EDITOR, The Tribune.
“If you are black and you are poor, you die. Surely a tax is better than death.” What kind of idiotic statement is that in a country of 85 per cent black, ruled by the majority?
Is the PLP still playing the “race” card in the year 2015? Why would Dr Perry Gomez say such a thing? Did he cater more to his white poor patients? Is the 99 per cent black staff at our healthcare facilities catering more to the 15 per cent whites in our country, giving them better care so they can live? Do Bahamian whites have access to free health care that we know nothing about?
Maybe the good doctor just forgot that times have changed and that it’s actually blacks who have made it hard on ourselves. Every time I hear about an employee who suffers because the employer is not paying National Insurance, the employer is ALWAYS a black employer! The few white businessmen we have left in The Bahamas have no choice but to pay their taxes or be picked on or stand out like a sore thumb!
I am a black Bahamian, and I’m tired of the subtle connotations and inappropriate statements that are often made in relation to race in this country. We are the majority, and if we are dying because we are black, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Maybe he didn’t mean it the way it came out, but Dr Gomez’ statement could have been left at “If you are poor, you die.” In this case, race has nothing to do with it.
M THOMPSON
Nassau,
February 24, 2015.
Comments
Honestman 9 years, 1 month ago
I agree 100% with this letter. Poor Bahamians are poor Bahamians whether they are black, white or whatever colour. The world has moved on but clearly Perry Gomez is stuck in the dark ages.
asiseeit 9 years, 1 month ago
The minority in The Bahamas has been dealing with discrimination for years.
birdiestrachan 9 years, 1 month ago
M. Thompson you just played the race card yourself " The employer is always black" The truth is Race is an issue. it is in America and the Bahamas.
UserOne 9 years, 1 month ago
Well said, M. Thompson. You are so right about majority rule but it seems that when the government wants to place responsibility anywhere but with themselves, they pull the race card. The problem with placing responsibility where it does not belong is that change never takes place. It is time to realize there is no minority white group holding down the majority black group. The majority black group holds the solutions.
MonkeeDoo 9 years, 1 month ago
The People with the Black mentality that M. Thompson speaks of, should tell us all why the poor black people, living Over the Hill and in fact all over the Bahamas, still have to use outdoor 'sanitation' if you can call it that, and tote water from a communal government pump in order to bathe, cook and drink. Black people have run this country for nearly fifty years and spent its money on what it wants to, but the ghettos still exist, yea thrive, and not a damned soul notices, nor says "this is not right". What is NHI going to do for the poor black Bahamian who will still live in abject squalor, because nobody gives a damn about them, and only do projects where there is something to skim off the top. M. Thompson is right on and has called a spade a spade.
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