Column: Letter To Minister & The Community

[Opinion column written by Glenn Fubler]

In spring of 2024 – a time of transformation and renewal – current generations face multiple challenges. Given the existential threats to our shared planet, there is a need for all hands on deck. This response requires deep dialogue within societies to access the best of our collective wisdom.

Earlier civilizations suggested that wisdom is premised on humility, an understanding that we never really know. In other words, we are always learning.

That said, I offer kudos to you, Minister, for engaging in the process of renewal of the island’s school system. I also offer kudos to the various concerned community members – such as the West End Warriors – for engaging in dialogue around proposals for change. That said, let me suggest that given the reality of our atomized societies – no longer even knowing our neighbour – fostering deep dialogue is challenging at best. This, since our society’s roots – systems of domination – have undermined collaboration. Our hyper-competitive culture results in what MLK referred to as a thing-oriented rather than a people-oriented society, hampering our appreciation of each other and the big picture.

We’re all affected. I recall experiencing some temporary blindness, almost caught in caregiving drama surrounding my infirmed mother. Thankfully, I reconsidered and focused on the big picture.

Through reconsideration, Malcom X transformed from a silo focus to becoming a global citizen. Martin Luther King’s reconsideration, transformed his civil rights focus to a big picture perspective, heralded by his April 4, 1967 speech.

Bermuda’s Eustace Cann MD was amongst six black Parliamentarians who repeatedly voted against women’s right to vote, holding out for universal suffrage. Independently, considering the big picture, Eustace’s support, proved key in gaining the women’s vote in 1944.

In that spirit, weeks later, Cann advised disgruntled workers seeking to form the Naval Base Workers Association to reconsider and address the big picture. Instead the Bermuda Workers Association was formed, providing the foundation for the significant 20th century opening of Bermuda’s closed society.

Cann also promoted reconsideration during the opening phases of the Sandys Secondary as a second option for blacks in a segregated society. Overcoming pushback rooted in fear that this would undermine Berkeley Institute, Cann joined with Nurse Alice Scott for the Sandys Sec project, addressing the big picture with its implications of race and class, absolved by history.

Bermuda, please be guided by Eustace Cann MD and let’s reconsider our approaches to the school system’s transformation. While I ask as a grandpa of a public primary student, my core philosophy – from Sunday School days – is that every child is precious.

You, Minister, in response to the concerns raised, have mandated that legacy play a more significant role in assessing Parish Primary sites. One aspect in which legacy can be easily assessed is the numbers attending various schools; parents voted when selecting schools.

Another aspect is the legacy of segregation. Let me declare that this reflects a position that I once held, personally. In fact, I didn’t attend BAA for years; nor did I attend events at the major hotels, since they had been segregated. However, I underwent a reconsideration in that regard. Let me invite the good folks who share my former perspective to reconsider.

Would Rosa Parks have considered not travelling on a bus after the Montgomery success?

The reality is that Somerset Primary – amongst other facilities – was liberated by the Theatre Boycott. On June 26, 1959, a rally was held at the Royal Naval Field, adjacent that school’s field, which was the proverbial straw that successfully concluded the Boycott. Over the following days, the hotel owners of Bermuda met and decided to announce the opening of the front of house of the island’s hotels and major restaurants, heralding segregation’s demise.

Perhaps one way to achieve the goal of promoting – for upcoming generations – the awareness of the legacy of a people’s victory would be for this liberated venue to become the Parish School – appropriately named – which would host an annual celebration on June 26 honouring those on whose shoulders we all stand.

Another grandson returned with my daughter from their Nassau home when she secured a local job five years ago. The timing led to my daughter’s scrambling for a P1 space, ending up being at St George’s Prep. Given the distance, as grandparents, we helped the carpooling, thus gaining an intimate insight into that school.

As former educators, we are of the view – shared by many – that Prep is the best local public or private primary and compares favourably globally. Prep is also a formerly segregated school, but it is my understanding that you as Minister have a particular issue with any school with a governing body.

Please contemplate a reconsideration of this position. In our fragile circumstances, which are shared globally, let’s avoid throwing babies out with the bathwater.

I submit these requests in all humility but with a love for all our children, as we are all always learning.

- Glenn Fubler

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