Black Power Salute: Not what you thought

This recent op-ed in the New York Times talks about the "black power" protest at the 1968 Olympics.

Walking toward the stand — his wife had by then passed the gloves along to the runners — he decided to “represent the flag with pride, but do it with a black accent.” Wearing their medals, they raised clenched, gloved fists as the national anthem was played — Smith his right, Carlos his left. It was done, Smith says, “in military style” — Smith was in the R.O.T.C. at the time. “My head was down,” he says, “because I was praying.”

“I wanted to embody my pride and love for what America is supposed to be,” he told me. “There was no hate, no hostility shown or intended.” It was not, contrary to how it has been portrayed in the media, intended as a black-power salute.

(My emphasis)

This piece indicates serious revisionist history: either by the writer of the piece, or by the media in the wake of that event. It makes the point that it was the Olympic Committee which forced Smith and Carlos to leave the US team and the Games fter the salute. But in the 1936 Olympics, no such sanction were made upon German athletes who made the Nazi salute.

See also Alvin Williams commentary on politics and the Olympics in last weekend's Mid-Ocean News.

Take-home point: the interpretation of this salute says more about the interpreter than the original symbol.

And, for the record, I think the VRA objections to the PLP's use of the salute are ridiculous. I don't like the salute from a political standpoint, but that's politics.

"Island Thinking"

The below excerpt is from Jamaica Kincaid. When I lived in Boston, I used to keep it on my fridge to ponder when I thought about what life would be like after returning to Bermuda. She was originally from Antigua, but moved to the U.S. Solely from this quote, I always thought of her as being angry and bitter about the islands, but then, I haven't made it through any of her writing.

I like to think that here in Bermuda, we are a bit further along than the subjects of her quote.

[excerpt from The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 30, 1998]

In the place I'm from you don't have much room. You have the sea. If you step on the sea, you sink. The only thing the sea can do is take you away. People living on a tiny island are not expected to have deep thoughts about how they live, their right to live. You can have little conflicts, disagreements about what side of the street to walk on, but you cannot disagree that perhaps there should not be a street there. You cannot disagree about fundamental things, which is what an artist would do. All they're left with is a kind of pastoral beauty, a kind of natural beauty, and wonderful trinkets. They make nice hats. They catch fish in an old-fashioned way. It's all aesthetic, but it has no thinking to it. They cannot think. They will not allow themselves to think. They might have to change things, and they can't bear it.

--Jamaica Kincaid, writer, in Conversations with American Novelists: The Best Interviews from The Missouri Review and the American Audio Prose Library, edited by Kay Bonetti, Greg Michalson, Speer Morgan, Jo Sapp, and Sam Stowers, and published by the University of Missouri Press

BRRI Panel & Discussion: Race and Politics

The Bermuda Race Relation Initiative (BRRI) is having its next panel discussion tomorrow night (Friday the 29th), on Race and Politics. It's at 7pm in the Bermuda College North Hall Lecture Theatre. Panelists are David Commissiong (politician from Barbados), Gwyneth Rawlins, and Zane DeSilva. On Saturday, there will be a follow-up discussion at the BPSU building from 3-5pm (note this location has changed from the Leopard's Club).

Let me start by getting the major problem with this particular panel out of the way. Tomorrow night's discussion is obviously a setup -- and I say this while at the same time being committed to engaging in constructive dialogue on the topic of race.

First of all, no-one at the UBP was invited to sit on this panel. How can you have a constructive conversation with a one-sided panel?

I don't know anything about David Commissiong -- perhaps he is related to Rolfe Commissiong? You can see a bit about him on the web here and here.

We know that Gwyneth Rawlins has an axe to grind against the UBP -- not only did she quit the party after serving as the Party Chairman, but she then signed up to support the PLP via YouTube, where she explains how she is bitter because she did not get a Senate seat.

Finally, that brings me to Zane DeSilva. This is a whole another blog post. I have nothing against whites in the PLP. I respect those such as Jonathan Starling and others who join out of true belief. I personally think they are misguided, but at least they are acting on their principles. But Zane DeSilva and Jane Correia? Do you think there is any coincidence that the only whites willing to run for the PLP happen to be the two biggest recipients of our "labour" Government construction contracts? Whose firms, by the way, are not unionized. Perhaps I have a closed mind, but I find it impossible to view them as sincere.

The point is: what good can come of this discussion? Those who are doubtful about the BRRI are having their fears and prejudices confirmed just by looking at the make-up of the panel, and those who are already solid supporters of the BRRI are going to be the choir tomorrow night. I'll personally be there, if only to make sure the points above are heard, and because I am an optimist; you never know what can happen.

Finally, I am disappointed because from attending quite a few of the BRRI panels and discussions this year, I was at least mildly positive about them: they seemed to be avoiding (at least a little bit) the partisan trap into which they fell last year. But tomorrow night's panel has caused me to doubt the sincerity of the BRRI, which I have been trying to sell to many of my UBP colleagues and supporters.

Blessed Elackshun

It's very easy for us to forget how lucky we are in Bermuda & how beautiful it truly is. We often become obsessed with 'Rock Fever', and itch for that next trip to anywhere else. This is a trite thing to say, yet is inescapably true.

Last night while I was on my "statutory monthly jog", I stopped by the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse at around 7pm. First of all, the view was stunning; if you haven't been recently, at least do a drive-by and spend a few minutes looking out on the island. Second, there was a tourist and his son there, and I offered to take their picture. After I gave him back his camera, he said, "You are truly blessed to live here", and he repeated it when I said my good-byes. It's true, and we ought to strive to remind ourselves of that every morning. And let me just add here that I am not what you would call a frequent churchgoer.

That night while looking up something on the web, I came across this old letter from the Royal Gazette, which I had posted on my MIT homepage, and which I had taped to my bathroom mirror as an undergraduate. Re-reading it, I had to laff and smyle, and I hope you will too. I don't know who "De Beta Timex Groop" is, or exactly where Rabbit Island is, but I wish I'd had them on my team at the election.

[Royal Gazette letters to the Editor]

August 19, 1992
Dear Sir,

Nah lookie her. Wif alla de stuff dat is goin' don aroun' de place, like; an' vif all de childrens all gettin' kinda vurried, like; an' vif alla de pollatishens in de doldrums, like; an vif a ressashun, a deprasshun, an' alla de peepol gettin' snarly, like; den vee byes has got de ansuh, like!

Vee has set up de ``Beta Timex Groop'' see, and it has alla de solooshuns to allotta de problums. Vee beleeve Battuh Times iss ahed! Mostly ar um Platfohm iss lajislayshun dat de peepols muss be happy! Dey muss laff an' dey muss smyle an' dey muss tal jokes! Lajisslayshun like dat vood sattul alla de problums. Vee is lookion' fuh beeg s'port in de naxtest alacshun.

Battuh tymes are ahed! Dashrite!

DE "BETA TIMEX GROOP"
Rabbit Island

Welcome Alsys & Carol

Whew, it's been one of those weeks. So I have a bunch of things to crank out tonight. But first I'd like to welcome two new Bermudian bloggers. This week I've learned about Alsys with Bermuda Fables, and Carol Simmons with A Bermudian's View (who scored the sweet name bermudian.wordpress.com, I wish I'd thought of that!).

I am glad to see some new voices online -- more participation by different people can only enrich the whole scene.

Park-Hyatt: Investment, or Give-Away?

The Government has called an extraordinary meeting of Parliament for one day on 12 September to debate (and try to pass, I would imagine) the Park Hyatt Act 2008. Normally, Parliament would not come back until November, so clearly the Government is looking for some quick action on this. You have to wonder what the rush is.

You can download the act here, and view the area to be developed using Google Earth or Google Maps.

The act is intended to allow the redevelopment of the old Club Med site with a new resort, but a careful reading of the act raises more questions than answers. Based on the information in the act, it looks more like a giveaway than a sensible investment in Bermuda's future.

• For example, the act gives up to a 262-year lease on 125 acres of property to "Addax Holdings", for an unspecified amount of compensation. The baselands leases were only for 99 years, and that was during wartime!
• The property includes the St. Georges golf course, which will no longer be public. The act does specify that the course remains accessible to the public.
• The property includes the beach, to which the public is to have "reasonable access", free of charge.
• Government can forcefully buy any property from other owners that is covered in the planned area.
• The developers can build 140 condos, of which 40 are fractional ownership.
• There will be no customs duty on the building materials, and no land tax or occupancy tax for the first 5 years after opening.

If you look at the map, you see that about half of the area other than the golf course is for condos and fractional ownership (red and orange vs. pink for hotel). So to me, this looks more like a condo development than a hotel. My questions are:

• What is Bermuda getting out of this?
• How much are the developers paying the Government?
• What are the other terms and conditions?
• Why is the lease so long?
• What if the developers' financing falls through?
• Can they then turn around and sell the lease to another developer, perhaps pocketing a profit subsidized by the people of Bermuda (ala Southlands land swap)? And if so, does the name of the act need to change?

If any of this concerns you, or if you want to find out more, call your MP!

SWAT Team? Who will pay?

Latest news is that Government is considering creating a "US-style SWAT team to tackle violent crime". Well, that might work. But how will Government pay for it, seeing how they are unwilling to reach an agreement in contract talks with the existing police force, which is woefully under-resourced?