Too Hot for the Royal Gazette
Over a week ago, Rolfe Commissiong submitted the following op-ed to the Royal Gazette at the behest of editor Bill Zuill. To date, Mr. Zuill has refused to publish Mr. Commissiong's piece. We give you the piece, in full:
If one needed an example that among certain elements of our white community that old attitudes and ideas with respect to race where still alive and well, then one need look; or in this case, read Christian Dunleavy’s piece, in the Royal Gazette only a few days ago.
In his column entitled, ‘The Music Festival is Failing’, Dunleavy made a series of self serving and racist assumptions, that only confirm how long we still have to travel, before we can truly turn the page, with respect to this issue in Bermuda.
And what is truly disturbing is, that these views were propagated not by an old 80 year old dinosaur, pining for a return to the good ole days; but by a still relatively young, White Bermudian.
Dunleavy, is the son of a former English police officer, who along with many others were imported into the island in the mid sixties to among other things maintain law and order and more specifically in the minds of the then white oligarchy to preserve white privilege and keep black Bermudians who were desperately agitating for democratic change, in line. A task that they performed at times with brutal efficiency.
And in turn they were rewarded by being fast tracked to status, given access to mortgages and homes in white Bermudian enclaves and business and career opportunities, post service in the force, that black Bermudians of that era could only dream about.
But back to Christian and Exhibit A. Remarkably, one of his more unsubstantiated assertions, based on his faulty race coloured bias, is that the music festival and tourism in general is failing, because The Minister of Tourism and the Department which he leads, have failed to market effectively, principally in our traditional core market(s) in the Northeast (read: White Americans)
Dunleavy asserts that they have accomplished this in large part by diverting marketing, and promotional resources, from that core market and directed it toward African American communities in the U.S.; he then bizarrely offers the recently concluded Music Festival, as irrefutable proof.
Dunleavy, obviously is not one to be swayed by the argument famously utilized by Barack Obama that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again with the expectation that the result will be different.
Essentially, Dunleavy remains politically and racially tone deaf. After all, he made the same sort of baseless and insulting attacks prior to the election and has still at this late date, not acknowledged that Black Bermudians will not buy what he is selling and largely see his views for what they are, as thinly disguised racist code language. Although in this case, almost uncharacteristically, he dispenses with code language altogether.
How else is one to calibrate his remarks, when it is well known for example, that the Bermuda Department of Tourism facilitates and sponsors events on its calendar such as sailing, the triathlon, bridge and golf tournaments? These are all events which have traditionally enjoyed overwhelmingly white support from visitors and locals alike.
Moreover, I am sure that many of his colleagues and the executives at AXIS capital were he works, were out enjoying the PGA Grand Slam; or as was the case only recently, even the editor of the Royal Gazette was seen having a great time at the same Music Festival, which Dunleavy firmly has in his subjective sights.
Now, there is always room for people to question the policies of government and Dunleavy does raise some legitimate concerns in terms of cost/benefit, with respect to the BDOT’s investment in the Music Festival, but as usual undermines his arguments with general assertions which are unsupportable by the facts and his racist agenda.
I guess if he had restricted his remarks to the Music Festival, Dunleavy may have been on more solid ground… just maybe; but it is clear that he utilizes the Festival and its alleged shortcomings, to then make broad stroke allegations about policy, with respect to the marketing and promotion direction of the Ministry itself.
Exhibit B. Dunleavy, alleges that Dr. Brown the Premier has tilted our marketing too heavily to one group (read: black Americans) which according to Dunleavy is confirmed “by the selection of Global Hue for the Departments marketing…”.
Yet, it is well known that while Global Hue is Black owned, its clientele over the years has read like a whose who of corporate America and beyond. It is far from being a niche player in marketing terms.
But in Dunleavy’s mind, the fact that it is a largely black owned firm, confirms that whites like him (read: White Americans) are going to get short shrift in terms of marketing and promotional outreach, and moreover that it is a largely black owned
company, in and of itself, suggests that Global Hue’s effort on our behalf, will likely be an inferior one.
And of course however, in Dunleavy’s warped view of the world, it is only a short stretch from arguing the above, to then suggesting that the same would apply to blacks getting opportunities in terms of Government contracts or private sector jobs etc…i.e. that they
are inherently undeserving if this Government is behind it. Racial paranoia and a keen sense of privileged entitlement is always present with Dunleavy, and in this case, is downright palpable.
But what Dunleavy will never acknowledge is that these noxious views say more about Dunleavy than they say about the Premier and/or his government. Dunleavy, who has set himself up as the self appointed defender of white Bermudian interests, still will not resign himself to the fact that the Bermuda of his father’s time is no more.
Of course, he provides no compelling evidence for any of the above; but then again, to the choir which Dunleavy is addressing, none is required.
Near the end of his tirade, Dunleavy does attempt to then tie the baseless assertions highlighted above-and there are others-to the recent decline in tourism. To accomplish this he blithely ignores the fact that any fair appraisal of that decline would conclude that it is more attributable to the growing recession in the U.S. and overall global conditions, than any policy missteps on the part of the Ministry. From, Bermuda to the Caribbean and all points in between, the story is the same; arrivals and spending are down.
But why let inconvenient truths get in the way. Certainly, Dunleavy is not prepared to do so. One would think that with the political and racial divide now tearing the United Bermuda Party asunder, he would spend his time more productively in attempting to get his own political house in order, rather than insulting the intelligence of a majority of Bermudians, who for three straight elections have rejected the political and racial prescriptions, which he and his colleagues have offered.
I’ll leave you with the following question…does the Opposition Leader Kim Swan or Shaun Crockwell or Bob Richards, agree with Christian’s views; and if not, do they have the courage to tell him so and condemn them publicly?
Their silence thus far; not unnoticed, speaks volumes.
