The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Dear Mr Miller, You should be utterly ashamed of yourself and hang your head in total disgrace.

You, with a few poorly considered sentences, have thrown another roadblock on the path of women’s empowerment in this nation. 

It is because of men like you that our people can’t get beyond the simple understanding that bad words propagate bad behaviour.

At your age, and with the amount of life and professional experience you have, you should have more sensibility to the plight of women in this country of male dominance, in their efforts to be treated with respect by a man’s words and actions.

I’d like to ask you, sir, what do the important women in your life say about the pleasure and amusement you take at the recollection of having to beat a past girlfriend to show her love, at her request, and because she couldn’t understand love any other way?

Did you ever stop to think that perhaps she was deficient in her ability to distinguish real love from abuse, because of other men who share(d) your mentality? 

And what of your daughters, sir, as I believe one is newly married? Do you make such jokes at the dinner table, with her husband, and in her presence? How does she feel to have a father who demonstrates such bigotry and hypocrisy?

You have crossed a proverbial final line. Your odd behaviour and ridiculous commentary have, over many years, been laughed at and laughed off, but on this occasion they cannot be. It is time for you to clean up your act, or hang up your political cap and exit the building where progress should be made in the representation of a country upheld by women. Do this, while you still have shreds of a minimally-decent reputation.

Let me add, given your defensive rebuttal... we know that media is a business to earn a profit, but audio and video recordings do not lie, unless you’d really have us believe someone would take the time to doctor them all in an effort to make your life difficult.

Further, we also know that the folly of youth is just that, and when we reflect on the decisions and experiences of our younger selves, we may find such recollections disturbing and regretful. But, by your recent words, you have conveyed something other than regret, and have sought to make feather-light of a serious women’s issue, even as women suffer this very day, with their children, because of it.

On behalf of all women of The Bahamas, all of the abused, all of their supporters, and all women and men who can’t find the words to express themselves on this matter, I ask you these questions: Who, amongst your party’s colleagues, will stand fast with you  now, as you degrade women by making a mockery of the equality for which they have fought so long and so hard in this country? 

Will the men of the country and your party speak up against you this time? The very ones laughing in the background as you spoke those insanities? What about the women of your party? Will they support you hereafter, or ongoing, when you so clearly do not support them at the most fundamental level?

Do either the men or women of your party believe that they will ever again be able to secure the votes and obtain the overall support of women in this country? I dare you all to try.

NICOLE BURROWS

Nassau,

March 5, 2014.