How even-handed will CURB be?

Last week, the anti-racism organisation CURB (Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda) was re-launched. The full speech delivered by its President, Lynn Winfield, can be found here.

While I applaud any initiative to help address inequities between the races in Bermuda, I can’t help but wonder how even-handed CURB will be when it comes to fulfilling its pledge to “bring pressure on Government, the media, organisations, businesses, sports clubs and churches to confront racist stereotypes and behaviours”.

“It makes my skin crawl when people talk about black people being racist,” said Eva Hodgson, a member of CURB’s executive council. “White people are not targeted by racism.”

Statements like that are going to make it difficult for some white people to fully support what CURB is trying to do. That’s a shame. I hope that Ms. Winfield will take the opportunity to clarify that Dr. Hodgson’s comments reflect her own opinions and not those of CURB.

Comments

[Raptor on 15.10.06 at 17:49]

Racism is a human condition. I've seen it in action both ways. Smarten up, Ms. Hodgson. Right on, Limey. CURB has some clarification to do.

[Hard To Say on 15.10.06 at 20:23]

I guess they can add themselves to CURE which stands for: Committee to Unravel & Ruin the Economy.

[Denis Pitcher on 15.10.06 at 21:20]

It is tremendously disappointing that Ms. Hodgson has exemplified an attitude held by too many Bermudians. That racism only exists when black people are the target.

All people are at one point or another the target of racism and prejudice based upon the color of their skin, the way they look or the stereotypes associated with them.

This blindness to the reality of racism is a major pitfall that will hold Bermudians back for a long time.

Especially troubling is the ongoing Black on Black racism that many refuse to see. Condemning Black's for associating with whites is a terribly damaging attitude for our society to hold and clearly showcases how individuals, even Blacks, still use the color of one's skin as a deciding factor of what it accepted and what is not.

[Lost in Flatts on 16.10.06 at 05:25]

Ms. Hodgson is clearly an itelligent, articulate woman, which makes a comment like that all the more painful to read. She more or less defines her stance by saying that, and as that stance is not, I would hope, in the true interest of CURE, I wonder how she can be an acting executive for the group.

But seriously, who am I kidding, we all know CURE is only there to deal with 'real' racism. Any stereotyping, slandering or disadvantage caused by the colour of ones skin is fair game as long as its white or asian.

Until her generation leave the leadership of Bermuda, we're all on a road to nowhere.

[sandgrownan on 16.10.06 at 08:18]

Lost if Flatts - how true. She and her ilk are the real barrier to improving things in Bermuda.

[ThoughtPolice on 16.10.06 at 12:09]

An ignorant racist is just a racist, but a well-articulated, well-educated, intelligent racist is a "political activist."

[bermudacop on 16.10.06 at 18:33]

when I read Dr. Hodgsons comments I took off my black and white bracelet and threw it in the trash. Forget CURB if thats the thinking behind it.

[traditionalist on 16.10.06 at 19:01]

Black people were the first to practice racism according to Epega nigerian babalawo.
Whites were born in Africa and chased out into the jungle because the skin color was deemed a curse. Eventually they migrated to Europe. This is why when they came back the Chiefs welcomed them as brothers and gave them prisoners of war for slaves. Sometimes u gotta tell the truth.

[Dan Burke on 16.10.06 at 19:45]

Its a shame Bermuda of all places is clinging to these outdated perceptions of racism. It was Bermudians who taught me to love and respect all people and not just my own. I would like to think such anti intuitive attitudes were learned from americans. Ironically, these types of attitudes are quickly becoming quite passe and considered counter productive in the states.

[Daedalus on 16.10.06 at 21:00]

Spot on ThoughtPolice.

I've been listening to the same old same old from Eva Hodgson since the mid-nineteen sixties.

Back then the multi-talented John Stubbs used to stick his very courageous neck out and (looking around at the then Establishment) declare to everyone and anyone that "what this island needs are some very important funerals".

What it needs now is for some not so important folks to "get a life".

[Hard To Say on 16.10.06 at 21:19]

“It makes my skin crawl when people talk about black people being racist,” said Eva Hodgson, a member of CURB’s executive council. “White people are not targeted by racism.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ms Hodgson, I haven't laughed this much in months.

[Ethiops on 16.10.06 at 22:07]

There will come a time for even Eva to address her obviously mixed blood and come to terms with her true nature. I dare any light skin onion to step outside the box and come clean with the reality of their mixed nature. Its border line retarded for a light skin woman to be claiming blackness but, then this is local folly at its finest. Thousands upon thousands of people simply deny their mixed reality and take a side because that’s how it’s always been. One drop of black blood means you are black. Likewise in parts of Africa the reverse is the order of the day. Maybe its time to teach kids otherwise…

[murmur on 16.10.06 at 22:43]

Eva's been around for a while and must hold the record for the most letters to the editor in Bermuda's history. Surely you Limey contributors are quite familiar with her views which are very much her own and calculated to stir things up. I read her with a grain of salt, but also with an understanding that racism did damage her. I think there was a time in Bermuda when white folks (I'm white btw) were so racist that to say blacks were racists for disliking whites really was beyond the pale. Maybe Dr. Eva has yet to catch up with the times. Blacks are in power now, and (a tiny minority) just don't like whites at all. They scowl at white folks. But every black Bermudian I've ever got to know has been genuinely kindhearted and prepared to help me out when I needed it. How many times has a black driver stopped to pick up my wife and kids and stroller in the rain? I've lost count! I've tried to return the favours.

You can't attack racism by continually taking the defensive. CURB is trying to do the right thing and there are sensible people running it. Take a look at the interview of Myra Virgil, former director of CURE, and a person who has helped CURB. There is someone with a bit of common sense and she runs the Human Rights show. (Well, she is Canadian after all!) Read between the lines when you read what she says. There is lots of room for sensible people to deal with the issue of race in Bermuda. And room to make changes for the better.

[Rev. Goat on 16.10.06 at 23:02]

When they did the press conference the speaker said she hoped people would learn to understand the “the whites perception and the black experience".

This statement to me trivializes the white peoples feelings and opinions and says they are only a perception not reality and the black peoples feelings and opinions are actual and real.

Yes Eva says whites are the only racist ones. And what was the black guy that beat up my 8 year old and called him a white …………

[OnDeWata __/)__ on 17.10.06 at 08:36]

Here I am AGAIN commenting on Sister Eva...

You lot - some for the first time, judging by your comments - are seeing the worst example of Black Bermudian racism in the flesh. This woman hates everyone who is not exactly like her (sound familiar?). Yes, that is a long list including Whites (obviously), non-Bermudian Blacks, fair-skinned Blacks of ANY nationality, and Portugese.
She has been a perfect Bigot for over 60 years & CURE needs to distance itself from her immediately.

[stefan on 17.10.06 at 09:39]

I'm fairly new to the island. Judged by my origins and melanin content in my skin, I'd be classed as white. I have not experienced anything but good attitudes towards me and my family by ALL Bermudians.

My wife is Jamaican-British (black) and so our family is 'mixed'.
I have long concluded that there is much to be gained by genetics and other science which says that really there are NO human races. It's just a social construct--largely built by Europeans (time to admit that our forefathers carry the largest responsibility here).

History needs to be digested and wrongs need to be addressed (as a german I can sing a tune or two about that), but this "race" thing needs to go (this does NOT mean we cannot address social justice properly).
And the sooner we all realise that the whole 'race' idea is just a house of old, out-dated cards, the better.

[Paradise_NOT on 17.10.06 at 09:52]

Wow... The "idea" of CURB is great... however...I have to say that coming to this island in my late 30s was my introduction to racism... which is amazing as I have lived all over the United States and visited a few countries... I being "white" never knew what it felt like to experience racism until I moved to Bermuda... to hear that this woman believes that "White people are not targeted by racism" leads me to believe she lives in her own "lala" land... Hats off to CURB for attempting to tackle racism... I would steer very clear of the Eva woman she just seems to be..."Not Quite Right"...

[Mark on 20.10.06 at 15:38]

Whilst I've read Limey off and on for a number of years, this is my first post.

Over a long journey I've come to understand racism as a system of privilege, one from which I benefit.

I, too, used to rail at Dr. Hodgson's letters. I grew up hearing older family members describe her as "racist", "bitter" and "a nasty piece of work" - invariably after reading one of her many letters to the editor. Early in my relationship with my wife (she was my girlfriend at the time) we had a discussion about Dr. Hodgson. My wife, certainly far more enlightened than I was at the time, questioned my de facto judgments about Dr. Hodgson. I was unable to back up my position with anything other than my pre-existing bias against her, much of which was absorbed as a child from my parents.

So we took a Saturday and went to the Public Library and spent hours scrolling through RG microfilm in an attempt to find and read as many of her letters as we could. I did my best to make my mind a blank slate and read her letters with a truly open mind.

I discovered that, despite my pre-existing opininon that she was a "racist", I was unable to find anything in the letters to identify her as such. I did find statements and opinions that I didn't agree with and letters whose tone made me feel uncomfortable, but that is the nature of these discussions. Dr. Hodgson does at times appear bitter, and rightfully so - she has paid in enumerable ways for her beliefs and her stoic insistence to stick to them.

Through the intervening years I have been on a journey of discovering and attempting to come to grips with my white male privilege. As a white male, here are just a couple of the "benefits" I enjoy:

- On average, 33% more pay than an equally qualified woman for the same job

- an automatic all-encompassing acceptance of my character from my fellow whites, which gives me a leg up in many areas of life including job interviews and bank loans

But let's look at a couple more "benefits"

- given our country's history, the majority of my countrymen and women can (rightfully so) distrust my intentions as a white man

- there still exist numerous barriers to whites and blacks building relationships and truly coming to understand each other

- our country is becoming increasingly more polarised around the issue of race which, left unaddressed, may threaten our very future

It took a long time (many years) to come to grip with the fact that, although I wasn't involved in building this system, I certainly am a beneficiary. Let's face it - as a white male in the Western world I am at the top of the food chain (like it or not).

Having accepted that I have economically benefitted from this system, it is up to me to decide where to go next - I attended my first CURB meeting last night and hope to continue attending regularly. Discussing the issues of race and attempting to dismantle some of the racist framework is a great place to start. If we are being totally honest and open, these can be truly uncomfortable issues to discuss - this is to be expected when we as whites come face to face with the lagacy we have created. But if we don't begin the process of reconciliation and the breakdown of spiritual and institutional barriers we will only continue to drift further apart.

[smith on 20.10.06 at 15:56]

Mark, Speak for yourself only.
You don't know me, and you have no idea what I went through regarding racism in Bermuda.

[Mark on 20.10.06 at 16:05]

Smith,

I am speaking for myself only - the entirety of my comments are related to myself and my experience. Although I have an opinion about why and how Bermuda should move forward on this issue, that's all it is - an opinion.

[weaselguard on 09.11.06 at 08:56]

CURB wrote a Letter to the Editor, published on Monday. I think it is no longer on the site.
If anyone has the paper or could get it from the Gazette and publish it here, that would be great, so as to understand the context of my post. I am not on Island at present.

The perception is out there, posited by some of the more vocal socio-political black leadership, that whites do not engage on issues of race at forums on race. This is false. Given the demographics of Bermuda's racial makeup, whites have pretty much been relatively represented at CURE and CURB forums, Diversity Skills Training. These forums on race and Diversity Training occurred and were funded or partially sponsored by Government prior to '98. White people are also engaged in helpful services to those in greatest need, frantically helping to fill gaps.

The late David Critchley, former Permanent Secretary of Health and Social Services and incidentally my father-in-law, partnered with
Mansfield Brock, who we've spoken of on another thread, and conceived of, and created the Child Development Center on Tyne's Bay. David wrote "Shackles of the Past." I call David an inconvenient white man, an unnecessary diversion to those who say whites don’t care, or the oft repeated phrase, don’t get it.

I have the perception that some of the more vocal black leadership only want the discussion to be on race. And not in a CUREative sense.
When blacks do not support a certain imposed monolithic mindset, they can be labeled Uncle Toms, people with tans, not really black.
You know, Oreos. Race traitors. House niggers...

I have the perception that when whites show an interest in topics other than race, like the environment or enhancing the Human Rights
Act to protect gays from Bermuda's very public hate mongering, crime against the innocent, some of the more vocal black leadership goes, "Hey, hey! Get back on topic." Diversity of thinking and action is not to be tolerated.
Mind control to Uncle Tom.

White people are blogging, writing, calling Talk Radio about race daily. Trying to help figure it out. Blacks and whites need to ally
with each other in this vital push for human rights and not allow the agenda to be hijacked by those who are tragically stuck or damaged,
or maybe just plain manipulative.