THE GOOD BOOK in 1 Samuel 16: 7 says: “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature . . . . For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
I am no preacher [although I have delivered a sermon or two] and I have no training as a Bible scholar, but I have been around long enough to know that one of man’s biggest problems is that too often he tries to ascribe to himself “wisdoms” that really belong to the Supreme. Too often we look on each other and make judgements – and invariably we can only see evil to judge.
Since the publication of an article in another section of the media late last year, one of Barbados’ most prominent citizens, Sir Charles Williams, has come in for a massive dose of verbal pounding from Barbadians at home and abroad. Sir Charles is a Bajan white and so his comments were cast as racist.
As I reflected on what he said and the general reaction of Barbadians, it occurred to me that in my more than three decades in journalism, there is not a single person in this country who has “cussed” me more than Sir Charles. And if I am being honest, the only person who has “cussed” me worse than him was Owen Arthur.
But even against that background I have absolutely no problem saying that if Sir Charles Williams is a racist, then I am a lesbian.
Yes, he is known for speaking his mind, and we all know there are times when prudence dictates that we be judicious with our words – and Sir Charles has been known to be less than judicious at times when he was upset. But to accuse him of being a racist is nothing short of unfair.
Of course, Sir Charles has significant wealth and lives far more comfortably than most of us. Of course, he does not have to worry about whether he will be able to go grocery shopping this weekend, or pay his light bill at the end of the month. But is that a crime? Is that not what we all aspire to, whether or not we want to admit it?
Whatever advantage his colour or family background may have brought him as a start or through his years in business, it can’t be denied that he has worked extremely hard and at 80-plus years of age he still does. And only the dishonest would seek to argue that the country has not benefited immensely from his hard work.
I have seen Sir Charles interact with his workers – black and white – on his farms, on construction sites, on the polo field. I have seen him get his hands and feet dirty in the horse stable, literally shovel “mess” in the cattle barn. I have seen him go into the depths of a gully to discuss with lowly workers what they were doing on a dam being built – and walk away acknowledging that their approach made far more sense than his.
I have seen him come to tears when thieves took some of his best cattle and Blackbelly sheep in the middle of the night.
Like any employer, I am sure there are men and women who work for him who don’t like the best bone in his body and feel justified in doing so, but I have seen the ease with which even his most lowly employees communicate with him; how he knows so much of the personal details of their lives – and I never got the impression they consider him a racist.
Don’t get me wrong, Sir Charles is no saint – far from it. And neither are you. But it is wrong to pillory and vilify the man just because he has the balls to say so much of what we talk about every day in our own little circles, just that we are afraid to utter them publicly.
Someone raids the plot of some lowly, hard working farmer in the dead of night and takes the fruits of his labour and we want to draw and quarter Minister of Agriculture Dr David Estwick for not putting in place appropriate legislation, and Acting Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith for not doing his job. But when they take Sir Charles’ crops, cattle and sheep, we dismiss it with: “He can afford it! He’s white and rich.”
Poor black Trevor Clarke complains that the people he employs have a poor work ethic, produce below what’s reasonable and take more sick days than someone hospitalised and we say we feel his pain, but when Sir Charles tells us there are some workers who are hurting the prospects of all the others and putting his investment at risk, we ask how dare a white man speak that way about black people.
Well, wrong is wrong, regardless of its complexion:
Too many Barbadian managers, black and white, should not be in charge of sheep, far less people because they have very poor human resource skills.
Too many workers go to work each day intent on not giving a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay and believe strongly their “right” to do so should never be challenged.
Too many have no difficulty in extending a lunch hour, even at the expense of their employer and colleagues.
Too many owners fail to see the value of their employees and their contribution to profitability – and don’t believe any portion of the wealth they garner should be shared with those who help them to make it.
Too many workers determine they don’t own the business so they don’t have to care about product or service delivery or customer relations and go out of their way to demonstrate it with their attitudes.
Too many managers and owners see their workers only as beasts of burden and care nothing about their lives outside the office, factory or shop and those workers see it and react to suit.
Too many workers enter places of work with a lack of ambition and desire to grow, but want a salary increase every year and will employ their own work-to-rule methods to get their message across.
Too many employers believe their employees are too dumb or unimportant to share company financial information with them, but still expect them to act as though they know.
Too many workers could care less if the source of their employment dried up tomorrow because they don’t own it and can move on to some other equally gullible employer, with no liability dragging behind them.
But of course, if Sir Charles said too many Bajan workers are lazy, indifferent and putting the survival of their employers and colleagues at risk, it is no longer true – it is about colour and class.
Yes, we still have some serious, deep-seated issues of race – and especially class – to deal with in Barbados, but let’s approach them without the hypocrisy that can so often characterise how we view things.
So cuss me now. But remember you have a long way to go to catch up with the number of times I have felt Sir Charles’ wrath and seriously doubt you can ever do it with more vigour and colourfully metaphoric language than the Old Brigand. So go right ahead!