Dirty Money: A Response to James Donaghy of Arnold, Maryland

In the book ‘Black Power in Bermuda’, author Dr. Quito Swan quotes white American journalist Marc Greene who, in 1959, was upset that Black Bermudians were lobbying for desegregation.  Marc’s message to white Bermudians was, “Are you not aware that this business of permitting colored people in every hotel will be noticed in every newspaper in the American South and not improbably commented upon editorially? Are you not also aware that there are hundreds of people in the Southern States who will not even enter a room in which there is a person of any shade of African hue unless he is there as a servant?  No Southerner will come here and spend one hour in any of your hotels, or restaurants either if he finds he has to mingle therein with Negroes… this is the worst mistake you in Bermuda have made since you admitted motorized vehicles.”

With your missive to the Royal Gazette, you’re continuing a very annoying pattern James.  

I didn’t mean to have such a major delay in my response to your letter, which published a few weeks ago, but between the pandemic and global uprising, my attention was elsewhere.  I mean, did I send the link of your letter around to every person on What’s App and post it on Twitter with unbridled disdain?  Of course.  But I didn’t take the time to write you directly. And, since you didn’t hesitate to display a complete lack of regard for our safety right to our faces, I wanted to show you the same courtesy, and ensure you were personally aware of the depths of my disgust.

James, you mistook us for people who give a fuck what you think.  

You say you’ve been locked down in Arnold, Maryland for 4 months, thinking of how you want to escape, planning to fly to ‘your favourite place to visit’.  Maybe the name belies the sheer wonderment to be found there, but Arnold sounds mug, so I understand.  And then, you are hit smack dab in the middle of your dreams with the reality of a deadly plague, and seem surprised that there will be some restrictions. That your unfettered fantasies will need to be somewhat fettered. That Bermuda will require you to get a few tests, and wear a mask as you move about the island. 

Judging by the condescending tone of your message, this must have been unsettling for you. (Just a hunch you’re not used to being told what you can and can’t do amirite?)  So you ‘found it necessary to address Bermuda’s most recent way that (tourists) are to be treated when visiting the island.’ 

That’s where all hell breaks loose, James. 

Because in one breath you are regaling us with all the ways that you love it here – and in the next, telling us you don’t give two hog pennies about our elder and immunocompromised populations. “Mostly Covid is affecting the elderly or those with underlying health conditions.  Has Bermuda not seen this and put this together?” You then take a sharp left straight into Conspiracy Theory with a Sunlight and Mask course that nobody enrolled in, and say you want ‘more reasonable heads to come together’. 

James. 

How are we meant to receive this?  Are you asking us if we have qualified healthcare professionals? What in the Dr. Carika Weldon are you talking about? What do you think we are doing over here – chiseling prescriptions on cave walls? Getting sea slugs to leech out the virus?  Can you reflect on why you felt it was not only reasonable but ‘necessary’ for you, not a doctor, to write a letter to try and influence the public health policy of a country WHERE YOU DO NOT LIVE? In the middle of a pandemic??!! 

You ask us whether you should just stay in the United States and go to Florida.  They have 10k new Covid cases every day and a brain-eating amoeba so BE MY FUCKING GUEST JAMES.  I cannot stress enough that we don’t care what you do, as long as you don’t bring a deadly virus to our shores.  You say you feel safe in Bermuda, that you have “never been disturbed… from any of the Bermudians.” Well, now you have disturbed me. And made me feel unsafe.  You suggest that even if you test positive for the virus, you should still be allowed to come.   

Is it crack, James?

Your entire letter was a whining, selfish, self-serving, diatribe of of gross entitlement.  You feel that you should have a right to just do what you want, to head over here to our island, virus be damned, because you have what, some money?  You felt you were owed a listening audience, simply because you are a repeat visitor.  You wanna know why you felt you could ask us to put ourselves in your shoes? (Petty aside: I bet you have some ugly ass shoes, James.) 

Because throughout Bermuda’s history and present, every time we chose the side of the almighty dollar at the expense of Bermudian safety, equity and opportunity, we told you and everybody like you that you matter more than our own people.  Every time we decided the concerns of companies and clients were more important than those of our citizens, we reinforced your viewpoint that Bermuda should be more focused on the “holidaying public that want to get away from the stresses they have endured over these many months.”   

You know that ‘hospitality’ you speak about, where you say you love the people of our island, that they have treated you so kindly – but then say you actually don’t care if our elders live or die?  That same hypocrisy is baked into the volcanic rock of this island.  

So, you aren’t entirely to blame for your confusion. You’ve been petted and feted for ‘choosing us’, as if we aren’t in a mutually beneficial relationship that, at any time, either party can decide is no longer working. And money that comes with a side of coronavirus is indeed a sign that it’s time to call our romance quits.

Farewell James,