More Good Rhythms: Clinark

This is the second in a continuing series of Ten minutes of madness.

I recently picked up Clinark's new album from the Music Box. It's called Journey to Foreign, and I recommend that you buy it. If you like good classic reggae beats, you'll like this album. I've had it on repeat all week -- to me it's the music of summer: the game, the beach, the raft-up. Go buy it.

OK, as far as ten minutes of madness goes, this entry was cheating. But we're just starting...

This blog is not dead...

This blog is not dead... it's just been on hiatus. It takes a surprisingly long time to get something out on the blog, and the activation energy can sometimes hold me back from getting started. To get things lively again, I am going to try 'Ten minutes of madness', which I first learned about from the busblog. The idea is simple: write a blog entry in no more then ten minutes. Try and keep it interesting too, OK? Let's see how we do, I think I've gone over already...

Secret Po-Po: Go Buy It!

I just bought the debut eponymous album by Secret Po-Po, one of Bermuda's latest home-grown acts. It's mostly reggae, with a bit of rock thrown in, and I can highly recommend it. You can get it at Rock Island Coffee.

If you can suggest any other good Bermudian artists, feel free to contact me or list them in the comments. I have a few in mind, so might blog on them in the future.

Racism Without Racists / White Privilege

This recent NYTimes op-ed does a great job of explaining "racism without racists". I've been meaning for a while to post on this topic, and the related one of white privilege, but this article says it much more succintly and clearly:

Research suggests that whites are particularly likely to discriminate against blacks when choices are not clear-cut and competing arguments are flying about — in other words, in ambiguous circumstances rather like an electoral campaign.

For example, when the black job candidate is highly qualified, there is no discrimination. Yet in a more muddled gray area where reasonable people could disagree, unconscious discrimination plays a major role.

White participants recommend hiring a white applicant with borderline qualifications 76 percent of the time, while recommending an identically qualified black applicant only 45 percent of the time.

That is, blacks are sometimes discriminated against even though the person doing the discriminating is doing it unconsciously -- even though the person is not what we would call "a racist".

To my thinking, racism without racists, and white privilege are two sides of the same coin. Racism without racists explains white privilege in the here and now: why whites may be more likely to get certain jobs, not get stopped by police, etc. White privilege as a whole, though, includes more than just what's going on today: it includes history. That is, how did I get here? Was I advantaged relative to my fellow black Bermudians because of the color of my skin (and that of my parents and their parents and so on...)?

I personally believe in both of these concepts, and believe that they affect us in Bermuda today. At the same time, I don't advocate the kind of approach that some (especially white) activists take, which is to beat themselves and those around them over the head with white privilege. I believe the thinking is that whites need to confront their terrible history in order to move past it. That may be so, but making people feel miserable is never a good way to get them to buy into your cause. And, there is no doubt that lots of white Bermudians worked their tails off to get where they are today, even in the face of much opposition from the infamous Front Street families. So those hard workers are obviously not very interested in being told that they got to where they are today solely on the color of their skin.

To me, it makes more sense to approach these whites (that you hope to convince about the reality of white privilege/racism without racists) using concrete examples like that I quoted above. Because the reality is that most people (black and white) are concerned about being truly fair. And if you can show to them examples of unfairness & how it can be promulgated by even well-meaning people such as themselves, I think it will start them reflecting upon and truly examining their day-to-day interactions. And they can do it at their own pace without being bullied.

My last point is that although I believe in these concepts, I don't buy into the "racism as power" orthodoxy that comes from North America, which holds that blacks cannot be racist. There is not doubt that racism as practiced in the U.S. was significantly about power. But our reality here and today in Bermuda is different: there are many blacks with power, especially in Government, who by virtue of their position have the ability to act in racist and xenophobic ways that negatively affect other people in Bermuda.

By the way, check out this post earlier this year from politics.bm.

Psychology Research on Whites in Bermuda

Carol Simmons is doing a psychology research project on "how personality traits and patterns of social interaction influence interracial attitudes among whites in Bermuda" (link). If you are white, over 18, and live in Bermuda, I encourage you to participate in her survey. See here original blog post & link to the survey here.

XL Layoffs: Canary in a Coal Mine?

For a while now I've been thinking about the XL layoffs, and what it means for Bermuda and Bermudians thinking about their careers. I have thought about the most constructive way of expressing my opinion, and I believe it is this:

Bermudians who go to work in the (re-)insurance sector and who desire long-term success and stability need to evaluate their opportunities very carefully, and be willing to go above and beyond their employers' expectations.

What do I mean by this? The insurance industry has been touted as a gateway to success for many Bermudians, with promises of training and pathways to advancement within the industry. One of the premises is that you can start at the bottom and work your way up, even if you have no special insurance skills.

For example, you can start by working in IT, accounting, claims processing, or other jobs that support the industry but aren't at its core. And in fact, I would speculate that the vast majority of Bermudians are in these areas, and at a relatively low-level (since corporations are generally hierarchical).

And that's to be expected: you have to start somewhere, right? But the irony is that by definition, those jobs that are most accessible to Joe and Jamahl Bermudian without any experience are in fact the first jobs to be outsourced. Because they rely the least on deep experience and connections within the industry, they are the most accessible to Bermudians, and also the easiest with which to get someone in India or Halifax up to speed.

What does this mean for you, the average entry-level Bermudian Insurance Worker?

I don't claim many special skills in my advice-giving, and will probably come across as santimonious here, but I would suggest something along these lines (and I hope readers will chip in). But the general idea is to differentiate yourself and become the kind of person that is, literally, irreplaceable:

• Find out everything you can about getting training from work.
  
• Make sure you know your career path. I know that not everyone is the ambitious corporate type, but if you're not going forward, you're going backwards or will be left behind.
  
• If your boss promises you advancement, make sure you get objective criteria for obtaining that advancement, and keep track of how you stack up against that criteria.
  
• Don't be an a role-player, be the protagonist. That is, don't just do your job by fulfilling all the basic requirements & checking the boxes. Instead, think about your business, come up with ideas, suggest things to your boss, and generally be proactive.
  
• Become an expert at something in your firm. Then find someone else to do it, and become an expert at the next thing...
  
• If you are in a bad work situation, address it, it may mean moving companies.
  

Role of the Opposition

I see that I haven't posted a new entry in my blog for almost two weeks! Must have been slacking... have no fear though, I have a whole slew of fascinating topics lined up to post on for you.

Today's juicy article is on the role of the opposition in the parliamentary system. I found these papers from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) that outline some ways to think about the opposition. You can find even more materials and papers if you Google for "CPA Role of the Opposition".

The CPA is an organization for Parliamentarians around the world to exchange ideas about how to be better governments within a parliamentary system.

Here are some key points from the CPA materials:

• Society and the Government have to agree that there is an important role for the Opposition.
  
• The Opposition needs resources to do its job (e.g. access to research).
  
• There should be a "culture of accountability" [think, e.g. of Government responses or lack thereof to Parliamentary Questions].
  
• The opposition has to be seen as a credible alternate Government -- i.e. has to be seen as able to develop policies and govern successfully.
  
• Government and the Opposition should be able to work together behind the scenes, e.g. in producing good legislation.
  
• The opposition needs to remain in contact & communication with society.
  
• "...although MPs are increasingly concerned with constituency business the work of making, amending and repealing laws is central to their task and that, while the initiator of legislation is usually the governing party, the Opposition can have an important role".
  

I have a strong opinion about that last point. Too many MPs in opposition, and especially our current Government, seems to think and act as if their main job is to get re-elected. In fact, that is not their jawb at all! Their jawb is to make Bermuda a better place: put in policies to lift up those at the bottom of society, make sure we are all well educated, make sure we all have access to economic success, if we choose to work for it, etc.

Sometimes that means making hard decisions which may require long-term thinking to see payoffs. Or, eating humble pie and engaging in the political art of compromise and discussion to get things done.

Let me list a few concrete examples where the current PLP Government has failed to do this, preferring instead to spin their way from crisis to crisis:

• Education: 18 months later, and what's happening? Teachers not getting paid and the Bermuda Union of Teachers still shut out of the reform process.
  
• Crime: Run an election campaign that calls your opponent too tough on crime, and then turn around and start talking about SWAT teams. And, still don't bother to negotiate a contract with the Police, your front-line against crime.
  
• Housing: promise homes in lotteries, but don't bother building them for 4 years.
  
• Tourism: Crow that air arrivals are flat rather than down, even though tourist arrivals are down 9%.
  

I'd continue but it's shooting fish in a barrel.