#BTColumn – Those who live in glasshouses…

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc.

I got a few loving chides for my Friday Barbados TODAY article De higher monkey climb; actually, more than a few, and so thought it might be of use to have a collective consideration of the situation.

Accusation: Why are you encouraging this ‘race talk?’

Defence: I adhere to a social gospel that is inclusive and premised on doctrines of liberty, equality and fraternity. Furthermore, I can’t be a hypocrite. How do I see the speck in my neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in my own eye? (Matthew 7:3) As I have previously spoken to issues of racial injustice in the UK and now with a much smaller voice in the US, I can’t but help confront the racial demons that lurk in our society.

Accusation: All this race talk will create problems.

Defence:  We are not creating problems but are simply confronting the problems that already exist; problems buried so deep in the bowels of our nations that we seem to resist confronting them at all costs. The Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke of his grave disappointment with moderates, particularly white moderates who are “more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefer a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”

Accusation: Why are you involved? ‘Mixed-race’ people normally don’t get into racial issues.

Defence: My child’s godfather once remarked that a deep social conscience is difficult to reconcile in “aristocrats of the skin.” That is far from the case. With Caribbean, English and Indian ancestral derivation, the complexities of race, ethnicity and social inclusion have been a lived experience. I exist at the point of intersection between coloniser, colonised and enslaved. I have treasured friendships from all ethnic and social persuasions but appreciate the serious ethnic divisions that still exist in Barbados.

Our social development model needs to be updated. Barbados aspires to have a university graduate in every household without considering the context. We now have university graduates with limited prospects in part including unemployed doctors because the model that worked a generation ago is no longer easily applicable. Given the chasm between unemployment rates of white and black Barbadians, we need to aspire to becoming a nation where people aren’t assessed “by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.” We can’t afford to wait.

Accusation: We have managed so far! Remember South Africa learnt from us as they said Barbados lives a successful voluntary segregation.

Defence: That we have kept it together for this long is an achievement in itself, but we haven’t come close to dealing with our racial past. Barbados exhibits many of the characteristics of a plural society as defined by J. S. Furnivall and M. G. Smith. Our different ethnic groups meet primarily in the marketplace and, as such, lack some shared values that social solidarity requires.

I remain astounded when officiating at white Bajan weddings and the serving staff and I can be the only people of colour. I try to dismiss it as an aberration, but the recurrence proves me wrong. Regrettably, on the odd occasion when white and black Bajans bond, both sides treat them as anomalies. We have a long way to go but perhaps we can learn from South African’s truth and reconciliation process so that we can begin that long walk towards being reconciled with God and each other.

Accusation: We follow a British tradition of fair-play and of getting on without whining.

Defence: England, the Mother Country wrote the rules of fair-play only to break them all. As underscored by Brexit and the unresolved Windrush Scandal, Britain remains xenophobic and ill at ease with matters of race and migration. Despite a generation of multiculturalism, it is still not a ‘united’ Kingdom.

Accusation: Do you support reparations that could affect our image to visitors?

Defence: I cannot see the speck in my neighbour’s eye before noticing the log in my own. I respect what Prof Sir Hilary Beckles is trying to achieve as chair of the CARICOM Reparations Committee. While there is a case that the British Government may have to answer, the history of colonialism in Barbados was unique. We’ve got to make sure we clean our own house before we tell others that they aren’t doing it right.

Professor Christine Barrow in her 1983 work Ownership and Control of Resources in Barbados, pointed out “monopoly ownership and control of resources in the Barbadian economy by a local white sector of the population has survived virtually to the present.” With the few absentee landlords at Emancipation, direct monetary compensation for “loss of property” was paid locally to white Barbadians.

The seminal work by Dr Cecillia Karch, The Rise of the Phoenix: The Barbados Mutual Life Assurance Society in Caribbean Economy and Society, speaks to the role of this financial behemoth in the economy of Barbados since 1840. She shows how the Barbados Mutual helped to perpetuate the plantation sugar economy in Barbados and the dispossession of black people with regard to access to land. Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Accusation: Why do you think the Government has a responsibility to make this all happen?

Defence: This journey requires leadership and the best type is one of the people for the people, which our elected representatives can best give. It’s not their responsibility alone, but they need to point us in the right direction. Nothing is more powerful than an idea that has come of age. Amidst the demonstrations globally affirming Black Lives Matter, there is an opportunity to advance racial equality in Barbados.

Accusation: There is fear that this push to address race and racism won’t end well.

Defence: I endorse the notion that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. To dare is to risk losing oneself momentarily, but to not dare is to risk losing oneself altogether. I believe in the need for social progress. To quote Dr King, “If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but by all means keep moving.” I remain an eternal optimist and believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will prevail and hold to my alma mater In Deo Fides.

Guy Hewitt is a priest based in Southeast Florida and remains active on social justice issues.