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Race Issue: Barbados and Everywhere Else

During the sitting of the Senate of 25 March 2021, Senator Rev. Dr. John A. Rogers delivered an interesting presentation. He referred to the heinous event history recorded as the Atlantic Slave Trade and its relevance to Barbados formulating fit for purpose policy to protect our future well-being in a volatile global space. The blogmaster…

During the sitting of the Senate of 25 March 2021, Senator Rev. Dr. John A. Rogers delivered an interesting presentation. He referred to the heinous event history recorded as the Atlantic Slave Trade and its relevance to Barbados formulating fit for purpose policy to protect our future well-being in a volatile global space. The blogmaster recommends those interested in pursuing serious discussion to take the time to listen to Roger’s presentation from around 30 minutes of the video.

…it revealed that the top one percent of households globally own 43 percent of all personal wealth, while the bottom 50 percent own only one percent. That top-tier one percent amounts to 52 million people who are all millionaires in net wealth (after debt).

Top 1 percent of households own 43 percent of global wealth

In a related event this week President Joe Biden had reason to say in response to Georgia’s new suppression law that it is antithetical to who Americans aspire to be. The issue of race is not a Barbados condition, it is a human condition, a condition that has created an US versus THEM condition. It is also a zero sum condition that benefits the capitalists. When we we learn.

The Senate – Thursday 25 March 2021

The blogmaster has been around the block long enough to know the divide and conquer mentality of imperfect humans based on gender, class AND race will be with us until the end of time. However, as a people we will be forced to co-opt creative approaches to mask and contain the prejudice, bigotry and yes- racism of many who will walk beside us because the establishment is vested in the system.

468 responses to “Race Issue: Barbados and Everywhere Else”

  1. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

    This thread points out above the line the link between race division and wealth inequality from capitalism.
    This concept was apparent to me from visiting third world countries and put out into internet long before economists picked it up and ran with it in their works.

    The wealthy have untold opportunity to pursue business and careers away from shackles of mind numbing work as working class. In all business places white people assume they have the privilege to be bosses over non-whites whatever class their parents background and living standards were. Some are there to do the work while others are there for the promotions getting credit for other people’s work.

    People’s thoughts are filtered through the filing mechanism of their brains which has thousands of signals per second and they will classify things from their preconceived mindsets such as who is saying something and not what they are saying.

    Ideas are only accepted when one of their own say something, so whites need whites to explain racism and don’t listen to blacks.
    Blacks only listen to blacks and only credit other blacks for thoughts they have adopted from other sources. This is well apparent on BU by Bajans who want Bajan wisdom and ignore Non-Bajans and Non-Whites except to argue with petty points of rebuttals.

    I pointed out a basic fundamental Buddhist thought that suffering is a process in life that builds up good karma that is rewarded, which was misinterpreted as saying blacks should accept their hardship. A simple example of the concept that I was attempting to convey was who do you think deserve to rewarded the most when their souls pass to heaven, slaves or their slave masters.

  2. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    This is well apparent on BU by Bajans who want Bajan wisdom and ignore Non-Bajans and Non-Blacks except to argue with petty points of rebuttals

  3. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    Once again, the race issue is being raised to distract from our government’s great success in fighting the pandemic.

    I know dozens of black millionaires in Barbados, all very successful and trustworthy businessmen and bussineswomen.So what is the problem?

    Apparently, two islands exist called Barbados: an unreal dystopian island in the delusions of the opposition where poverty, chaos and racial hatred reign and a real heavenly island in our world where our Supreme Leader Mia Mottley guarantees prosperity, security, stability, harmony and order to all inhabitants.

    An island where the many black local millionaires reside in their mansions and villas at the Sandy Lane area and elsewhere at distinguished places. Unfortunately, many opposition members claim exactly the opposite with impunity. Time for our government to protect the true freedom of expression, because freedom of expression does not include the right to lie!

  4. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ David
    “However, as a people we will be forced to co-opt creative approaches to mask and contain the prejudice, bigotry and yes- racism of many who will walk beside us because the establishment is vested in the system.”
    May I politely ask in what context is “mask” being used here ?
    Kindly explain an example of a “ creative” approach we can use to “mask” the maladies of which you have written.
    Thanks.

  5. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Satya: A Practice of Truthfulness

    Satya (truthfulness), the second of the five yamas (restraints) described in the Yoga Sutra, guides us to think, speak, and act with integrity. The word sat means “that which exists, that which is.” Satya, therefore, is seeing and communicating things as they actually are, not as we wish them to be. This can be quite challenging since we all perceive life through a conditioned mind-set: our thoughts, beliefs, and past experiences shape and colour whatever we see, and, as such, none of us experience an event in the same way. Also, what we experience as truth one day may not be the same truth we live the next. Practicing satya requires staying open to truth in the present moment, as it reveals itself. Not always an easy task.

  6. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    No masking of racism in Barbados David. It should be exposed.

    Equiable distribution of wealth and financial empowerment of black Barbadians is critical.

  7. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Equitable

  8. David Avatar
    David

    William is it not obvious?

    Racism is deeply rooted to power structures in the establishment. The fact 1% of the world controls over 40% of the wealth is no different to what obtains in Barbados. Those who control the wealth will mask behaviours that feed racism and prejudices to maintain the power structure they enjoy. It will not change as long as there is greed – one of the deadly sins afflicting mankind.

  9. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “RBG Communiversity Professor John Henrik Clarke Quotes” for Download
    1. “RBG Communiversity Professor John Henrik Clarke Quotes” Powerful people cannot afford to educate the people that they oppress, because once you are truly educated, you will not ask for power. You will take it. Professor John Henrik Clarke Religion is the organization of spirituality into something that became the hand maiden of conquerors. Nearly all religions were brought to people and imposed on people by conquerors, and used as the framework to control their minds. Professor John Henrik Clarke My main point here is that if you are the child of God and God is a part of you, the in your imagination God suppose to look like you. And when you accept a picture of the deity assigned to you by another people, you become the spiritual prisoners of that other people. “RBG Communiversity Professor John Henrik Clarke Quotes” From: RBG DR. JOHN HENRIK CLARKE STUDIES COLLECTION

    “RBG Communiversity Professor John Henrik Clarke Quotes” A good teacher, like a good entertainer first must hold his audience’s attention, then he can teach his lesson. Professor John Henrik Clarke If I lead the field in any way, it is in the area of curricula development, study guides and other teaching materials. Professor John Henrik Clarke Nothing the European mind ever devised was meant to do anything but to facilitate the European’s control over the world. Professor John Henrik Clarke The first light of human consciousness and the world’s first civilizations were in Africa. Professor John Henrik Clarke The role of religions in the domination and destruction of African civilizations was ruthless… Islam was as guilty as all the rest. Professor John Henrik Clarke There was a time when all dark-skinned people were called Ethiopians, for the Greeks referred to Africa as, ‘The Land of The Burnt-Face People.’ Professor John Henrik Clarke To hold a people in oppression you have to convince them first that they are supposed to be oppressed. Professor John Henrik Clarke What I have learned is that a whole lot of people with degrees don’t know a damn thing, and a lot of people with no degrees are brilliant. Professor John Henrik Clarke
    “RBG Communiversity Professor John Henrik Clarke Quotes” Africa and its people are the most written about and the least understood of all of the world’s people. This condition started in the 15th and the 16th centuries with the beginning of the slave trade system. The Europeans not only colonialized most of the world, they began to colonialize information about the world and its people. Professor John Henrik Clarke Africans in the United States must remember that the slave ships brought no West Indians, no Caribbeans, no Jamaicans or Trinidadians or Barbadians to this hemisphere. The slave ships brought only African people and most of us took the semblance of nationality from the places where slave ships dropped us off. Professor John Henrik Clarke After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, the United States would enter, in a formal way, what had been up to that date strictly a European conflict. Marcus Garvey’s prophecy about the European scramble to maintain dominance over the whole world was now a reality. Professor John Henrik Clarke All the working-class people could feel a Malcolm X. They could hear Malcolm X, and two weeks later they could whisper back what he said. Verbatim. They could remember the way he put it, and he put it so well. Professor John Henrik Clarke Anytime someone says your God is ugly and you release your God and join their God, there is no hope for your freedom until you once more believe in your own concept of the ‘deity.’ Anytime you turn on your own concept of God, you are no longer a free man. No one needs to put chains on your body, because the chains are on your mind. Professor John Henrik Clarke.
    “RBG Communiversity Professor John Henrik Clarke Quotes” As the eldest son of an Alabama sharecropper family, I was constantly troubled by a collage of North American southern behaviors and notions in reference to the inhumanity of people. There were questions that I did not know how to ask but could, in my young, unsophisticated way, articulate a series of answers. Professor John Henrik Clarke History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are but, more importantly, what they must be. Professor John Henrik Clarke I saw no African people in the printed and illustrated Sunday school lessons. I began to suspect at this early age that someone had distorted the image of my people. My long search for the true history of African people the world over began. I understood that my family was rich in love but would probably never own the land my father, John, dreamed of owning. My mother, Willie Ella Mays Clarke, was a washerwoman for poor white folks in the area of Columbus, Georgia where the writer Carson McCullers once lived. Professor John Henrik Clarke In order to have a charismatic leader, you have to have a charismatic program. Because if you have a charismatic program, then if you can read you can lead. When the leader gets killed while you’re reading from page 13 of your charismatic program, you can bury the man with honors, then continue the plan by reading from page 14. Let’s keep on. Professor John Henrik Clarke
    “RBG Communiversity Professor John Henrik Clarke Quotes” In the United States, the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954, outlawing segregation in school systems, was greeted with mixed feelings of hope and skepticism by African-Americans. Professor John Henrik Clarke Malcolm X found the language that communicated across the board, from college professor to floor sweeper, all at the same time, without demeaning the intellect of either. Professor John Henrik Clarke My daddy wanted me to be a farmer; feel the smoothness of Alabama clay and become one of the first blacks in my town to own land. But, I was worried about my history being caked with that southern clay, and I subscribed to a different kind of teaching and learning in my bones and in my spirit. Professor John Henrik Clarke.”

  10. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Read again:

    “Professor John Henrik Clarke Africans in the United States must remember that the slave ships brought no West Indians, no Caribbeans, no Jamaicans or Trinidadians or Barbadians to this hemisphere. The slave ships brought only African people and most of us took the semblance of nationality from the places where slave ships dropped us off. “

  11. Mottley's Crew Avatar
    Mottley’s Crew

    “Indian racism towards Black people is almost worse than white peoples’ racism” An Interview with Arundhati Roy | MR Online
    https://mronline.org/2020/06/13/indian-racism-towards-black-people-is-almost-worse-than-white-peoples-racism-an-interview-with-arundhati-roy/

  12. Mottley's Crew Avatar
    Mottley’s Crew

    South Asian anti-black racism: ‘We don’t marry black people’ – BBC News
    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/newsbeat-53395935

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

    That would have been exclusive of the Malian and other African bloodlines that were already in the Americas/Caribbean region from thousands to hundreds of years before, also exclusive of those who were deported from Europe/UK and Spain after the Moors lost control…..those bloodlines survived.

  14. Mottley's Crew Avatar
    Mottley’s Crew

  15. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Try ignoring the racist scum hating on the Asians to enlighten your minds

    Best New Afro House is an audio-visual masked adventure through the past, present and future of Black Culture.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omr4Hynbdkg

  16. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ WURA
    A good question to ask is how many of our children with : island scholarships , exhibitions and 10/ 11 CXC “ sirtificates” have ever hear or read anything by John Henrik Clarke.
    But, when the show is over……..

    @ David
    Thanks for your response. However you need to read what you wrote again. No worries.

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

    William…remember there are STILL LAWS on the STATUTE BOOKS that PREVENTS such literature from being disseminated in the schools and the society at large….so they would not have had access anyway unless they did became students in other countries…..many, yourself included can remember how it play out for those seeing black consciousness infromation….the likes of Bobby Clarke etc can tell us what was done to them under colonial governments trying to educate the masses about things African…

    .it’s Mia’s RESPONSIBILITY to REMOVE THEM and do right by this and future generations by making sure this information is available at all times……to all AFRICAN DESCENDANTS…

    as i said, she will get all the help she needs, just START THE PROCESS…by removing the archiac anti-black laws and the Public Order Act….Africans are entitled to assembly to advertise their Africaness.

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

    so they would not have had access anyway unless they BECAME students in other countries…..many, yourself included can remember how it played out for those SEEKING black consciousness information…

  19. Mottley's Crew Avatar
    Mottley’s Crew

    The Truth About Racism In Trinidad | Racism struggles | Trinidad & Tobago

  20. Mottley's Crew Avatar
    Mottley’s Crew

    Racism & hatred of Blacks in Guyana will doom the nation’s economic plans Guyana Politics 2020
    https://guyanapolitics2020.com/index.php/2020/11/22/racism-hatred-of-blacks-in-guyana-will-doom-guyanas-economic-plans/

  21. Mottley's Crew Avatar
    Mottley’s Crew

    Voice of the Diaspora Dr. Kean Gibson Interview

  22. Mottley's Crew Avatar
    Mottley’s Crew

    https://www.amazon.com/Cycle-Racial-Oppression-Guyana/dp/0761824693

  23. Mottley's Crew Avatar
    Mottley’s Crew

    https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Duty-Hinduism-Violence-Guyana/dp/9768082275

  24. David Avatar
    David

    @William

    You are free to disagree. You live in a country that is deeply seated in racism yet it is considered developed. We some on the blog who bombard us with messages to suggest Barbados is alone in a struggle of race that will be with us until. It is about winning positions based on a pragmatic approach, we will never experience utopia on earth given the fallibility of mankind.

  25. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    WURA-War-on-UApril 8, 2021 9:45 AM Read again: “Professor John Henrik Clarke Africans in the United States must remember that the slave ships brought no West Indians, no Caribbeans, no Jamaicans or Trinidadians or Barbadians to this hemisphere. The slave ships brought only African people and most of us took the semblance of nationality from the places where slave ships dropped us off. “

    Waru, The first part is not correct. Remember that the Carolina plantations were seeded from Barbados at least, maybe Jamaica, sugar cane and the colonial culture brought from the islands to the Carolinas.

    The sugar ‘industry’ was brought from Brazil, to Barbados and thence to the Carolinas, when some planters saw that as the future and left Barbados.

    Including George Washington, who also had enslaved people working for him.

  26. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    The article is timely, as it coincides with the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic and the resolution subsequent.

    No doubt that racism is a construct to enforce social status and working status. It goes hand in hand with classism and both educational conditioning and false educational barriers to entry into prime positions.

    The percentages quoted, along with the pandemic, merely point to a change coming. That was probably the whole point of the Trump era, that a zealot was able to take advantage of general mistrust of the system. That mistrust runs deep and ultimately is rooted in the
    inequitable distribution of resources.

    Aside from being good policy, maybe the Democrats realise that change will come, either peacefully or otherwise, so better peacefully, hence the new focus on raising taxes and spending on the infrastructure and real job creation, not just hamburger flipping and standing in Walmart.

    The big chain store era was severely damaging to the USA. Destruction of jobs, of small business and communities. The same applies to Barbados.

    The world needs to get back to community based life and while global interaction is necessary, being slaves to large corporates is not a life.

    At the crux of it, housing is too scarce and expensive. Spending a life paying a mortgage, to retire for a few short years? Is that life?

    A serious look at land use policy is needed, to begin with. And stop with this building large monstrosities to live in, owing the banks.

    Small and strong should be the mantra. Leave more land to plant garden foods and fruit trees, as in the old days.

    The VERY FIRST step in addressing inequity is a fair land use policy, that all can afford. You wanted honest? That is it. Like um or lump um.

    Next, look at the miseducation system. Stop with this pushing people through schools with no certificates to show for it. Ensure that ALL can access higher education of some manner or means. Whether it be skills training or philosophical learning. There should be no price on learning.

    Get that Western brainwashed nonsense out of your head. The more all of us learn, the more our society progresses. Embrace the arts as well as the science.

    Don’t try to mould yourself on that picture in the magazine, learn to love the man / woman in the mirror and all that entails.

    This is how inequity is addressed. Not by making sure every man can get a loan at the bank. Throw out that model. It ain’t working.

    That is conditioning. Break out of the mental box into a new world.

  27. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Crusoe,

    My thoughts exactly!

  28. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    David et al,

    The government Treasury i.e. the citizens of Barbados (for those who disagree with what I am about to say, you do realise that is what the government Treasury is right?), owns enough arid land, not even agriculture land, to ensure that every citizen of Barbados can be allotted a 3,000 or 4,000 sq foot property without loan nor lien.

    Those who have without lien, they have already. Those who do not, or have with a loan, should be allotted. Get the town planning and architects to work on it. Sensibly lay out land plots and new developments to ensure.

    10 lots of roughly 4,300 sq foot in an acre. 640 acres per sq mile. Take away 30|% for utilities and roads, that leaves roughly 440 acres per sq mile. 4,400 lots per sq mile. 20 square miles will be 88,000 lots.

    The population of Barbados is 288,000 people, most being families and many with their own, paid for homes.

    After the above, tell me that it cannot be done.

    And not a concrete jungle either. Do not permit any building greater than a footprint of 1,300 sq foot on any lot. Still leaves room for food and trees. Or double the lot sizes and halve the amount. 44,000 lots is many.

    You want real change? And it is not giving the land away. Who do you think actually owns it. See what I started with.

    This way, no bank loans and people get a start in life and the country can progress. They might get a bank loan for the building, or save for it. But a huge leg up and on.

    Or if you want to keep it orderly and have a clean start, start it with those turning 18 and under 25 and any turning 18 from now. Give them all lots. With the caveat that the lots cannot be sold to a third party and can only be leased for food production, but kept in accordance with specific town planning guidelines.

    That would be a start.

  29. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    DonnaApril 8, 2021 12:17 PM Crusoe, My thoughts exactly!

    Thanks, The older I get the more I realise that conditioning plays a huge part in life. Unfortunately, we have to accept parameters to ‘get ahead’, but as a people, this applies globally, need to reject the old paradigm and recognise the psychoeconomic abuse that occurs.

    Wages have not kept up with inflation for years. Life is for living, not for serving corporate interests. Corporates should be a function of the society, to serve life and the community. But the beast has outgrown the cage.

    We really need to understand this. This applies globally.

    In addition, for too long we have allowed those who are trying to preserve the status quo, to condition our hatreds and mistrust of each other and to create racial divides.

    The old divide and rule, is the means that they keep running back too, no matter how disguised.

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

    Crusoe…you miss the point…this is fact John Hendrik Clarke is correct…..

    . there was an earlier ship that took slaves to Hispaniola first, you can confirm it with History.com…..Barbados was the clearing house for the Americas, but Portugal and Spain were 100 years ahead taking theirs to Brazil etc, they were in Africa from the late 12-13th centuries and beyond, the Portugese are still in some African countries…. …..whoever wandered into the Caribbean found Africans already in the Americas and definitely on the islands. whether they came voluntarily or were kidnapped and captured they came AS AFRICANS………context.

    “Professor John Henrik Clarke Africans in the United States must remember that the slave ships brought no West Indians, no Caribbeans, no Jamaicans or Trinidadians or Barbadians to this hemisphere. The slave ships brought only African people and most of us took the semblance of nationality from the places where slave ships dropped us off. “

  31. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rTcPmeAA4AI

  32. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    And just to compound the fact that as long as you still carry a spiritual connection, indestructible to our Motherland, we still HEAR the sounds of Africa in our heads…that is the power of bloodlines.

  33. TheOgazerts Avatar
    TheOgazerts

    It is quite possible that I may be repeating a point that was already made.

    Unlike England, the USA and host of other countries, Barbados is a majority black nation with a history of more than 50 years of black political power. To me, it is understandable why the changes are slow to come about or be reversed in these foreign lands, but what I cannot understand is how we in Barbados seem unable to make necessary changes (radical or small).

    Would our circumstances be any worse if we had 50 years of white political domination? Some will argue that is what we have/had.

  34. David Avatar
    David

    Barbados is a black majority country with the fundamentals of the economy heavily influenced from external sources i.e. tourism, international business and FDI. Clearly any government will tread carefully about implementing radical polices at the risk of destabilizing the established way of doing things. Mash up is easy, building back requires adequate resources and leadership.

  35. David Avatar
    David

    @Crusoe

    Your suggestion is a radical one and would offend the establishment of which the political class is an entrenched member.

  36. TheOgazerts Avatar
    TheOgazerts

    We set a low bar for ourselves if we expect our progress top parallel that of countries such as the USA or England.

    Empowering blacks is one area where Barbados can become an example to other countries by (1) removing the barriers that seem to retard progress of the black majority and (2) just as importantly, by protecting the lawful rights of the minority.

  37. TheOgazerts Avatar
    TheOgazerts

    “Clearly any government will tread carefully about implementing radical polices at the risk of destabilizing the established way of doing things. Mash up is easy, building back requires adequate resources and leadership.”

    This reminds me of a phrase I saw here recently ” Doing the right thing at the wrong time is wrong”. The time is right and has been right for quite some time. Give the “wrong thing” a try.

  38. David Avatar
    David

    Talk is cheap.

    Barbados is a heavily dependent country on the outside world, almost 100% dependent on external channels to feed our people AND heavily indebted. Yes we must be creative how we do things to improve self reliance but it is not a situation that can be achieved at the drop of a hat.

  39. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    ” but what I cannot understand is how we in Barbados seem unable to make necessary changes (radical or small).

    Would our circumstances be any worse if we had 50 years of white political domination? Some will argue that is what we have/had.”

    they were unable to make the necessary changes because they allow a bunch of greedy, selfish HATE FILLED minorities to make DECISIONS IN AND FOR BLACK LIVES…that they have NO RIGHT MAKING…and Mia has NO EXCUSE not change/END this clear discriminatory practice….ignornant Barrow and gaggle of house negros in the parliament allowed this to continue for 54 LONG YEARS…….NO ONE PROTECTED THE Black majority or their rights everyone would just roll into the island or the trash who live on the island did as they liked, Black people are definitely NOT PROTECTED BY THE LAW from this clear violation of human rights….and it has to end right away..

    So Theo…when you are talk about protecting rights, it’s BLACK RIGHTS NEED PROTECTING….it has NEVER happened..

  40. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rdaF_h06YX4

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

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aDZsWhkYbhc

  42. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    I am ignorant of the situation in Barbados such as levels of poverty for the poor and the politics which seem more about partisan bickering like football fans supporting teams, but maybe an outsider can add value without knowing the full details.

    Waru seems to think politicians are glorified gangsters, which I do not pick up on with Mia, although politics is a self serving hustle for your own wealth. 54 years independence is just a blink of the eye and it seems Barbados has picked up a massive mortgage debt during this time. I think politicians failed in their promises and plans which came up short and have sold people short.

    Tourism is not an income stream that yields enough wealth for the nation and capitalism of trade only puts wealth into minority of business owners, financial services are more about custody of other peoples monies, and the trickle down theory of wealth reaching poorest is a myth put out by bad Governments supporting businesses and ignoring the poor. People seem to leave the island and migrate for better opportunities elsewhere.

    The blame game against politicians, businesses and minority races is also a waste of time. Freeing blacks from slavery did not free them from poverty and gaining independence in 1966 did not provide full prosperity to everybody in the nation. In all poor countries the wealth gap is much greater with very rich and very poor.

    On the plus side the health issues in Barbados can be achieved by improvements in diet and exercise regimes which does not require money. Maybe the solution Barbados needs to look at is how can you live a good life without lots of money.

  43. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QiVW8rtdUmA

  44. David Avatar
    David

    @Kiki

    Good points.

    The blogmaster wonders how many who have commented listened to Senator Rogers.

  45. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Sometimes 555 amazes me.
    Moments of brilliance like my friend HA.

  46. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    That wasn’t me that was God speaking. I am just a vessel channelling his/her spirit to shine out his/her power and glory and loving kindness.
    selah

  47. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ David April 8, 2021 1:49 PM
    (Quote):
    Talk is cheap.
    Barbados is a heavily dependent country on the outside world, almost 100% dependent on external channels to feed our people AND heavily indebted. Yes we must be creative how we do things to improve self reliance but it is not a situation that can be achieved at the drop of a hat. (Unquote).
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    And ‘Action’ is indeed expensive! That’s why the promises of politicians must be always swallowed with an overdose of salt.

    That principle of “festina lente” can be a good guide to go by especially in times of major uncertainty like what prevails today with major economic uncertainty due to the current pandemic which has crippled the major engine of the Bajan economy.

    However, on the other hand, a time like this can offer the ‘best fitting’ opportunity for major political and social change.

    As the saying goes: ‘Never let a (good) crisis go to waste’.

    So should Barbados postpone the plan to go republic until the pandemic fizzles out?

    Or should the plan ‘Republic by November’ be ‘rushed’ through to meet the October deadline without major public discussions about the following issues which lie at the heart of the ‘Republic’ agenda?

    Who or what would be responsible for the ‘selection’ of the Head of State i.e. ‘El Presidente’?

    Would it be the ‘dictatorial Primus inter Pares’ PM acting on the advice of the Judiciary in consultation with the Leader of the ‘President’s Loyal’ Opposition?

    Would there be a need for another superfluous body of law-makers in the form of an unelected anachronistic Senate which would comprise mainly of selected officials by the ruling political administration which would also be selecting the ceremonial rubber-stamping President?

    Why go into a new age of governance with the same colonial institutional trappings where the “Crown” in the form of a ‘dummy queen’ of a GG is simply swapped for a figurehead of a pawn for a President?

    How about using this ‘once-in-a-colonial-lifetime’ golden opportunity to remove those backward and draconian laws like the Public Order Act which hangs like a massively outdated millstone around the necks of people (like William Skinner) who, in true republican style, have been crying out for real democracy and fair play for over for almost 5 decades of ‘titular’ Independence?

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

    “Freeing blacks from slavery did not free them from poverty and gaining independence in 1966 did not provide full prosperity to everybody in the nation.”

    it only happened because minorities were given the right by stupid negros to VIOLATE BLACK RIGHTS and TIEF THEIR MONEY……had they been put in their place from 1966 ….to 2021…there could never be any financial or social disparities…with the majority stuck in poverty…….that is what needs fixing….when they start JAILING THEM for violating Black rights and for THEFTS/EMBEZZLEMENT of taxpayers and pensioners money…there will be a big difference.

  49. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “That principle of “festina lente” can be a good guide to go by especially in times of major uncertainty like what prevails today with major economic uncertainty due to the current pandemic which has crippled the major engine of the Bajan economy.”

    every day it seems more and more that Covid is the blessing needed to expose the crimes committed on the island against Black humanity…..something had to give…let’s see if Mia allows these criminals to interfere in Black progress going forward….now that everyone is watching..

  50. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    “it only happened because minorities were given the right by stupid negros to VIOLATE BLACK RIGHTS and TIEF THEIR MONEY……had they been put in their place from 1966 ….to 2021…there could never be any financial or social disparities…with the majority stuck in poverty…….that is what needs fixing….when they start JAILING THEM for violating Black rights and for THEFTS/EMBEZZLEMENT of taxpayers and pensioners money…there will be a big difference.”

    sounds like the old legacy system of ruling class was kept it place under the new ownership

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