by the slavers. A few sentences detailing where he was previously sited and how Bajans advocated for his removal on the grounds that we the descendants of the enslaved think him unworthy of the title.

    Added context. No need to touch the old plinth. That would be destroying history.


  21. The problem is it is all over the world in books.

    A child can access it on the internet.

    The 30 zeroes can’t do a thing about that.

    The statue has gone no where because its history is all a matter of record.

    The the only thing that has changed is the world will look at the 30 zeroes and wonder at their monumental stupidity!!

    … and laugh their heads off!!


  22. I can go to the internet now and get the account from for example Schomburgk and tell you exactly how the ceremony in 1813 went to actually place the statue on its plinth exactly where it was.

    I can even give you the time of day it took place!!

    The same narrative contains the contents on the plinth naming Nelson as a HERO and PRESERVER OF THE BRITISH WEST INDIES.

    Any little child can do it!!

    … and laugh at the foolish psuedo adults and 30 zeroes!!


  23. Maria Marshall could go and look up the information and next time she meets with the leader of the 30 zeroes she can ask why the leader would let the 30 zeroes destroy her heritage!!

    Now then I would sit up and take notice!!


  24. The lady put down an excellent performance at the decommissioning of the Lord Nelson statue. Those in attendance were enthralled. Another reason why the decision to have a ceremony was important. The things the ignorant among us have to be so enlightened.

    Signature performance of spoken word artist
    By Gercine Carter gercinecarter@nationnews.com
    Cindi Marshall’s narration at last week’s historic ceremony for the decommissioning of Lord Nelson’s statue in Bridgetown received a rave response from the crowd gathered in National Heroes Square.
    The level of applause at the end of every segment of the presentation left no doubt about the extent to which it resonated with the audience. For the 24-yearold Barbadian spoken word artist and poet, it was a moment in time she will never forget.
    That it afforded an opportunity for her talent to be exposed to an international audience among whom there were many who identified with the sentiments conveyed in her masterful piece of writing and expression, has given her much satisfaction.
    In a candid interview with the Sunday Sun recently, Marshall confessed to being “conflicted” when she was first approached about the assignment by the National Cultural Foundation, considering Nelson’s fame or notoriety according to the diverse views expressed by those who wanted to see the statue removed from National Heroes Square and those who were opposed.
    Marshall admitted mulling over the task requested of her, weighing her personal views against the perceptions of others.
    “I thought, ‘I have to present a balance of this man that I detest.
    He did nothing for black people in Barbados; why should I have to write something good about this man?’” But she also reflected on the adage “the best persuasion is a balanced argument” and on her commitment to honesty in her work. She, therefore, embarked on research to get the British picture of the man recorded in British history as a courageous and astute naval commander. This she weighed against the Caribbean and Barbadian perspective of a notorious Englishman abhorred for his role in the trans Atlantic slave trade, while also considering the many calls for a demonstration of true Barbadian identity and independence by taking down the statue.
    She confessed that “all along” she had regarded Nelson as “just a statue of someone I guessed was important”.
    “It was only when I started interacting with people who had knowledge of the actual history of who this man was that I was like, ‘Why is this man in Heroes Square’. I said ‘Who gives me permission to care about removing this statue, when up to last year I was saying it is just a statue. Why are we getting so upset about it?” which is a view she expressed in her piece read at the decommissioning.
    Once the research turned up a rounded picture representing the different views on Nelson, Marshall eagerly proceeded to put pen to paper, and her creative juices flowed.
    She wrote the 24-page narration, which was divided into segments, just five hours before she was due to present it at the ceremony and admitted doubts began to surface about “whether it was my best work and what would be the public response” once she had completed it.
    As it turned out, the content in many ways reflected her own thoughts and, judging by reactions, also captured other people’s views about the Nelson story she so poignantly expressed and caused emotions of many to be stirred.
    In the segment entitled Remembering Our Heroes,
    she wrote: “Now dat we tek down Nelson, what gine happen? What gine change? Just because ya put make-up pun a pig don’t mean he ain de same . . .
    “But if our children see us celebrate foreign history, while we barely acknowledge our own. If we continue to hold respect for foreign heroes under the guise of remembering our past while letting our heritage disappear into the shadows right under our nose, will the coming generations ever really know freedom?”
    Writing since 2013
    Marshall has been writing performance poetry since 2013, though she said: “My primary school teachers will tell you I have been writing poetry itself longer than that because I used to draw pictures and put poetry on the back.” That was during her early days at the Hilltop Preparatory School, but the Harrison College alumnus said, “I hit my stride in my final year at the Barbados Community College.”
    She earned a degree in linguistics with a minor in communication studies from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, where her final year thesis was written on the use of nation language in spoken word and poetry. Though she had given fleeting thought to the medical profession while at school, mentors such as noted spoken word artist Adrian Green had already made their impression, influencing her leaning in the direction of that specific area of the arts.
    In her first foray into performing poetry on stage, she failed to make it past the quarter-finals in the Spoken Word category of the NIFCA competition. But her impressive performance did catch the eyes and ears of the judging panel.
    Her piece entitled To Those Who Complain About Brain Drain performed at the NIFCA 2017 gala pricked ears because of the bold way in which she addressed the issue of Barbados’ brain drain.
    “Young people don’t just get up and decide they want to leave. Sometimes it is because we feel we have done all we could here and we have met resistance in trying to change the status quo to fit the jobs that we want as young professionals coming out of university,” she said with regard to the views expressed in that piece of writing.
    “At first I wanted to leave too. But it takes a lot of intestinal fortitude to want to stay and say, ‘This is Barbados; this is my home.’ I want to work doing the thing I love, but I want to do it here at home. I didn’t think that the voice of millennials was well represented,” she said.
    Last June, together with three other young Barbadian poets, Marshall travelled to South Africa and performed at the Free State Arts Festival in Bloemfontein.
    “Going to Africa was a defining moment for me as a poet,” she said. So impressed was her mother Celestine by the first piece she wrote after returning to Barbados, that she advised Marshall to start documenting her work so that it could be accessed by other people apart from those who followed the open mic sessions at which she performed.
    Marshall released Cindicated, an eight-track compilation of all the things she had written after returning from South Africa on September 8, her mother’s birthday.
    Sad moment
    Sadly, her mother did not get to hear it. On February 24, Celestine was diagnosed with stage four cancer, to which she succumbed on March 11.
    Marshall honoured her mother who “made me the poet and person that I am” by adopting the stage name Cindy Celeste.
    Her parents may have had early reservations about Marshall’s decision to choose a career in the arts, but the spoken word artist told the Sunday Sun: “If I decide that I am going to make it doing spoken word poetry, I am going to make it doing spoken word poetry some way, somehow. It might not be two years from now; it might be five, but somehow it is coming.”

    Nation


  25. Adrian is obviously proud. Preach it!

    Change in mindset must be sustained

    What we are about to dig into is not only relevant to the Nelson statue debate, but is also relevant to our personal lives and to general history as well. We are talking about the relationship between internal changes and external changes. In short, it is a cyclical relationship. Internal change leads to external which leads to internal change which leads to further external changes.
    Consider it with this analogy. If a person wants to lose weight, they start with an internal change, a change in mindset or a new decision. That internal change leads to new habits and behaviours, external changes which can be seen. For instance, a change in eating habits or beginning to exercise will cause external changes in their body. Those external changes are not only due to the external changes made in eating and exercise. They are due to the internal change of mind or consciousness which led to the changes in the physical realm that the rest of the world could see.
    However, as we all know, it is easier to start a new diet and exercise regime than it is to stick to it. Many fall off the wagon because while the external changes in diet and exercise, the visible changes were made, the internal changes, the invisible shifts in consciousness necessary to make the visible physical changes meaningful and long lasting, were not complete.
    Losing weight requires a combination of internal and external changes. It is the internal changes that often initiate and sustain the external changes.
    And without the sustained efforts at internal change the external changes are often meaningless and short lived. To expect that moving Nelson’s statue would change Barbados overnight is like expecting a diet to change your body overnight. To say that, “Nelson move and nutten ain’t change” is like arguing that you went on a diet for a day and nothing changed, so therefore the diet is useless. It is the internal change in mindset that led you to go on the diet, that led us to move Nelson.
    But for that diet, that move to have meaningful and long lasting effect, the change in mindset must be sustained and nurtured. The diet, the removal of Nelson, are not the result we are looking for. We want a long lasting change in mindsets which results in consistent, sustainable and healthy weight loss or consistent, sustainable and healthy shedding of colonial dead weight, both internal and external.
    Many people never stick to their diet or exercise because the results, the changes are not obvious to the eyes or seem slow to come. They are like people who criticise the removal of Nelson’s statue as changing nothing. In order to properly change your diet in the first place requires an understanding and appreciation of the link between diet, weight and health. Without an understanding and appreciation of the links between art, culture and consciousness the removal of Nelson’s statue will not be appreciated.
    Furthermore, without an appreciation of the links between internal conditions and external conditions, the need to address and transform national consciousness will not be appreciated. Many still feel that the external and quantifiable economic conditions are separate and distinct from the less obvious and tangible social, cultural and psychological conditions. Just as there are people who don’t realise that it is not enough to take the external steps of changing your diet and exercise, without also changing your inner mindset
    about food, eating and exercise.
    Even after the emancipation of the enslaved Africans, even though the formal situation changed, the implicit social, emotional, psychological and cultural conditions lagged behind.
    Therefore emancipation yielded little material benefits to the formally enslaved. We must learn these lessons of history.
    Internal transformations are prerequisites for external transformations. External transformations may also provide the impetus for internal transformations, but the completion of an external transformation does not necessarily mean that the internal transformation is complete.
    For the umpteenth time, the removal of Nelson’s statue is not the cause of any change. It is a result of and an indication of a cycle of internal and external changes in and about Barbados. It is also hopefully a prompt towards other external and internal changes in and about Barbados that will leave this nation further transformed and reformed from its colonial origins and lead to a greater and stronger national consciousness.

    Adrian Green is a communications specialist. Email: Adriangreen14 @gmail.com


  26. “We want a long lasting change in mindsets which results in consistent, sustainable and healthy weight loss or consistent, sustainable and healthy shedding of colonial dead weight, both internal and external.”

    it’s NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN if ya continue to PROMOTE, SUSTAIN AND MAINTAIN the same damaging, corrupt colonial system created to destroy AFRICAN PEOPLE….now being MAINTAINED with Black people’s taxes and driven by corrupt governments, agents of colonialism….unless it’s all DISMANTLE…it will remain a lose, lose for the majority black population.


  27. Adrian, my soul brother! A better communicator than I will ever be, has again written the column I wish I had written. Great analogy. Maybe now John A will get it.

    A sustained and concerted effort – like the twelve step community programmes I have been suggesting similar to an Alcoholics Anonymous programme complete with mentors or a buddy system to keep us going.


  28. WURA-War-on-UNovember 22, 2020 6:32 AM

    “We want a long lasting change in mindsets which results in consistent, sustainable and healthy weight loss or consistent, sustainable and healthy shedding of colonial dead weight, both internal and external.”

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

    My suggestion, burn all books about Nelson!!

    Here is a sampling of a few free ones on the Internet … you can search for more at the bottom.

    If you do search you will find another 4,029

    Better get cracking before little children figure out how to make a mess of the monumentally stupid 30 zeroes.

    https://www.questia.com/library/history/military-history/military-figures/horatio-nelson

    Horatio Nelson
    Horatio Nelson: Selected full-text books and articles
    FREE! The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson
    By Robert Southey; Ernest Rhys
    J. M. Dent & Sons, 1906
    Read Overview
    FREE! The Life of Nelson: The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain
    By A. T. Mahan
    Little, Brown, and Company, vol.1, 1897
    Read Overview
    FREE! The Life of Nelson: The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain
    By A. T. Mahan
    Little, Brown, and Company, vol.2, 1897
    Read Overview
    Inspiring Leadership: Learning from Great Leaders
    By John Adair
    Thorogood, 2002
    Librarian’s tip: Chap. Nine “Nelson”
    Read preview Overview
    FREE! Great Men and Famous Women: A Series of Pen and Pencil Sketches of the Lives of More Than 200 of the Most Prominent Personages in History
    By Charles F. Horne
    Selmar Hess, vol.2, 1894
    Librarian’s tip: “Lord Horatio Nelson (1758-1805)” begins on p. 279
    Read Overview
    Nelson and Mission Command: Edgar Vincent Analyses the Spectacularly Successful, and Surprisingly Modern, Leadership Strategy of Horatio Nelson. (Cross Current)
    By Vincent, Edgar
    History Today, Vol. 53, No. 6, June 2003
    Read preview Overview
    Decision at Trafalgar
    By Dudley Pope
    J. B. Lippincott, 1960
    Librarian’s tip: Includes discussion of Horatio Nelson in multiple chapters
    Read preview Overview
    Search for more books and articles on Horatio Nelson


  29. Oh sh!te, they got films too!!

    Earliest one dating from 1911.

    More recent ones have been made.

    Try this one from 2005.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1302575/

    Better look to shutdown Amazon and Netflix!!

    Remember RPB’s wisdom on Mr. Harding!!

    Mr. Harding can’t burn!!

    Nelson can’t burn!!

    The little children don’t only have the internet, they can read books about him or watch films!!


  30. @ John November 21, 2020 10:43 PM
    “Maria Marshall could go and look up the information and next time she meets with the leader of the 30 zeroes she can ask why the leader would let the 30 zeroes destroy her heritage!!
    Now then I would sit up and take notice!!”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    The same MM of mixed heritages can also use the same Internet (the modern electronic version of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (bad) could also allow her to ask why the European -mainly the British in the case of Barbadoes- invaded a little island and almost eliminated all the physical evidence that there was a ‘thriving indigenous Amerindian society including temples to their god(s).

    The invaders after wiping out the indigenous populations- mainly through the spread of the imported infectious diseases- even had the effrontery of building European witchcraft houses of sin called churches on top of those very temples as they did with the desecration of the houses of worship in the Inca Empire.

    Maybe it’s simply a case of payback time (Karma) for what the ‘English (and their slave trading Jewish mercantile friends from Brasil) did to the indigenous people of Ichirouganaim.


  31. @ Donna

    We will never agree as I am well aware that you can take down and put up 100 statues and it CAN NOT change history. The emblems of history must co exist both good and bad. They show the history that has brought us to where we are today. So Bussa will stand at Haggatt Hall and Nelson will stand at the Museum. Again I say next time you pass by Bussa pay close attention to the broken shackles. These are also symbolic and are meant to say that removing the shackles from one’s hands and not removing them from the mind is pointless. The sculpturer made this point several times at its unveiling. As a people more can be gained from embracing history than trying to destroy it. Again I draw reference to both Antigua and St Kitts as prime examples of how this was done. I also will ask again what has improved for the people of Iraq since the removal of Saddam’s statues? Must say though it was a perfect distraction by the goverment from the real issues like the economy. KUDOS to their PR Team. I guess next they will move to same sex marriages.

    As the saying goes you may have the last word.


    • @John A

      You are wrong. It is the same reason confederate statues were removed in the Southern USA and other symbols. It is a tactic to repurpose the psyche of an abused people.


  32. @ David.

    It will change nothing. What should be done is people should be taught to remember the past ensure it never happens again and then rise above it. The USA has removed statues and black people are still being harassed daily by police there. The problem can not be addressed by trying to change history. It can be changed though by pursuing true equality in all sectors today and not in history.


    • @John A

      How can you know for sure? We cannot continue to bemoan the fact Black people are affected by the vestiges of the past and do nothing to try to enfranch our people.


  33. @ David

    I hear and respect your view but I see it differently. Yes we must better our selves and seek equality but in the present and future not the past.

    Instead of removing those statues in the USA you know what I would like to see happen? I would like to of seen black businesses open in these high trafficked tourist areas by the statues and make money off them. In other words get economic payback from them for their families and future offspring. To me that would be the greatest victory.

    As i said that’s just my view and I appreciate the view of others as well but there is no more rewarding a pay back than an economic one. .


  34. John A,

    The crux of the column is that these changes do not occur overnight. For the upteenth time -the removal of the statue is not an attempt to change history. The facts will not change but the meaning will. History will now be told from a different perspective. It is obvious that you cannot see beyond immediate dollars and cents which does not always translate into long term SENSE.

    THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A LONG PROCESS. IF THERE IS NO FOLLOW UP ACTION, THEN THERE WILL BE NO CHANGE. IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT IS DONE TO ENLIGHTEN AND UPLIFT THE MASSES.

    For a idea of a different perspective of the same events and how much it can matter, think about the Trayvon Martin case. Essentially the same facts but different perspective. From Trayvon’s perspective Zimmerman was threatening him by following him. When he circled and attacked he considered that he was actually defending himself. Zimmerman and co. would say he never touched Trayvon and that he therefore was attacked and was entitled to defend himself.

    Both sides accept that Trayvon struck first. The facts are the same but the conclusion is different depending on the perspective. Each man thought he was “standing his ground”. I think you know whose perspective won and what great consequences ensued.

    Same thing with Columbus and co. saying that Columbus discovered the New World. That is how it appears in the white man’s books. Are those the words Native Americans would use?

    In both cases, Columbus arrived on the same shores. THAT IS THE FACT. But what that arrival meant would be told differently by both parties. And the way the story is told has a great impact on the psyche of both. Italians and Americans of Italian descent puff up with pride and feel themselves superior for having accomplished some great feat. That has a great impact on their self-confidence and their belief that they can do great things.

    You are just determined not to understand, I think, because of the money that was spent.


  35. I would prefer not to relive trauma every day. When I see these things I enter into the times through my imagination and feel the pain of my ancestors. So do many others. You are obviously not of the artistic and creative temperament. I cannot even watch the movies or listen to the poetry anymore. It takes its toll on me.

    Just understand that some of us feel better. We who do not see all of life in dollars and cents.


  36. @ Donna

    I respect your opinion and am entitled to mine as well. We just have different views of the way forward. I see people bettering themselves by economic growth, as that is the only tool that can move people to better homes and an improved standard of living. Do you think when tourism started in Barbados black taxi drivers gathered around Nelson by chance? No they did so as it was a place they could make money. Look all over Europe and see how major tourist destinations use their history to better their people’s lives. Rome to me is one of the best examples. Here you have the colosium where slaves were taken and fed to lions for the simple entertainment of the Romans. Yet today it draws in millions for those that now feed off it. Same can be said for many other areas all over Europe. My way is not to destroy but to embrace all aspects of our past while ensuring those Barbadians who want to can benefit from them financially.

    Let me give you a classic example of where we have failed. One of the major questions tourist ask is ” which restaurant can I go to and have a real bajan meal?” You ever stopped and realised how few restaurants on the island they are doing this? Not talking about food vans I mean proper sit down restaurants representing our local food and it’s heritage. Why do you think that is?

    Now let’s look at the success of the old Bajan bus tours which started with one bus and now have several. While everybody was buying large air conditioned coaches like the ones see in Orlando, one local entrepreuner decided he was going the opposite way. He went into our history and recreated the old Bajan buses with the wooden rails and canvas sides. I only mention this to show how history can he used to profit from. As I said remove the mental shackles and anything is possible. I can also tell you of another bajan who while charter boat fishing companies were buying the Bertram 38 ft boats, went the other way and decided he was going to carry people fishing the traditional way in the small Moses type boat. He offered both day and night fishing and last time I spoke to him before covid, he was fully booked for last winter. Embrace our history and don’t fight it their is money to be made by our people if this is done properly. I am not saying to forget it or not to enlighten people about it, but i am saying let our people gain economic benefit from it in the process.

    Anyhow it was nice chatting with you but am on the way out. Will get back to you later if you have a reply.


  37. People will adapt to whats going on around them just like animals when their environment changes. , foxes up north turn pure white in winter to blend in with the snow , the camel has grown longer eyelashes, to protect it from the sand, and in canada our oppressed have been able to grow palms on both sides of their hands.


  38. What Ms. Mockley should be saying to the workers is “We got this”.

    There is a severance fund that will ensure if in the event the employer is unable to pay the GOB will pay the workers 100%.

    It will then seek reimbursement of 25% from the employer.

    However, the employer sounds like it will pay the 25% the GOB will seek from it after it has paid the workers the 100%.

    So atleast the workers will have some money in their hands while they are waiting (interminably??) for the GOB to come up with its 75%.

    Maybe I am misunderstanding.

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/11/20/hotel-to-pay-workers-25-for-now-looking-to-nis-to-remaining-75/


  39. @ John A

    Your contributions are one of few of quality on BU. People do not come from Europe and North America to eat in imitation Michelin restaurants. They can do that at home. They want the Barbados experience, one reason why Oistin’s is so popular with Brits..
    The problem is the Bajan middle class want to pretend they can get a Michelin meal in their local restaurants too. They are world class. It is a huge and confusing contradiction.
    When I come to Barbados I do not want what I get in London almost everyday, like greasy chicken and McDonald’s. That is why I go to Mustor’s.


  40. “After a severance payment is made to an employee, the insured employer of the severed employee is entitled to claim a 25% rebate from the NIS Severance Fund.”

    So the employer is saying to the employees that it cannot pay the 100% severance, the COVID regulations of the GOB shut it down.

    However it will pay them 25%.

    It is saying to GOB, we can’t do no better after COVID.

    We kept the employees employed as long as we could with no revenue, paid the NIS all required monies to insure the employees earnings but now “de dawg ded”!!


    • Oistins is popular but not with everyone or it is something they have to do. Many tourists default to foods they are familiar when visiting the islands.


  41. §1631. Declaration of national emergency by Executive order; authority; publication in Federal Register; transmittal to Congress
    When the President declares a national emergency, no powers or authorities made available by statute for use in the event of an emergency shall be exercised unless and until the President specifies the provisions of law under which he proposes that he, or other officers will act. Such specification may be made either in the declaration of a national emergency, or by one or more contemporaneous or subsequent Executive orders published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

    (Pub. L. 94–412, title III, §301, Sept. 14, 1976, 90 Stat. 1257.)


  42. @Hal

    All is not lost let me give you an experience I had in February when some friends from the UK were here. My friends wife likes flowers so we went to Huntes Nurseries. It was close to lunch time so when we were leaving the owner said,” it’s around lunch time if you want some good Bajan food go short there by that lady house.” Well my friends love the local food so we went. I can’t remember if it was called Velma’s or something like that but the food was amazing! When they are here on the South coast we usually drive all the way to Belleplaine to get some bajan food at a place there. Both of these entities are owned by black business people who have held on to the past and are making money from it today.

    Tourist revert to what they know because they are not exposed to anything else. The bake potato by them is offered to them here. It’s not only here either I remember one night in Grenada a few of us were there at a hotel on business and a taxi guy heard us wondering where to go for dinner with some good local food. Well my friend we end up at a place called Mammas on the way to St Geroges, run by this massive local Grenadian lady. When we asked for a menu we were told no menu it is like buffet. Well we had a large bold of white rice and about 10 side dishes. From Conch to maniku to shrimp, goat you name it. I talking bout a little hole in the wall with about 6 tables. Well you know I never went Grenada without going there after that! The special and a glass of home made lemonade please Mamma! By the way the first night we went there the other 5 tables were all filled by tourist.

    Point is there is money in our heritage.


  43. @ John A

    I know what you mean. I have said here before, the Brits love Oistin’s and will do things Bajan for the experience. That is a cultural thing. They will do the same thing in Spain. Bermuda, or the US. It is who they are.
    What they do not want is local big wigs interfering with the layout and cuisine in a false belief they are making the place more attractive.
    I remember one Friday night a group of us left badly prepared food at Almond in Holetown to rush off to Oistin’s just for the experience. The funny thing about that is that one of the girls in the group pulled a local boy, which we teased her about.
    English people do not travel to Barbados to eat English food or hear about the Westminster model of government. They come to experience Barbados.
    Same thing in other islands. There was a guy next to the Careenage in Grenada, who used the front room of his home as a restaurant, again it was hugely popular. It had reached the point when you had to book a table. I believe he is now dead, sadly.
    Our tourism officials have this idea that what they think tourists (travellers) want is what they really want or need. We can buy rum in our local supermarket; we can buy sweet potatoes in the local shops and we get sunshine during the summer.
    What these officials often fail to understand is that many of the visitors who come to Barbados work in Britain with black people who make suggestions to them. They watch television and read. What I cannot understand is that a lot of these officials do tourism studies in the UK. The people who come and return each year know us better than we think.
    A few years ago a young white journalist wrote a story in the Sunday Telegraph about the sewage on the south coast in Barbados and people on BU tore in to her. They wanted to know what she knew about Barbados.
    In fact she knew a lot. She was (or is) a yearly visitor, her father lives in Barbados, or did at the time, and when in the island she is a member of a regular walking (rambling) group, which includes senior people in publishing.
    We like tourists, but then want to deny them their experiences.


  44. @ Hal

    I remeber the other place in Grenada and its a Conch Roti at the Nutmeg Restaurant on de ” car -reen-age” as the locals call it.

    Lord I hungry now I going and look in the fridge! Lol


    • You people are so binary. of course tourists- not only from the UK, CAN, US, Caribbean want to sample the culture on offer, the point is that it is only one of many things we have to develop. There is Oistins, martins bay, Moon Town etc. We get that.

      Steuspe


  45. It is really amusing to see how much our natives on BU cling to the Nelson theme. The reader almost believes that there is no such thing as 50 percent unemployment rate. In general, the COVID19 crisis has shown very clearly that our most valued tourists and expats are responsible for at least two thirds of the gross national product – not the theorists on BU, not the recipients of the big Barbados deep welfare state, not the many bureaucrats and not any other natives.

    At least our most valued government of justice and prosperity is doing everything to bring our tourists back. Very well.


  46. I was waiting for my flight out of toronto one year and I noticed all these partiers also waiting and thought to myself the island is going to be fun this time then the call came for the flight to jamaica , all the fun people left and I was left with a load of gray and blue haired senior citizens and some returning locals .Now knowing that covid treats the elderly and black populations more harshly it is not out of
    the question your gonna lose a few regulars. Its time to attract a younger crowd Two thirds of your tourists remember when the dead sea was only sick.


  47. “Now knowing that covid treats the elderly and black populations more harshly it is not out of
    the question your gonna lose a few regulars.”

    Lawson…stop spreading false info…..at least 79% of whites ARE DYING in the US from the plague, it’s even worse in Europe, because of the smaller black population,s it’s a killing machine for whites ….meaning yall are dying like flies..i truly hope the vaccine works or ya will be reduced to 2 or 3% of the world’s population by 2022 instead of the 12% minorities that ya are right now…


  48. We will have a parade without Nelson statue this year. One for the historians,

    GETTING SET FOR BIG PARADE
    POLICE and military personnel were busy yesterday conducting rehearsals and preparations for next Monday’s Independence Day Parade in The City.
    For the 54th anniversary of Independence, celebrations will take the form of a Salute To The Nation involving presentation of the National Independence Awards in National Heroes Square on November 30, from 8 a.m.
    Governor General Dame Sandra Mason will be presenting the awards, while Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley will address the nation.
    The Barbados Regiment will provide the Guard of Honour, while the other troops on parade will be the Flag Orderlies and the Massed Band of the Royal Barbados Police Force and the Barbados Defence Force (BDF).
    Also in attendance will be new Chief Justice Patterson Cheltenham; Leader of the Opposition, Bishop Joseph Atherley; the lone living National Hero Sir Garfield Sobers; Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith; Chief of Staff of the BDF, Colonel Glyne Grannum,
    and specially invited guests.


  49. Waru you self medicating again??? that’s what I am saying old white people ….your tourist base are getting hit hard by covid , couple that with the black populations ( not everybody can be Mr Sisnett) Diabetes, morbid obesity , sickle cell anemia. russian roulette and the relentless pursuit of a Darwin award taking many early, Barbados will lose some of its regular customers I know a few you wont see again myself . Its time for a new direction. Health care costs are going to skyrocket even with vaccines the insurance industry is not going to get caught off guard again for any type of insurance , travel insurance for seniors may be prohibitive for white or black seniors you need a new schtick.


  50. This piece was submitted by Grenville a couple days ago.

    Difficult Conversations – Part 1.

    The statue of Nelson has been removed from the centre of our city. The Prime Minister must be congratulated for removing it in as dignified a manner as could be expected.
    I do not believe that the statue will be re-erected any time soon, since that may only enrage our activists. Theirs is the only voice that appears to matter in modern Barbados.
    Our political leaders keep asking us to have difficult conversations. But they do not engage any other view but that of their activists. That is not the path of maturity.
    THE ONE VIEW.
    Our enslaved fore-parents were not allowed to discuss any view, not approved by the plantation owners. Citizens of countries led by despots are not allowed to discuss any view, not approved by the despots. In both instances, people who are forcibly shackled to one view, become mentally enslaved.
    In Barbados, any attempt to discuss a view that differs from Government approved activists, is met with unrestrained insults and false accusations on our government controlled television, print media, and social media spaces. These actions are meant to damage reputations, and intimidate others from expressing a similar unapproved view.
    QUESTION EVERYTHING.
    We are doing the next generation a grave disservice. We should allow them to question anything, and discuss any evidence in support of or opposed to any idea. If that happened, they would tend to converge to what is true, by evidence and reason.
    Why don’t we give them the space to unshackle their minds? Why are only activists allowed at the table of conversation? The answer is always the same. Activists have staked their professional reputations on claims that are easily proven to be false. Therefore, they must not allow those claims to be questioned.
    NELSON MUST GO.
    Our activists decided that Nelson must represent every damaging social and emotional legacy of slavery. Their problem was that there is an abundance of credible evidence, to show that Nelson was a brilliant and accomplished man, who consistently tried to do what was good and right, regardless of the cost. Many times, doing what he thought was right hurt him financially.
    Nelson was perhaps the only person at that time who treated all races the same. Any enslaved person who swam to his ship was freed, hired, paid, trusted, and promoted the same as any other sailor.
    Nelson developed a hatred for slavery, and probably freed more slaves outside of the US than any other person at that time. Nelson was perhaps the only known truly non-racist and non-white supremacist in an age where almost everyone else was.
    By doing what he thought was right, Nelson did have his haters. He was hated by the slave-owning planters, merchants, and politicians of his time – and the activists of ours.
    DIFFERENT STRATEGIES.
    Our activists first criticised Nelson as a symbol of colonialism. When that strategy failed to convince the Government to remove the statue, our activist historians decided to smear Nelson’s reputation by inventing history, confident that our politicians would be too intellectually lazy to check.
    Nelson became a racist, white supremacist enslaver of black people – without evidence. When that did not work, Nelson became a mass murderer of thousands of enslaved Barbadians – also without evidence. Our politicians simply believed this madness, and moved with haste to remove the 200-year old statue.
    What happened to having the difficult conversations? Why were activists not asked to provide any credible evidence for their lunatic claims? The answer is always the same. As long as activists serve a purpose, their political masters will shield their view from scrutiny – by making that view Government policy.

    References:https://researching.wordpress.com/…/nelson-the-racist…/https://researching.wordpress.com/…/nelson-the-opposer…/https://researching.wordpress.com/…/nelson-the…/https://researching.wordpress.com/…/nelson-the-mass…/https://researching.wordpress.com/…/27/slavery-2-0-part-5/


  51. Grenville…ah so glad ya lost that deposit, ya despicable embarrassment to ya enslaved ancestors.

    hope they bury ya tied to nelson, underwater….


  52. @ Grenville P of NextParty 246:
    “Nelson developed a hatred for slavery, and probably freed more slaves outside of the US than any other person at that time. Nelson was perhaps the only known truly non-racist and non-white supremacist in an age where almost everyone else was.
    By doing what he thought was right, Nelson did have his haters. He was hated by the slave-owning planters, merchants, and politicians of his time – and the activists of ours.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    You too are guilty of distorting history.

    Did you know that the Admiral was married to the Nevis-born Fanny who was well connected to the slave-owning planter class of that island and she herself owned a personal slave called Cato?

    Did you know that the same Lord High Morality Nelson was widely known adulterer?

    If he, Admiral Nelson, was so despised by the slave-owning planters why did the same slave-owning sugar planters paid handsomely for the sculpting, shipping and erection of a statue in his honour before the one erected in London which depicts the presence of blacks aboard his flagship HMS Victory?


  53. DavidNovember 23, 2020 9:21 PM

    On what basis can Grenville challenge Trevor Marshall on the issue of Nelson? A bona fide historian.

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

    There are over 5,000 books on Nelson written by many learned scholars, my bet, all contradicting Trevor Marshall and agreeing with Grenville Phillips.

    Grenville has simply read enough of them to put himself into a position to challenge Trevor Marshall!!

    That’s the basis!!

    That’s what books are for, to inform opinions.

    If you can find 10 out of the 5,000 books all by scholars far more learned than Trevor Marshall which actually agree with Trevor Marshall then we can have a discussion on the support in the scholarly community as to the correctness of Trevor Marshall’s position.

    I’ll bet you can easily find 10 that support Grenville Phillips.

    The simple fact that there are over 5,000 books written on Nelson is good enough for me.

    I found one blemish in his record referred to in books I have read.

    It relates to his decisions when he was in Naples … and nothing to do with Emma Hamilton.


    • The challenge Black people have with how our history is recorded is that the source data is most times communicated through the eyes of a white man.


  54. Blbliographies!!

    Books, papers, articles in scholarly journals use Bibliographies of sources that support their authors’ theses.

    All you have to do is to actually define what Trevor Marshall’s thesis is (if you can because he may never have defended it in a peer reviewed article) then search for whatever that thesis is in peer reviewed articles to see how many agree.

    If he actually did write and publish a scholarly peer reviewed article it will have a bibliography of sources he used to support his thesis.

    The question would then be do other scholars cite any of his scholarly articles if they exist and how many.

    Produce the publication and its bibliographies.

    Publishing in the press is worthless.

    Interpreting a single letter one way when nobody else has in your field is worthless.

    I’ve never claimed to be a historian because I have never published and been peer reviewed in that field.

    History is not my field although I enjoy it.

    I have practiced engineering.

    I don’t have to publish to be called an engineer.


  55. Go see if Grenville has ever cited any sources that agree with his position.

    He practices as an engineer but I will bet he has the citations to support what he is saying.

    Check and see.

    An engineer can practice history but a historian can’t practice engineering.


  56. Here are his four references.

    The references to Part 1 follow.

    [1] Lowry. Fiddlers & Whores: The Memoirs of James Lowry, a Young Surgeon in Nelson’s Mediterranean Fleet. 2013. p.141
    [2] Davey. Nelson, Navy and Nation. 2013. p.308.
    [3] Davey. Nelson, Navy and Nation. 2013. p.297.
    [4] Browne. The Seasick Admiral. 2016. p.210.


  57. Strict guardians, take a bow
    IN THE AFTERMATH of the decommissioning of the statue of Lord Nelson on Monday, November 16, several well-intentioned people have either met or telephoned me to register sentiments of joy, congratulations and goodwill. They also expressed great satisfaction that the “excrescence” that was the statue no longer dominates the centre of our capital city, Bridgetown.
    I have endeavoured to respond as graciously as possible to such expressions of support.
    However, these well-wishers and jubilant Barbadians who describe themselves as “joyful and triumphant,” as well as those from overseas, have seriously erred by attributing to Trevor G. Marshall the exclusive “honour” of successfully agitating against the statue of Britain’s greatest admiral.
    They accuse the effigy of “loitering” for 207 years, on the spot where thousands of our African ancestors were auctioned for over 170 years from 1637 to 1807.
    To our mind, any “success” must be shared with a small group of cultural nationalists. Some of the “hopelessly misguided” Barbadian “misfits” include The Most Honourable Anthony Gabby Carter, Elton “Elombe” Mottley, Tennyson Cummins and the late Leroy Harewood, of “Black Star” fame. Each of these, in their own way, registered objections before 1986 (when I launched my own campaign), to the presence of Lord Nelson’s statue in a place of anguish and agony for the African enslaved and on a prominent pedestal in our capital city.
    They have been succeeded in recent decades by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, the late Prime Minister Owen Seymour Arthur, Sir Keith Hunte, the late George Brancker, and Peter Simmons, David Commissiong, the Ambassador to CARICOM, Sir Hilary Beckles, Professor Alvin Thompson, Morris Greenidge, columnist Adrian
    Green, Reverend Aaron Larrier, Reverend Oniphra Wells, David Denny, Alex Downes, Ian Marshall, Tony Reid, Randy Batson, Martin Ramsay, Joy Workman, Margaret Griffith and Claudette Levi-Farnum.
    Then, there is that unknown citizen who, in 1966 wrote a letter in the Calypso magazine of the Barbados Advocate, calling for the removal of the statue and for a “50-foot statue of Garfield (Sir Gary) Sobers” to be placed there instead.
    Critiqued everything
    Some heartfelt and extensive credit must also be given to the following worthy and esteemed fellow citizens who routinely, robustly, and regularly critiqued everything and anything on Lord Nelson written by me, particularly letters published in both the NATION and the Barbados Advocate since 1998.
    They are Dr Leonard Shorey, Richard Lowdown Hoad, Robert Evelyn, Patrick Roach, Michael Rudder, Harold Hoyte, Carl Moore, Patrick Hoyos, Patrick Weatherhead, Rollins Howard and Dr Karl S. Watson. We will always remember Carl Moore’s excellent, insightful, and perspicacious description of the writings of “UWI historians” on Lord Nelson as “Flatulence.” That mellifluous and amazingly fitting description of arguments put forward by Sir Hilary Beckles and myself will stay firmly in our consciousness until our dying day.
    Grateful acknowledgement is also tendered for the cordial and clinical critiques produced by the late lamented Dr Frances Chandler and Gladstone Holder and from that benevolent Anglican cleric, Reverend Clifford Hall (“It is obvious that Trevor Marshall does not like Lord Nelson”), which will also live long in my memory.
    Interestingly, one of my friends, a Combermerian and a UWI Open scholar, has pointed out that, apart from these last three, our ardent “fan club” identified above are all products of the Crumpton Street institute.
    According to him, one can almost hear them all
    shouting in unison their glorious and stirring “war cry” – “For it’s Harrison, Harrison, all for Harrison,” as they stormed into battle to correct the mindless, mistaken and grossly inaccurate claims made by this “upstart” since 1986 on Lord Nelson and Barbados. (Remember Richard Hoad’s unbeatable description of T.G. Marshall as a ‘Twistorian’?) To all of these “strict guardians of our heritage” we offer our sincere appreciation for their solicitude over the past 34 years about the mental wellness of T.G. Marshall and for their efforts to show this lesser mortal the error of his ways. Unfortunately, for them all, I, as a product of Colleton and Bowmanston plantation tenantries in St John, an alumnus of Codrington Grammar School and a Bajan who was “radicalised” by three years at the Mona Campus of UWI have already moved on from “Nelson” to another battle, (“Having Found No One Suitable.”)
    Trevor G. Marshall is a long-standing historian. This article was submitted as a Letter to the Editor.


  58. Britain cutting back on foreign aid mmmmmm Canada not getting vaccines till the countries that make it are done first according to PM and we can pay for it…. So you picked a bad time to crap on nelson or ditched the queen are you positive china will be able to steal the recipe before next winter.


  59. lawsonNovember 25, 2020 2:27 PM

    Britain cutting back on foreign aid mmmmmm Canada not getting vaccines till the countries that make it are done first according to PM and we can pay for it…. So you picked a bad time to crap on nelson or ditched the queen are you positive china will be able to steal the recipe before next winter.

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

    Find a contact in India and ask them to send you or bring back some Hydroxywhatyoumacallit tablets.

    The other whatyoumacallits sound like they are available over the counter


  60. When will we learn. Always the enemy within. They can only be rooted out with sincere radical approaches.
    I don’t agree with Grenville . I am still stunned that we did not put that piece of useless iron in the Careenage.
    However , some who are criticizing Grenville, come on BU everyday defending corruption and preaching that we should be happy with the crumbs we get from the white man’s table.
    We look around and see real poverty is now worst than the 70s. We keep measuring the entire country by how comfortable we are individually.
    Back in the 60s poor black people were still eating a relatively good meal. The kitchen gardens, good skim milk at school, poor barefoot children were at least getting a piece of fish and the chickens were in the yard. There was goat milk. Schools were not sick and children going in them every day. A little boy turning up for school not knowing that it was closed. We knew we were poor but we had an island-it was ours. We cared it ; poorest house had plants around it.
    Today our poor eat poor quality ramen. They are in the papers begging for their severance; the water in some areas are brown; we worship a politician for a garbage truck; we sing their praises for a new bus. The gutters used to be clean; we raced leaves in them after school. We could walk the street after a fete. Nowaday , we blow each other’s head off because the politicians and drug peddalers are in bed together.
    Yet, just like Grenville , some come here every day completely oblivious of what is happening two minutes from their door step.
    Well, Barbados is the only deal we have a chance in. We better stop watching it slip away like White Hill and while the poor people are being crashed ; pretend that a little sea bath will cure all our societal woes.
    There are many who like Grenville, seek to defend the indefensible every day.
    The enemy within ……….
    Peace.


  61. The following received from Grenville II. He continues to deposit his opinion about Lord Nelson in the public. It is his right in a democracy it must be said.

    Difficult Conversations, Part 2 – When Truth is the Enemy

    During our lifetimes, we will likely care about things enough to do something about them. We may feel compelled to speak, write, march, or simply stand with those doing so. That is activism, and the aim is to influence our elected politicians to change government policies.

    There are two types of activists. There are those who try to influence change, by getting politicians to accept the truth of a matter. For example, if they accept that cigarette smoke causes lung cancer, then they will likely legislate restrictions on smoking. Evidence-based activists treat truth as sacred.

    The other type of activist wants policies changed by any means necessary. For them, the end justifies the means, so they typically make things up. Their made-up claims are generally not supported by any credible evidence, and are easily disproven. For that one reason, radical activists treat truth as their enemy.

    Some evidence-based activists wanted Nelson moved to a less prominent location, and argued their position using evidence and reason. Radical activists just made things up. They falsely claimed that Nelson was a racist white supremacist enslaver who mass murdered thousands of enslaved Barbadians.

    THE PATH OF INSANITY.

    The Government has now established an extremely dangerous precedent, by making easily disprovable claims government policy. They are forcing us to accept blatant error, and reject truth. History shows that radical activists’ desires cannot be satisfied. Therefore, they will soon target something else. How can the Government justify investigating their future ludicrous claims?

    Suppose our radical activists decide to target Errol Barrow’s statue. What if they made similar easily disproven false claims that he poisoned thousands of Barbadians to death? What if they falsely claimed that Grantley Adams burned thousands of Barbadians’ houses to the ground?

    By not allowing any scrutiny of our radical activists’ lunatic claims, and forcing us to accept their false claims as official Government policy, the Government is firmly on a path of insanity. The sane path is one where the Government listens to both sides of an argument, and insists that all claims be verified before they become Government policy.

    Since the Government has signalled its intent to only listen to radical activists on the same-sex and republic issues, it seems that we will be on this insane path for a while.

    Grenville Phillips II is a Chartered Structural Engineer.

    He can be reached at NextParty246@gmail.com


  62. The other type of activist wants policies changed by any means necessary.

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

    Commuistsas!!

    Animal Farm


  63. Oh dear! Whatever went wrong at Harrison College? Some serious indoctrination of the white supremacist kind. No wonder my brother never stuck around after the bell rang and left after Fifth Form.

    Some of you love flogging a dead horse! Nelson is down. He will stay down!

    Moving on like Trevor Marshall to the “Having Found No-one Suitable”. I assume that refers to the hiring practices of certain new “plantations”.

    Ignorant Lawson,

    It is wuhnuh plague filled asses that desperately need the vaccine. When you asses get it, you will stop bringing the problem to Barbados. Meanwhile Barbadians will wear masks as usual until you lot sort yourselves out.

    But we know that the international community has more sense than you. And so it will not come to that no matter how much you may wish it.

    Imagine that the queen’s ancestors cared nothing for Lawson’s ancestors and yet he keeps holding on to yesterday


  64. Wuhnuh mean Grenville, the Trump supporter???

    Quite frankly, I am beginning to feel apprehensive about trusting his engineering knowledge too. I don’t know how many screws are loose or where!


  65. Well… I sincerely hope that William Skinner’s constant digs are not directed at me. Otherwise he would again be misrepresenting my position and my lifelong and daily concern with those less fortunate than myself. There are many who can attest to my frustration with the piecemeal and half-hearted manner in which we seek to address the dispossessed and dienfranchised. I have a different approach these days. It is more of a do-it-yourself approach that takes power out of the hands of the oppressors without their co-operation.


  66. Yes Donna you people have always been ahead of the game, for instance wearing masks before we even had covid.. Is that why your brother left school early to be another Black Caesar lol. This may have escaped you but unless your wearing n95’s you really dont have much protection. The reason to distance ,wash your hands was to flatten the curve so the hospitals wouldn’t be over run with everyone getting it at once , until vaccines come out the people will keep getting it just spread over more time. You will eventually get the vaccine but like canada will be waiting in the que.


  67. just like you Donna I like walking on broad street…… bridgetown and las vegas are probably the only two places you can pay for sex with chips.


  68. I wouldn’t know anything about that. I never needed to buy sex and I don’t gamble.

    You are quite incorrect about the protection offered by various masks. The N95 is simply the most effective mask. You must be getting your information from King Liar and co.

    Right wing nut!


  69. eggplant whisperer there are many studies that show just that , look on the daily mail it says masks dont stop covid check out the danish study,. Alex berensons new booklet even in 1918 they found that they have limited effect. Its a fashion statement now rather than being safe ,wear a n95 if you have any underlying island issues diabetes, highblood pressure or hideousness of the head.


  70. GP11 @NextParty246:
    ‘Since the Government has signalled its intent to only listen to radical activists on the same-sex and republic issues, it seems that we will be on this insane path for a while.’
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Why do you always have to conflate same-sex with going republic?

    You just can’t help being the chief of police on all matters of morality, can you now!

    A same-sex relationship is a human rights issue.

    Going republic is a political option with a ‘feel-good’ outcome for the country’s citizens.

    Come on GP2, the statue of Lord ‘Vice’ Admiral Nelson still has pride of place in its ‘rightful’ location of Trafalgar Square in the Motherland which, by the way, legally recognizes the rights of all minorities under its rainbow of citizens including those involved in same-sex relationships.

    But you do have a valid point.

    Why didn’t the “Government” solicit the views of the general populace including the “radical activists” on the removal of the Nelson erection but still wants to put the decriminalization of a plant and same-sex marriages to referendum?

    So which would have the greater national/cultural significance and financial implications for the ‘divorcing’ Little England?

    The pigheadedly made unilateral decision to go ‘Banana Republic’ in 2021?

    Or the decriminalizing of an innocent plant named Mary Jane Satan?

    Why purposely damage the lives and careers of harmless young people like the same Kemar Stuart just because of a plant made by God?

    What about legislating the right(s) of Ms Mount Gay who wants to marry Miss Cock(y)spur until death (or taxes) doeth them part without having to get permission from GP2 the Chief of People’s Bedroom Business in small-minded prime-wicking hypocritically drunk Bulbadus?


  71. When sinless cast their stones
    For some reason, I always riled French teacher Mrs T.J. Gilmore. One day, we were discussing some dude – could be Benvenuto Cellini, brilliant goldsmith, sculptor, artist, musician and poet, as well as murderer (and homosexualler of boys) – and she put the question to me: “Should a man’s personal reputation detract from the acclaim of his professional work?”
    “No,” I said. “And why is that?” she asked. “Because I know that is what you would want me to say.” Well, she hit the roof, which took some doing seeing that she was about four feet tall. But the Gilmore question is relevant. Few of us are perfect (certainly not me) and “judge not lest ye be judged” is good advice. But somehow, a man’s legacy always comes out good or bad.
    Bill Cosby and King Ja Ja are remembered only as woman hounds. Jackie Opel only for his remarkable talent. Pages of praise were heaped on my friend Owen Arthur after he died; no mention that he was being cursed stink by supporters of the present Prime Minister not many moons before and even threatened with a lawsuit for defamation. Our resident “histrionican”, Trevor Marshall (new word for you, Trev, my brother!) hilariously calls Nelson a “mass murderer” but we’ve welcomed a convicted mass murderer as a CARICOM head for many years.
    The Pocket Guide To the West Indies highlights the rapid change of ownership of these islands between England, France and Spain. Such was the tension that Port of Spain merchants rushed their valuables to Fort George when the English fleet was mistaken for Villeneuve’s fleet, which Nelson was pursuing in 1805, just before the battle of Trafalgar.
    Hence the inscription on Nelson’s statue: “The preserver of the British West Indies in a moment of unexampled peril.” It was for that reason
    that a statue of Nelson was erected, funded by public subscription of Barbadians of all colours. Amen.
    Some want to link Nelson to the slave trade. This is admirably disputed by Grenville Phillips II with full references, but no one has done an independent assessment of these points of view. An eminent Barbadian historian living overseas asked me about Phillips: “How come that he is so scintillatingly learned and right-thinking? I have been reading through all his available postings and am impressed.”
    No doubt Nelson had flaws. But, for me, that doesn’t overshadow his contribution to my country. A beautiful poem penned recently in his honour begins thus: “What did I do? What did I do, to earn this wild disdain? For years I took the pigeon pooh, the wind, the sun, the rain. And no one ever noticed me, or cared for my dilemma, or put, to satisfy my lust, a marble bust of Emma. Where I could feast my stony eyes in rapt, if sterile pleasure; for I have many memories of nights of love to treasure.” I hope it will be published in its entirety with permission from the author.
    That said, I am no big fan of statues. You can’t retaliate. At Sugar Producers where I first worked, there was a bust of Sir John Saint, another Englishman who saved Barbados in time of peril. On occasion, Dr Colin Hudson’s little son would put some warm lashes in Sir John with a pointer stick.
    Brother Joe in Australia told of a plan to replace Queen Victoria’s statue with an aborigine chief. “No way,” the aborigines said, “let the white woman stay up there and take the pigeon poop and the bad weather!” If you’re going to put up a statue, at least make him or her comfortable. I can’t believe Sir Wes will be asked to stand on one leg for the next 200 years.
    However, they say statues reflect popular feelings
    at a particular time in history. Given the influxes we’re seeing and promised, Nello could well be replaced by Mahatma Gandhi or that Chinese fellow Mousey Tongue.
    By the way, surely Nelson should be given credit as an organ donor who benefited thousands of Barbadians? Nello apparently captured a French ship which was transporting an organ. He gave it to our St Michael’s Cathedral.
    Richard Hoad is a farmer and social commentator. Email porkhoad@gmail.com.


  72. Nelson’s base to be kept for future use
    The base on which the statue of British Vice Admiral, Lord Horatio Nelson, once stood is going to be preserved for future use.
    Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Culture, John King, said yesterday that work was being done “to put it back to what it was” after the removal of the bronze statue on November 16. To facilitate the move, drilling had to be done, and that left the stone jagged.
    On Thursday night, an employee from the Ministry of Transport, Works and Maintenance was seen doing masonry work around the space. Yesterday, it had bunting of national colours wrapped around it, but King said he could not say if it was for part of the Independence Day Parade on Monday.
    Noting that the base was significant, given that it was built by “our forefathers”, he said Government would issue a statement soon concerning the redevelopment of National Heroes Square. It is understood that plans include hearing from the public about the way forward for the space and suggestions for the erection of another statue.
    “We are restoring it to its original look. This is the one part of the statue that the enslaved played a part in and must remain a part of the story going forward,” the minister said.
    The statue, erected in the 1800s, is being housed at Block “A” at the Garrison. The plan is to have it permanently at the Barbados Museum which is part of the UNESCO-designated Historic Bridgetown And Its Garrison. (GBM)


  73. Why does California have the highest number of new cases once again yesterday when it has a mask mandate statewide?

    Why do 8 out of the 10 states with the most COVID infections (cases?) yesterday also have mask mandates?

    That data alone renders the CDC report incredible.

    Arizona which buts and bounds on California has no mask mandate and is # 14.

    Utah, which also has no mask mandate is # 26.

    Idaho, no mask mandate, is #34.

    Wyoming is # 45 and has no mask mandate.

    Seems to me masks are a hit or miss solution to slowing the spread of COVID.

    Probably find age distribution in a state may play a part …. or something they haven’t thought of yet.


  74. Wyoming with no mask mandate had fewer cases than Kansas yesterday.

    The report is based on the state that has a mandate with the lowest infections.

    This can’t be real science!!


  75. Somebody needs to tell Lawson… The topic is Nelson’s statue and not ‘Nelson Street’. Don’t wait on him to figure it out for himself.


  76. Easily explained, as you know, by population size. The population size of all those maskless states added together do not add up to the population of California.

    You, being an engineer, would have been exposed to mathematics and statistics at a higher level and would therefore not be expected to posit an argument so easily dismissed by my seventeen year old son who is still awaiting the results of his CXC examination.

    This is why I say you are evil. These misrepresentations you insist on presenting to the unsuspecting reader are dangerous to our health and could even be deadly.

    Our almost total dependence on tourism ensures that Barbados will welcome COVID infected visitors to our shores daily. Your misinformation may,
    however slightly, cause the loony right-wing rebellion to catch on and those measures that have been proven to keep us safe may be rejected by an ignorant few.

    You need an exorcist to chase out the demons that so obviously possess your demented soul.

    If you have a death wish why not simply hang yourself? Some of us are enjoying our lives.


  77. And as for Richard Hoad, I stopped buying the Weekend Nation when I read his Stand Your Ground column, in which it was easily gleaned that he identified more with the killer George Zimmerman than with Trayvon Martin, his victim, though no names were called and it was approached in a roundabout way.

    The only black person’s opinion that Richard Hoad seems to accept without reservation (or research I am willing to bet) is the one that agrees with his colonial viewpoint.

    Therefore Grenville Phillips the Second would easily earn his respect, having also posited that the colonial ties to the British monarchy is some sort of “insurance policy” and that Donald Trump the white supremacist has somehow done more for black people than put their lives at risk by his racist rhetoric and policy. A more than cursory look at his policies and actions would reveal that the positives were surface at best while the negatives cut deep.

    Has Richard Hoad dared to write a column in support of Donald Trump? Does anybody know?

    Or has he written one column against? If he hasn’t, that too would suffice.


  78. @Rabbit
    Looks as if your statistics have created a ‘facts checkers’ group.

    That rabbit hole has been blocked (by a teenager with loads of cement).

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