Rolfe Commissiong Glenn Tucker

Around 50 people taking part in the Bermuda Race Relations Initiative (BRRI) will tour Tucker’s Town today to view land that was seized from black Bermudians in the 1920s.

The two-day summit began yesterday at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess and represents the third in the series of race forums being held until November.

American experts Dr. Bernestine Singley and Professor Robert Jensen are facilitating the discussions, entitled ‘The Big Conversation’.

Premier Ewart Brown spearheaded the BRRI with the support of the Cabinet Office and the Community for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE).

Rolfe Commissiong, consultant to the Premier and the chief organiser, said the last summit’s participants suggested the Tucker’s Town visit.

The Tucker’s Town Historical Society will be the host and will take people to the graveyard and introduce evidence on at least four properties that were taken from blacks.

“The initiative’s objective is being reached. And that’s to transform the way in which we deal with the issue of racial differences in Bermuda,” said Mr. Commissiong.

“This will also affirm the sense of grievance and injustice that black Bermudians certainly feel although they might not actively express it.

“We’re also trying to get whites engaged in the dialogue.

“The consensus is that the old roles that we have been perpetuating are no longer useful if Bermuda is to move forward in the 21st century.

“And this certainly has the potential to prepare us for ‘the new Bermuda’ that we are trying to create.”

Prof. Jensen echoed the sentiment yesterday, saying the tour will supplement indoor discussions by visualising the reality of white transgression instead of just talking about it.

“It’s always important in any society for people to understand history because history informs the present,” explained Prof. Jensen.

“There are black people in Bermuda that have distinct memories of Tucker’s Town when it was displaced in the 1920s — that is increasingly ‘in the past’.

“If you’re white and you start to pay attention, you’ll see that these stories have an enduring presence and help structure the inequalities that exist in society — they destroyed communities and that fact still lingers.

“From my experience as a teacher, one can simply lecture about the world, but that’s only one way to convey information and it has its limitations.

“If we move beyond conversations and classrooms and directly into the world, you are forced to look directly at a community that only exists because of the displacement of the people who live there.

“The wealth and the luxury that will be in front of us is the direct result of the destruction of other people’s lives and that has a powerful effect.”

Prof. Jensen had harsh remarks about the state of race relations in the United States as well — which he called a “white supremacist country”.

“When one lives in a white supremacist country, one deals with white supremacy and the source of white supremacy, which is white people,” he said.

“The United States is still a white-supremacist country and there’s a racialised disparity in all measures of wealth and well-being, because on average, white people do better that non-white people.

“That disparity is especially striking between white and black Americans and on many measures it’s not improving.”

Prof. Jensen said much was still hidden behind closed doors.

“Ideologically, even though white people would never admit it out of politeness, they privately confide that they do think all that is white — politics, art, philosophy and all that comes out of Europe — is superior,” he said.

“A lot of white people would prefer not to confront these realities, but those of us who are white and are allies in the struggle for racial justice, must push this fact which is the nature of our society.”

Denny Richardson, 66, a black Bermudian who is a descendant of Tucker’s Town, was present at yesterday’s talks and said there were not enough young people in attendance.

“The young people are an important group we need to have here,” he said. “If they’re young, they need to be informed and participate as this affects them greatly.

“Before we can come to any conclusion, we need the input of more of the population and most of those here are not representative of that population.

“The Tucker’s Town visit is our turn as black people to put our case forward — and we certainly have a case.

“Some whites here are very cautious and don’t want to reveal what is deep-down in their soul and they are resistant to giving their real opinion about the race issue.

“I’m not saying they’re lying, but most are unlikely to admit to the facts of how things are and were.”

Joe Gibbons, 53, a white Bermudian, added: “I think there is a natural reluctance on talking about race on an on-going basis.

“Some of these issues are very personal and some of us, blacks and whites, have a fear of bringing them up and it takes a while to break down the barriers once everyone is in a room where they can talk freely.”

The Tucker’s Town visit will run from 2 to 3 p.m. BRRI organisers plan to host future forums on weekends to allow work-restricted people to take part.

Taking a journey into Bermuda’s troubled past

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