Vexed Bermoothes

The following is from a debate in the UK Parliament in 1967 surrounding the introduction of Bermuda’s new Constitution.  It is popular today in some quarters to decry the Brits today for their colonial past, but in many respects they forced the liberalisation of Bermuda’s power structures.

Reading this stuff, we seem to still be engaged in fighting the fights of our grandparents and parents … time for the next generation to get involved in Bermuda’s leadership I think.

The 1967 debate criticizes the power of the island’s white oligarchy of the time as well as the history of political gerrymandering.  This too jumped out at me:

On the question of racial tension in Bermuda, I say, very seriously indeed, just one thing. It is possible to have white people in a community who try to stay too white for too long. I think that this danger has now receded in Bermuda because there is a real awareness on the part of the white people that a multiracial community has to be built up. At the same time, it is possible for the reactions of a coloured majority to be extremely strong.

What I hope will be avoided in Bermuda is the trend among not all but some part of the P.L.P. to fight for their policies on purely racialist grounds. I hope that that will not gain ground. I can understand it if it does. I can well understand the kind of motivation which leads to a party fighting for people of its own race to develop this predominantly political awareness. The influence of the American Civil Rights movement and particularly the more extreme elements of that movement have to be regarded.

My hon. Friend the Member for Meriden said last week that the P.L.P. recently held a meeting in Bermuda at which all whites were asked to leave. I have checked this and found it to be true. I can understand how this happens, but I do not think that it is best either for the P.L.P. or for the people it represents. It can be possible to build up a multi-racial society in Bermuda without the tensions and dangers which have been mentioned but the tricky point is whether the chance to create such a community is taken or whether people will put too much emphasis on racial politics.

Also this on independence:

I do not accept for a moment that our granting independence to Bermuda, with its total dependence on outside resources  … would make independence in any way a reality when we talk in terms of sovereign countries elsewhere with substantial populations … it is essential that they [Bermudians] work together and not apart because Bermuda, if they are working apart, is nothing at all.

You don’t need me to hold your hand; go read the transcripts yourself.