Ms. Foggo’s comments made at last nights rally are ignorant, racist and stupid.
“We must hasten to employ measures which ensure that our people and our children know that a UBP vote is a vote back to the plantation. It is a vote that will return the shackles to our feet!”
“It is a vote that will keep us as slaves because the UBP has one aim; to ensure we, the working class, the underprivileged, never get our fair share of that economic pie! For the UBP, money and wealth is meant only for those that control the economy when slavery was alive and kicking and for the descendants that controls the economy today. Emancipate yourselves!”
Rather than addressing the issues (which I never received a response on) she has resorted to the despicable practice of calling up hatred and racially based ploys to try to rally support.
While I had ultimately decided to reserve my final decision of who I would vote for after firmly reviewing each parties platforms (especially after knowing each party would release them in a semi-reasonable time frame this time around), there is one thing that Ms. Foggo has guaranteed through her comments.
No matter what, I will not be supporting Ms. Foggo on December 18th. While I have not yet decided if the UBP deserves my support, I would rather spoil my ballot than support such vitriol.
Find this whole “back to the plantation” thing a sad joke. Always thought she was cool, smart with self detirmination but now see she is just a slave.
“four legs bad, two legs good”, we were better off under Mr Jones.
considering over a thousand people were at the rally – i guess u in the minority dp – here’s what thao had 2 say about it:
honestly, i’m not entirely sure y’all would really believe or understand how absolutely normal that sentiment is for a whole mess of people on the island. not just rabid/core plp supporters. i’m talking absolutely normal, middle to working class black folk. i’ve heard stuff like that my entire life, from primary school to post-grad to internships at the bank to fulltime employment. teachers, bus drivers, managers, postal workers, pastors, this is how a gang of people actually feel. ms. foggo’s statement was probably politically motivated, but just as probably(as odd as this might sound)at the same time, completely genuine.
it’s obviously literally untrue, but the symbolism is strong enough for it to really resonate. no-one thinks that a vote for the ubp means that a bunch of marauding rednecks are gonna run through neighbourhoods waving pitchforks menacingly at updated slave lists. BUT, i think the problem is a vote for the ubp can represent turning your back on the greatest achievement in the bermudian civil rights movement: giving black folk a shot to run the country.
more or less, that’s what you’re working with, that’s why she said what she said, why so many people actually sync up with her p.ov. it’s not logical, but it makes sense, y’know? does that make sense? i hope so, if not i can try and explain further.
haha – like you ever had any chance of voting for her in the first place Denis. Give up the drama.
You took one line out of her speech. COnveniently ignoring all the other issues regarding Mini Buses, housing, making St David’s a twin town to St George’s etc. All Ms. Foggo did was give you a reason to explain why you were not going to vote for her in the first place.
Vanz,
I’m not suggesting I don’t understand the reasoning behind it which is largely emotional and not logical. However, what I am suggesting is that I refuse to support it.
It’d be like a UBP’er coming out and saying a vote for the PLP is like voting yourself to Zimbabewe.
Do some people hold that view? Yes. Is it emotionally based rather than logically based, yes. Is it a fair statement that addresses the issues: no. Would you condone it if a UBP’er said it?
I refuse to take the route of voting like my grandmother, my cousins and other relatives whose only criteria for supporting one party or another is “they’re my party” which is akin to “they’re my people” simply because we share external characteristics of skin colour. That is exactly what white oppressors used to do, stick to their people and force our ancestors to stick to theirs and yet here we are talking about civil rights while we do the exact same thing. How does it possibly make any sense and does it not show how much we’re contradicting everything that was fought so valiently for?
Personally I feel it’s racist to vote for someone based upon the color of their skin rather than their character and the issues they represent and thus cannot bring myself to support the “back to the plantation mentality”.
That mentality must end if we are to progress forwards. Otherwise all we’ll do is live in the past and only flip the scale to the other side and become the black oppressors, which subsequently would justify white oppression having existed. If I had been eligible to vote PLP in 1998, I would have done so with great pride. However, we accomplished the goal of the civil rights movement and had a black government. We finally won an age old race but we can’t seem to accept the fact that we need to stop taking victory laps and need to start looking towards the goals of what is in the best interests of the next 7 generations.
All you have to do is to look back at the 1998 to a PLP who were still powerless and you’ll clearly see how today it is no longer about doing what is genuinely right. (https://www.21square.com/2007/12/sound-economic.html) – look at the section on Sound Economic Management. Principles the PLP held strong while they were in opposition which have been forgotten now that it is they who are the incumbent. Now that they hold the reigns the values and principles the party was founded upon and once upheld as so important have fallen to the wayside.
Lord Acton wasn’t wrong when he said “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Has power corrupted the ideals upon which the PLP was originally founded and have we strayed far from what was originally to be achieved?
Ask yourself, why are we still making it about them (the white man) rather than about us? Why is it, “a vote for them is a vote back to the plantation” when it really should be “here are our plans, he’s what we’ve done, we’ve done good, learned from our mistakes and will continue to move Bermuda forward”? Why is it necessary to give the UBP even one ounce of attention because they’re not worth the time in comparison to what we can achieve if we work together. Yet we’re still obsessed with looking behind our backs – why?
We’re still making it about them. We’re still looking to the white man for everything. Don’t vote for the white man, he’ll corrupt and enslave you. We’re not strong enough to stand on our own so lets make it about the white man because we don’t have the testicular fortitude to stand behind the principles behind which we were founded and lead this country to greatness without looking back. No, instead it’s, they’re going to enslave you, turn you into an Uncle Tom. Why are we endlessly looking over our shoulder as we continue running when we should only be looking ahead?
There is a really clear answer to this. Politics begins as an ideal but becomes corrupted by power, plain and simple. This “back to the plantation” mentality held by many Bermudians is being exploited to keep certain people in power, it’s not about ensuring adequate and just governance. Accountability and transparency are clearly no longer “the underlying credo for the priorities, principles and policies of a PLP Government” as they were when the PLP were not the government.
The sad reality is that they’re making you look behind your back because they want you to fear whats behind you rather then seeing clearly whats ahead.
Ken,
Feel free to believe what you like as I’ve grown tired of defending my opinions to you.
I’ve accepted you as my critic and I welcome your critcism when you can rationally argue a point as Vanz has done above.
If you believe I am wrong to condemn ‘back to the plantation’ style rhetoric then go right ahead and plead your case.
However, don’t try to paint me with one brush because I don’t condone it when I stand by my principles and take it as a sign of a very poor character of whom I would not want as my personal representative in the coming government, regardless of the issues they uphold.
If I believe in what the PLP promises to do over the UBP I shall abstain my vote, not giving the UBP my support. However, Ms. Foggo’s comments have ensured that she is not who I want representing my interests. I shall not paint the entire party with her brush, however, and thus will continue to evaluate the platform against the UBP’s to decide my vote.
If I believe more in what the UBP promises to do, they shall get my vote unless Ms. Roberts-holzhouser makes a similarly rediculus comment as I would not tolerate the same from her either.
Ultimately, my decision shall weigh upon my evaluation of both platforms and the vision for the future that each party presents.
Funny coming from someone who has never lived like a slave and has probably had many opportunities to help make Bermuda an example of racial harmony for the rest of the world to see. Stop hating white people for what happened in the past and start taking each individual for their unique qualities. REMEMBER that there were white people who helped put an end to slavery too…and that slaves were initially sold by there own people and in Africa slavery still exists between blacks. WHERE SHOULD YOU PLACE THE HATE FOR THAT. I myself have many black friends who have taken full advantage of chances given to them. They are successful!! Do you hate them too because they have made it, or is the racist life you live just a sad and convenient way to blame whites for your not having the millions it would take to make you happy.
Wake up and realise that the only chains that hold you back now are the racist comments and views you hold. Start promoting unity and see where it takes you. Enjoy the ride.
Vanz comments do a good job of explaining the pragmatic, yet unprincipled, reasons behind Ms. Foggo’s absurd comments, but Denis makes the more important point–the true achievement of the civil rights movement will be when blacks and whites don’t feel the need to consider the candidate’s skin tone because they are focusing on the issues.
These types of comments are completely counterproductive, sad, and desparate. If race is your leading punch in the campaign, you must have nothing else to stand on.
Vanz – just repeating Thao’s illiterate rambling series of non sequiturs doesn’t make it any nore readable, logical or “down with tha kidz” as he so hopelessly tries to be.
Ken – how many ignorant, pandering and vile pieces of bigotry should we overlook to justify a platform of minor administrative achievements? Mussolini drained the marshes AND got the trains to run on time… beat that.
I just want to know one thing….
How many of you that are commenting on what Lovitta Foggo said actually heard her say it?
I read through all of the comments and most of you talk about fairness and equality when choosing a political party….bla bla bla….I could go on forever! Just like most of you have.
So, just out of interest how many of you were there when she spoke? I’ll get back to you if you actually heard her. If not shut up cause you are judging Ms. Foggo by what the ultimately bias royal gazette typed about her!
ZFO: Denis quoted two paragraphs from the speech. Is there relevant text before and or after those lines which would put the quotes in better context?
Even the PLP Website is using the Royal Gazette article as a reference, so if there is another transcript out there I’m sure that many people would like to have heard it (although 3 months later, I wager the interest has diminished to near zero).