In The Spirit Of Openness

I have been able to get hold of a copy of the student handbook for the Ashay Rites of Passage programme.

I will comment further on this once I have had chance to fully digest it myself. However on the subject of reparations, which is the area I was particularly keen to see, it seems that there is indeed reason for concern. On the vocabulary page (p81), the term is defined thus:

Reparations: Money governments pay when it has hurt a group of people. African Americans must fight for reparations.

A vocubulary page should simply define the meaning of words. It should not editorialise. It's also not clear to me why African Americans are singled out.

Ashay was back in the news today with a somewhat confused article in the Royal Gazette. Titled 'CURE gives backing to Ashay programme', the article began by saying that CURE had given the programme the "thumbs up". However, a careful read of what the CURE representatives who sat in on one of the Ashay classes actually said reveals no such endorsement:

In order to review and speak to the content of the programme more extensively, Cure said it has asked to see a copy of the students’ workbooks from the school. “Without having access to the programme content as a whole, we are not in a position to promote its further applications, to critique or to offer a critical perspective on its potential,” [Cure executive officer Myra Virgil] said.

CURE were satisfied with what they saw in the classroom. However, they also realise that sitting in on one class is insufficient to fully assess the programme. Any backing CURE may have given it is therefore clearly only provisional.

Comments

[A Concerned Parent on 18.02.05 at 00:47]

Fuck that.
I have a young child about to enter primary school, and I just want to make clear that she will not be attending public school - 100% because of this program. Call me whatever you want, but school is for education, not indoctrination. It is absolutely ridiculous to think this will help integration in Bermuda at all. This program is clearly divisive and houses a not so hidden agenda that my child will NOT be exposed to.

[shipstones on 18.02.05 at 01:17]

What about religion Limey?

[Tiger Bay on 18.02.05 at 06:44]

It appears that Ashay takes a fringe idea (reparations) and presents it as an imperative. This is very damaging, and certainly presents casts a bad light on the judgement of Dellwood and the Ministry of Education.

It is a pity that the new "500 Years" history book is so expensive. I think it presents Bermuda's history from fair balanced perspective and would be a far better addition to the curriculum.

The public needs detailed information on the academic performance of each school, with graduation and college attendence rates for the secondary schools.

These schools should be measuring themselves against commonly used standards instead of peculiar ones dreamed up in the Ministry. This will provide a better chance for students to seek further education, and focus attention on those schools that are not performing.

Kids don't need reparations for events that happened generations ago; they need a fighting chance ... a real education ... NOW!

[Susan on 18.02.05 at 08:15]

Tiger Bay,

I believe the 500 years book was distributed, gratis, to school students.

[Tiger Bay on 18.02.05 at 08:18]

I am so glad to hear that; is that a one time deal or will it be continued each year?

[Cedar Hill on 18.02.05 at 08:37]

I am surprised that CURE was willing to make any public statement, given that they merely made a social call rather than an investigation and did not see the curriculum.

It's clear that Dellwood knows that it is wrong by the fact that it will not openly provide the curriculum.

I attended private school and was taught equality and respect for all humans, as well as self-acheivement. Why are the public schools pushing this racist screed?

Initiatives like the following, from the US Congress, make more sense. They acknowledge wrongs and pledge to correct inequalities:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:11:./temp/~c1097zjwxJ::

[WA on 18.02.05 at 10:16]

In primary school, I was tought that: When a black person calls a white person a 'white fool' it meant the the white person is a fool. When a white person (in retaliation) calls a black person a 'black fool', the white person gets repremanded for it, punished and called a racist. It's because racism only works one way in Bermuda....and it seems to be winning.

[Boogie on 18.02.05 at 12:17]

Well well, thatnk you very much Mr. Wells. I do not believe in reparations for slavery. Segregation, however, is a different story. Anyone born before 1962 in Bermuda was subjected to segregation. It is as real as the neisi (ethnic Japanese) who were sent to concentration camps during the Second World War.

The problem with reparations for blacks is its' a scorched earth policy. They are going after companies that insured slaves - threatening to destroy them.

It is good to know what is being taught in the ASHAY programme. As the kids say, "Now we know!"

[Bill Akin on 19.02.05 at 09:40]

My family was forced out of Scotland 355 years ago. To who do we apply for reparations?
Regards, Bill

[big bad wolf on 19.02.05 at 09:58]

Bill you should apply to the English....My family would like the crown of Scotland back while your at it! The Stuarts were sharp dressers but not great at planning battles. Do you think we could rally the Clans again to get England out of Scotland? Tartan Wolf ^..^

[Fraz on 19.02.05 at 12:30]

Ummmmm Wolf, devolution happened a few years ago; Scotland has it's own government and everything. Unless you're planning on rallying the clans to dig a bloody big ditch to separate Scotland from England, you're a couple of years late.

[BermudaCedar on 19.02.05 at 17:45]

Shipstones -
yes,there is religion, but not the usual kind. Royal Gazette article mentions the concept of "maat". (Come on CURE - do your homework, educate yourself.) Ma'at is the goddess of truth, balance, order and justice, daughter of the sun god Ra, a part of the Egyptian underworld judging the dead. There are ruins of a temple dedicated to Ma'at at Karnak. She was more than just a concept. Go to www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/maat.htm
And CURE, these kids are too smart to criticize the curriculum the teacher wrote!

References to Egyptian terms, concepts, values, culture are all a part of Kemetic Orthodoxy, an ancient religion being rekindled today. Go to www.kemet.org/kemexp1.html - read the last line of the second paragraph. Sound familiar?

[Bill Akin on 20.02.05 at 01:28]

Gee Fraz I think that Italian fellow Hadrian tried a wall. I blame it on my mums side. You just can't civilise the Danes and then you toss them in with the Scots? Just no telling what a mess the pairing would make.
Regards, Bill

[J Galt on 20.02.05 at 09:31]

From the 2004 budget speech.

Mr. Speaker, there will be renewed focus on helping students develop into good citizens. New funding in the sum of $220,000 will permit the character education programme which was piloted at three schools to expand to other schools. The "Ashay Rites of Passage", a cultural education programme through which students learn values such as honesty and integrity, is being piloted at the middle school level at a cost of $60,000.

Couldn't find any mention of it in the 2005 budget.

[shipstones on 20.02.05 at 20:05]

Fornicator lets hear your thoughts on this issue!

[Richard T on 21.02.05 at 07:41]

May i just say that the whole idea of reperations for events that happend a few hundred years ago is jut silly. If people were to get reperations for the mistreatment of there race a few hundred years ago the all countries would sue each other.

heres an idea how about we keep all this in the past....all of hummanity knows what has happened in the troubled history of the humman race and has learned from it (except for people of extreme views who ignor what history has tought us.

Its the whole idea of compensation that has destroyed the world economey with people suing everyone else. People should earn there own money and be self-determind and not rely on hand-outs unless they can not work for themselves (ie there disabled, sick ect...........

[Fornicator on 21.02.05 at 15:47]

"Fornicator lets hear your thoughts on this issue!"

Already updated my thoughts in the other thread.

"May i just say that the whole idea of reperations for events that happend a few hundred years ago is jut silly."

I tend to agree. IMO discussions of reparations should be limited to legalalized discrimination from the turn of the 20th century up to now.

"Its the whole idea of compensation that has destroyed the world economey with people suing everyone else. People should earn there own money and be self-determind and not rely on hand-outs unless they can not work for themselves (ie there disabled, sick ect..........."

Pshaw - it's individual greed/selfishness/excess and contempt for fellow man that has pushed us in the sewer. Capitalism is not an intrinsically moral value system (neither is communism). I'd wager that most of your "top earners" are also your top exploiters. But these are the good guys.

Here's an idea! If we say that people should just earn their own money, let's implement a 100% inheritence tax. That way everyone starts on a level playing field right out of the womb. No one benefits from past wrong doing or right d doing. If you don't become wealthy, then there's absolutely no question of fault or economic advantage.

Now about that sarcasm button...

[Principessalogic on 25.02.05 at 12:31]

I agree with Fornicator. Reparations for acts that took place over 100 years ago should not be given. If this were the case, then everyone is entitled to money from one race/country or another. Can I get repatriation from the Romans for invading and enslaving us?

I think the main people who are holding black people back are other black people. I know many successful black people who really don't care what happened in the past, it's the future that counts. They work hard, and appreciate the opportunies that they have, which are exactly the same as everyone else, white, black, brown or whatever colour, race, etc you come from.

There are many races who have suffered colonisation, slavery etc in the past, but do you here them asking for reparation, or moaning about how badly they were treated. The Europeans were not exactly nice to countries that they colonized, but do you hear them complaining like Black people? Indians, for example, have made the most of their colonial past, and have become an intrinsic part of the British economy, working in all walks of life. They don't sit around complaining.

What is so special about Black people that they can blame everyone else but themselves for their problems. They are no longer African, but Bermudian, just as white Bermudians are no longer European, they are Bermudian. If they think they have such a raw deal now, why don't they go and spend some time in Africa, preferably the poorest parts. Maybe then they would see how nice their lives are here.

It's great that Black history is being taught, but please teach it alongside other history and in an unbiased manner. Only then can we learn from the past and move on.

[ace on 25.02.05 at 13:08]

pssscchhhhttttt <- The sound of a new can of worms being opened.

[loki on 25.02.05 at 13:37]

*grabs deckchair, popcorn*

[Point on 25.02.05 at 14:13]

*curls up into a ball, covers head with arms and repeats to self......there's no place like home....there's no place like home......*

[Fornicator on 25.02.05 at 14:36]

I was sorta with you until I got to here...

"What is so special about Black people that they can blame everyone else but themselves for their problems."

and here...

"If they think they have such a raw deal now, why don't they go and spend some time in Africa, preferably the poorest parts. Maybe then they would see how nice their lives are here."

1) Out of all the groups you mentioned, blacks were the only groups who dealt with legalised discrimination through 1969 (Bermuda). Being that we are only 35 years out of legalised discrimination, anyone with the intelligence of a rock could estimate that the impact of past racism would still resonate in today's society, EVEN if everyone had an absolute and immediate change of heart in 1969. No other racial group west of the Atlantic has been persecuted as much as blacks have in the 20th century. We were the ones who got lynched, burned, castrated, shot, hosed, bitten, denied political rights and economically opressed. That's plenty to be upset about - it isn't ancient history.

2) I think that Blacks would have been a whole lot better off if they simply emulated what immigrant communities have done in USA, Canada, BDA, etc. The same blacks you praise tend to be the same ones who did the opposite of what successful immigration communities have done.

3) The values espoused in popular culture today are far more of a handicap to people who are at the bottom of the barrel than to people who have already amassed significant wealth.

4) It's entirely contradictory for you to say that successful blacks you know "don't think about the past", and then tell blacks they should be thankful because of how bad things are in Africa.

So uh, thanks for the waste of time...

PS: Nice sound efx there Ace :-)

[jake on 25.02.05 at 16:06]

Principessalogic:

All I can say is: how unoriginal.

Your manner of stating what I will admit to being a problem within the black community is typical of those who have had privilege. There are problems in the black community but they do not absolve the wrongs perpetuated - some to this day - by some people in the white community. (note: Ace/loki: some people).

Your back to Africa call however is pathetic. Conditions in the west for black people are bad enough. We need go no further than St. Monica's Mission or the Curve / Deep Dale.

I am not blaming white people for the drugs sold there. I blame the drug dealers (white and black). But let's not act like Bermuda is a paradise for all of us. It is not.

Having said that, I welcome you to contribute more to this site and learn (a) how we are learning from each other and (b) how not to make potentially good points in an insensitive and hateful way.

Just a thought.

[demeter on 25.02.05 at 16:13]

Correct me if I am wrong (actually that's a redundant statement on this site) but hasn't it been pretty much accepted that the CIA are responsible for infiltrating Harlem etc with crack back when I was a minor (70s/80s)and while that's not the only drug that is causing problems, it is the no 1 offender to the user and society with its effects on the nervous system and drug-related crime? And the CIA was staffed with over 85% white people at the time so some blame can be laid.

However, I don't believe in dwelling on blame, rather solutions...it's a new disease most governments acquire upon gaining power - BSE - Blame Someone Else......

[gombey on 25.02.05 at 16:32]

I guess you thought O.J was innocent?

it was a pair of jamaicans who introduced crack to amerika not the CIA ......thats from the same whine that blames whitey for spreading AIDS to afrika

[Fornicator on 25.02.05 at 16:35]

Demeter,

I've heard snippets here, and there, but nothing confirmed. One way to flip it though would be: How would law enforcement be addressing the importation of drugs if they had started to corrupt suburbia? Would they take it more seriously if it wasn't just the ghettos that were falling apart? Would we have taken money laundering a lot more seriously?

I dunno - just asking the question?

[loki on 25.02.05 at 16:46]

Hi, Gombey

You really should check out this website, which I'm sure you'll find very informative:

http://www.getyourselfafuckingclue.com

[Point on 25.02.05 at 16:49]

Gombey

What loki said........

[big bad wolf on 25.02.05 at 17:09]

Peace above peace below...heah peace all around. Bermudians of the rainbow lets be one voice against the extremist that would divide us. We are selling ourselves and our island to oblivion!

[Richard T on 25.02.05 at 21:22]

good words wolf i myself dislike all extremists and belive in moderation.